Pat's Adventures in Dialysis, the "We're Gonna Plant Some Fresh Herbs This Spring" edition

iPod shuffled to "Harvest for the World", Isley Brothers. Brian and I compare song lists and note songs we hear on Sirius. I have no Tavares or Queen. How did this happen? I have Johnny Giitar Watson, but no Joe Tex! I'm slacking!!!!! This will be fixed.

Ok. I'm at my permanent module. Now that I'm no longer in a private room, but out in a six chair area, I can see what goes on. Let's start from when I arrive at the center. The waiting room can get pretty crowded. There are people waiting to be called in for dialysis. There are people who have finished their sessions waiting to get picked up. People drive themselves. Some people come via transportation services. Some people have professional drivers. Some have family or friends bring them. The guy next to me walks ( he lives in the apartment bldg across the street). Stevie Wonder, "Another Star", from "Songs in the Key of Life". This is the set that came with a 45. Am I right? He was so prolific and good.

All these people in the waiting room...some in wheelchairs, some with walkers with wheels. Some with canes. Some people are pleasant. Some are cranky. Some are old. Some are not so old. How's this. One of my moms friends is here, a member of the sorority. Heh. I have her and the lead social worker as my sorors. Alpha Kappa Alpha represent!! Lol. I've gone off track.

So coming in, we let the people at the desk know we're here. They notify the module. And then we sit and .......wait. Eventually someone comes and gets you. First stop, the scale to get the dry weight. What, you ask, is dry weight? The most basic explanation is your weight without fluid. Here's the deal. Since my kidneys don't work well, I can't get rid of wastes and fluid real easily, hence the dialysis process. During dialysis a set amount of fluid is removed from my body. I can't tell you the amount in liters, but I know that if lose more than 2.5kgs (5.8 pounds) per session, fluid MUST be returned to my body. More than that magic number, my blood pressure drops dramatically. "Grapevyne", Brownstone. Again. I haven't tired of this song. These ladies voices are so strong and the arrangement is just perfect. My record low was 64/40. I asked how was that possible? I must admit, the RNs hustle to get me back to life with no panic. <3

The tech lets me know which chair is mine, I get my stuff out..iPod, ipad, earphones, blanket, and Jolly Ranchers. The tech attaches the arm pressure cuff to me. The cuff is attached to the dialysis machine....pressure for me is taken automatically every 1/2 hour. They take pressure standing, then sitting. The tech hands me a face mask and puts one on and the sterile gloves. The tech attaches tubes to my collarbone appendages. Blood out, blood in. The tech then changes the dressing on my collarbone appendage. It's basically making sure the area remains clean and sterile. Face mask on the entire time. Yes I bitched about it initially, but it's non-negotiable. Sometimes you just need to bitch. Lol.

We're basically done. The tech puts in how much fluid to take off, she hit a switch on the chair and I go into recline position. I put in my earbuds, have the TV set to my channel of choice (closed captioning comes in handy), and settle in for my 3 hours of dialysis. This is now my life.
Understand that 3 weeks ago I had a completely different life. There was no time to adjust. I had no choice if I was to live.

Signing off with "I Just Want to Celebrate", Rare Earth. Motown. :-)