So I have been gone a long long time. Not to worry. I am fine. I was quite busy with two classes and getting my house ready for the real estate market. My hard work paid off because I finished my classes and we sold our house-- and for a pretty penny.
So I have left California behind and will reside in Austin, Texas-- as soon as the house we're buying closes. Which might be a while... like 2 months or something. Bleh.
While we were living in a hotel so that our house could show, I switched from nocturnal dialysis to traditional, in-center, thrice weekly. I could feel a difference after one week-- some good, some bad. The good? I was actually able to get more sleep, because I was entirely sleep-deprived doing nocturnal. But in spite of the lack of sleep, I actually felt better on nocturnal. The foray into traditional dialysis was necessary for the time, but I sure missed feeling a lot better during my waking hours.
Now that I'm Austin, I'm back on nocturnal-- but with a different outfit. I loved Satellite Dialysis, but they don't have a nocturnal program in Austin. I have started up in a Davita clinic about 30 minutes from the hotel where we're temporarily living. The people here are nice, but .... it's so damned noisy all the goddamned night. The patients don't use headphones, which is totally mind-boggling. Right now it is 2:45am and there are tvs blaring, and to top that, the techs are talking, at a normal level.. and it's all driving me crazy.
Now admittedly, I don't sleep during dialysis because of the aforementioned chair issues, but even if I'm not sleeping I don't want to hear people yapping and their tvs blaring the whole time. Thankfully, my treatment here is only 6.5 hours. I think another 1.5 hours would drive me even crazier.
One good thing about this Davita center, though, is that they have wireless (no log in necessary)and they let me plug in my laptop. Yay on both accounts!
The bad, though? My second day here a patient bottomed out. They had remove her from her chair and begin CPR on her. They had to use the defibrillator, and call the EMTs to revive her. And that took a very long time. The lady looked pretty lifeless until the end-- and they took her off in an ambulance. I was totally freaked by this-- who wouldn't be? I don't know if she's recovered, as I don't think I've seen her back here at the unit. And today they said they had an earlier spot for me, so I wonder if I'm taking that woman's place *shudder* Seeing that whole thing unfold in front of me has strengthened my resolve to get a transplant-- and soon!
I'm at dialysis right now, and can't wait to get out. I can go back to the hotel and get 5 or 6 hours of sleep, and I'll be good to go. Well, good enough, for now, anyway.
Nitey night, from Austin....
Michelle/Treasure
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Hi,I'm dialysing in the UK and I just had to comment on your reaction to noise on the dialysis unit!I had over a year long battle with my unit to get the TV's muted - they had an individual earphone system but the nurses had stopped bothering to enforce it, which was a combination of inertia and their idea of being *nice* - and it wasn't until my partner had a stern word with the one nurse who hated the noise as much as I did (a complete fascist in every other sense mind you)that things changed. You mention 6.5 hours - is that per session, or per week?
ReplyDeleteHi Emma - just to let you know I was with Davita and was almost killed by incompetent techs, and they looked at me as if it was my fault. They also screwed up my supplemental insurance, so did Fresenius. I definetly know what you mean about the noise levels at dialysis, loud tv's, loud talking, banging of the garbage cans, lack of care. Doctors discussing your health issues in front of 10 to 20 strangers- whatever happened to doctor,patient privacy I do not know. I have changed dialysis centers 4 times in the last 8 years-I am lucky I live near San antonio where there are plenty of dialysis centers available, I drive about 45 min. which I barely can do. transplant didnt work so I am stuck on this 3 days a week. I do not work anymore, never could have enough energy to do so. I do hate Davita, Fresenius, nurses, techs and doctors. what got into these people, it's like they are herding cattle into slaughter or something. I would give anything not to have this disease, it has changed my entire life-for the worse, always sick, always tired, and on the verge of grabbing these people slap them in the back of the head. Another thing 3 to 4 hours in that chair, I have a bad prostate too so I have to go to the bathroom every ten seconds, not so much anymore, I barely go to the bathroom, tinkle, tinkle well enough, take care,and maybe I'll hear from you
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