"Get on Up", The Esquires. "How can you rest, when you know I'm trying my best, to dance with you, girl". The clinic is in the lower level of a medical building. (I call it the dungeon. No windows) I enter around 6:10 AM. There may be other patients being dropped off.. In cars, taxis, transportation services or even ambulance transport services. I walk in the building, greet the security guard, take the elevator to the lower level. I stop at the water fountain, get a sip of water...along with every other dialysis patient. That fountain is like a pool of water in the desert. Lol. Go into the reception area. No staff is in the front because it's early.
The door to the treatment area is locked. Or some days it's left open. But it's "supposed" to be locked and we're not to enter until someone gets us...but no one is there to let the techs know we're there. Sometimes a nurse is there doing paperwork and will buzz us in. Sometimes we'll bang on the door. They eventually put a phone in for us to call the module....but sometimes no one answers because early first shift staff are busy...but that's a story for another day.
Anyway, I get in the treatment area, go to my chair and put down my stuff. Go weigh myself. Come back and take out my blanket, iPad, phone and bag o' candy/headphones/tourniquet. Plug up one set of headphones to TV cable. And make sure my chair is plugged in...so I can Then I find who has the remote and get the TV set. Then I go wash my hands and my access area. The tech takes my standing blood pressure. I sit and the fun begins! I make sure the correct needles are there. The tech swabs my arm with a pad that is 70% Isopropyl Alcohol and 3.5% Cholhexidine Gluconate (one of the culprits). On Wednesday, when that was applied, it felt like I stuck my arm in a bonfire. :-( The tech then uses a sterilized implement to remove the scabs from my button holes. Inserts the needles and secures them with paper tape ( the other culprit ).
Now the reaction of my skin is new. The combo of the swabs and paper tape was fine until the last week or so. My skin just said F-U. The burning, itching, oozing and scabs made a dramatic appearance. I now have a super special sticky cloth tape ( because I'm that speshul snowflake ). And prep with straight up alcohol. Doc had me use a combo of neosporin and cortisone to clear up the rash. It's working pretty quickly. The tech still had problem finding my button holes with all that redness and crustiness, but she got it. :-) "Love or Let Me Be Lonely", The Friends of Distinction. "I could live without love if I wanted to in this lonely room". Hopefully it'll be gone next week. Never a dull moment here. Lol.
Yesterday I had lunch with Carmen, my partner in crime from college. Got lots of (tellable) stories. But for now I am so glad we got back in touch. As she said, we never missed a beat. :) We'd been trying to get together since October 2012. I kinda caused a delay. The beauty of Facebook is once you find someone, you stay in touch. Or not. Lol. You know what I mean. ;-D.
Signing out with "Door to Your Heart", The Dramatics. Hey. They've been hiding recently. Come on out guys!! What's this about music meaning nothing to people? That's just a sad face. Anyway enjoy your weekend. 40 degrees today!!!! Oh yeah, I have a mentoring update this weekend.
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