The "Friday Morning at The Dialysis Center - Las Vegas", edition.

Ipad shuffled to  Michel'le, "Something In My Heart".  Arriving at the dialysis center. Well let's start at home. Our alarms go off at 4:00 AM. 4AM!!!  I never ever got up that early. As a matter of fact waking up that early seems obscene. I guess getting a medical procedure 3 times a week changes your perspective. Your mind set, if you will. I'll go off on that tangent for a moment.  Or just say that I like getting dialysis over with and have the rest of the day to be active and/or productive. Of course that depends on how the treatment went. Usually I can get it over with - out by 8:45AM, go to breakfast. Home no later than 10AM. Take a nap and then good to go around noon. Of course a bad day takes me out for most of the day. Still. Early morning works for me. Any later I feel as if the day is wasted. Especially third shift times. Start at 3:00PM. Out by 7:00PM. Ugh. So ...  Our alarms are set for 4:00AM.  

 Jeffrey Osborne, "Stay With Me Tonight".   We stagger out of bed.  Brian makes coffee. I wash up and get dressed. Gather my dialysis bag. Take inventory. Fleece blanket. Check. Pillow. Check. Smarties. Check. Sometimes I need to refill my Smarties stash. Headphones. Check. Go get the iPad that's been recharging.  Put it in the bag. Bag is set. Put phone in purse.  Take a sip of coffee. Take BP pill. And we're out the door by 4:20AM or so. Lol. No dawdling there. Arrive at the center around 4:35 - 4:40 AM. The first shift patients are there. I'm the new kid in town (literally - lol). I've met most of them now since my time was changed. We are the first of the first shift.  We have to wait for the doors to open. 

Michael Henderson, "Valentine Love". It's  apparent that these people have not only have been Dialyzing a while, they've been the first of the first shift for a while!  They welcomed me warmly. :)  Anyway. The door opens at 4:45. We enter the treatment area.  But first we must weigh ourselves. You know. To see how much fluid we've put on since our last treatment. There can be praying, and wailing and gnashing of teeth when the numbers register. Lol.  Next stop the ice machine. Best little squares of ice!!  Yes, yeah. Dialysis patients love their ice. Since we have fluid restrictions, ice is a wonderful thing!  

Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On". Once we've weighed and got our cup(s) of ice, we meander to our areas and our chairs. I place my stuff in the chair, then head to a sink to wash my access. We were trained to do that in Detroit. I don't see much of that here, but the ability to wash the access is here and I do it. I admit that the techs use considerably more alcohol swabs on us here. As far as I'm concerned you can never make the access too clean. :)  The tech takes a standing and sitting blood pressure. Then the fun begins.  

Santana, "Black Magic Woman". The tech pulls up her stool. Puts a tourniquet on my access arm, the left arm, swabs the hell out of the access holes. Cleans off the scabs formed from the last treatment. Gotta get them out cleanly. Can cause infection. She wipes it some more and now it's time for the needle.  Since its a button hole, the hole is there. Just need to find the right spot in the vein. When the same tech does the stick, he/she know exactly where to place the needle. In addition, on the correct stick, we both "feel" it.  Like a little thud. You've hit the right spot and the blood starts flowing.  They always start with the arterial. And repeat the process for the venous access. 

Stevie Wonder, " Another Star". Once the needles are in, plastic tubing is used to attach me to the dialysis machine and we're off and running. Oh yeah. They flush the tubing for clots. Hey, they happen and can really gunk up the works and cause issues for me and the machine. You know. I think dialysis techs should be paid more. They are, you know, responsible for our lives here. So that's it I walk through the door at 4:45.  I'm on the machine by 5:00. And my tech moves on to her next patients. And I watch the clock. Lol. Hurry up 8:30!!!!   Lol

Signing off with   Al Green, "Call Me".  We took Dad to Texas de Brazil for dinner yesterday. I'll tell you about it later. ;-)  Have a fabulous weekend. People are excited here because no more 100+ degree days are coming. Never mind that today's high is supposed to be 99. Roflmao.  

Photo of me on the machine in Vegas.