The "Leaving Georgia:Returning to Las Vegas", edition.

Good Friday morning. We are back home and just never missed a beat. Deep water fitness Wednesday and a little grocery shopping. Thursday we went to the trainer.  No. Thursday is not our regular day with the fitness trainer, Tuesday is. However, this past Tuesday because of the trip,and a missed day of treatment, I couldn't go. I needed to get the treatment done. The trainer had us come in at 8AM this morning. She worked us like we never missed a beat.  Lol. The trainer workouts are much more intense than the deep water fitness. She works with me and Brian together, but we definitely do two different workouts!  

So. The last day in Georgia, Monday. We ate a leisure breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast at this hotel was different from others I'd experienced.  There were selections of microwave breakfast items such as cheese omelet, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast bowls, etc. There was a number on the package and you just select that number on the microwave and go. Of course as I was waiting on my item some guy pops open the microwave to cook his food. :-/  He didn't realize the microwave was on (of course) and I must have just been standing there twiddling my thumbs. I digress. There was also the obligatory waffle machine, yogurt and other selections. By the way, I thought the microwave food didn't taste all that good. Lol. Like bad airplane food. I ended up eating bagels. 

After we ate we packed and pulled out around 11:00. Got gas and headed back to Atlanta. So much green!! Trees!  Grass!   And kudzu!! Driving into Atlanta the traffic picked up considerably. The rental company map wanted us to get on on a certain freeway then look for the signs to the airport.  Then start looking for signs to the car rental return. Before we got there, we stopped to fill the tank. So we follow the signs and get to the massive car rental place. We pull into the Enterprise area. They check in the car and give me the receipt. I must say that as far as cost of rentals, Enterprise is consistently lower. . So now our challenge was going to be how to get the dialysis machine to the terminal. Remember on the way there, we put it on the wheelchair while  riding the tram. So I asked an Enterprise rep about a wheelchair. She says the airport had just come to collect the wheelchairs, but... Talk to Lincoln.  Enterprise will take us directly to the terminal!  !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about an excited, grateful Pat!  I gave Lincoln a great big hug! 

Brian had taken everything out of the car except for the dialysis machine. I told him to put everything back in. Sure enough, "Ace" drove us straight to the Delta area. A clerk named Brian (!) helped us and a wheelchair was waiting for me when we got there..outside!  We went to the counter inside because of the medical equipment, got it checked in and then got ready to head for the gate. Oh yeah. On the way, Big Boi from Outkast strolled by. We're in Atlanta y'all! 

We get to gate around 2:00 and now we wait. Our flight was at 6:00. I notice signs that direct people to the Delta Sky Club. I check to see if first class gets you into the Sky Club. It does not. Sky Club requires a yearly membership...or a daily pass. Brian goes to the Sky Club to ask about it and gets the cost of the daily pass...and what it includes. It includes comfortable seating, wifi, a buffet, lots of TVs and an open bar and a whole area we didn't go see. We go for it. I recommend using the Sky Club if you have a long layover in the airport. We let the concierge know I'd need a wheelchair to get back to the gate. About 10 minutes before we were to board, I was paged. We went to the desk, a lady with a cart was waiting for us! !!! !!!! Again, if you have a significant layover in an airport, this is the way to go. 

Time to board. Got my Bloody Mary while waiting to take off. We had a newer plane, so we each had our own monitors with a crapload of movies, satellite TV, radio, games..and outlets to recharge stuff. I watched Deadpool. :-D  Even dinner was ok this time. Chicken with spring veg. And strawberry gelato.  and the flight was perfect. No bouncing on this flight or the flight to Georgia. 

We arrive. A young man is waiting at the gate with a wheelchair for me. We get to the luggage carousel. Dad is waiting for us!  We get our luggage. And bless Deltas heart. They put the 100 pound dialysis machine on the carousel. Lol. WTH?  But the young man grabbed that 100 pound box with one arm and heaved it right off the carousel. Rofl. What was even more entertaining were the people trying to get out of his way. Lol lol. Anyway. He found a person with a cart for the dialysis machine....and the rest of the luggage. We all headed outside to get to the car. Dad always parks in the same area at the airport. For years!!  I had my luggage parade again.  The guys loaded the car.  I tipped them well. And we headed home.  And oh yeah. We stepped outside the airport and it was 113 degrees!  Yikes!  But I preferred this to the humidity of Georgia. I'm home and I'm acclimated to the desert!  

The dialysis angle?  Well just the logistics of attempting to dialyze while traveling. Trying to keep my life as normal as I can. I cannot be spontaneous. But I'm not chained to a center. And I have some control over my life. And all things considered, I'm ok with this. That's it for today. Yeah..I'm planning my next trip. I'll detail my challenges in a later blog. 

Oh yeah. Before you travel..Delta. Check Groupon for a day pass to the Sky Club! 

Have a great day! 

The "Still in Georgia..Almost Done", edition.

Good Wednesday morning. Time to get back into the swing of things here at home. And yes I did treatment Tuesday morning. I think it's strange that even though I absolutely hate dialysis, sometimes I look forward to doing it and getting it over with.  I clearly understand what happens if I miss treatment.  I don't like missing a day of treatment. And I don't like when other patients miss treatment. I know that their missing treatment is of no concern to me, but I worry about them. I also understand that "we" just get tired of doing this. I had to jump through a lot of hoops just to visit my child for a few days. I digress.  Monday night Brian started the dialysate prepping process..it takes several hours. Tuesday morning he found a plumber who was working on another unit to help get the dialysis machine to the apartment. Lol. Yay for assorted workmen around the condo!!  

Ok Sunday in Georgia. We got up and immediately started prepping for treatment. This time I sat at the table to insert the needles into my arm. I had no room for error. I had no more spare needles. And I could not miss a day. Jackpot!!  That venous needle went right in. Talk about a relieved Pat!  Went back to the bedroom, Brian hooked me up and I ran for about 3 hours. During that time Shawn had a light breakfast...Brian and I ate before we started. We planned on lunch for Fathers Day.  We found a restaurant in downtown Augusta, Whiskey Bar and Kitchen. While looking for restaurants, it seems a lot aren't open on Sunday in Augusta! Anyway. We headed back downtown. And perhaps the rest of the city was quiet, but downtown Augusta for Sunday brunch/lunch was jumping. 

We were seated, we passed on the mimosas and bloody Mary's, but did order the buffalo chicken dip (yum).  And we all got hamburgers. Shawn and I got burgers with pimento cheese and chili ..with waffle fries. Brian got a breakfast burger...hamburger with egg and bacon..with onion rings. A bit messy. Lol. I couldn't finish my burger..and Shawn ended up boxing all of the french fries to take with her. 

We left the restaurant and headed to the car. This guy walked past us and I noticed he was carrying something that looked good. I stopped him and asked him what it was. It was a banana pudding cake. And that's exactly what it looked like!  He directed us to the bakery in the next block. And we headed there. The name of the place is Sweets on Main. The tables in front were full and there was a steady stream of people going in. We sent Shawn in. She got a slice of the banana pudding cake and 2 cupcakes. One was a key lime cupcake.  Did I mention it was a local Black owned business? Did I mention that they just opened this month? Did I mention the banana pudding cake was devine?  

Our next stop was a grocery store. You know we always get groceries for the kid. This time the challenge was she has no kitchen. She is staying in a hotel room with a microwave and a refrigerator. In a small town...a village. Once we started looking, there are quite a few options for microwaves.  Also there are the bags of tuna. Some cold cuts. And produce.  She also has all of the produce stands nearby so she can offset the processed microwaveable food with fresh fruits and veggies. Oh yeah. She took the left over tomato and cucumber salad back with her. (I seasoned the salad with salt and pepper packs I scarfed from the breakfast area!) 

We headed back to our hotel so Shawn could pack up her stuff. And she helped Brian pack up the dialysis machine and put it in the car. We then headed to Edgefield. We hadn't seen Shawn's room on Friday. This time we went to her room...on the 2nd floor... as we helped unload the groceries. We spent about an hour there with her, then it was time to go. We wanted to make sure we started back to Augusta before it got dark. We hugged and kissed and said our goodbyes and lamented at how quickly the time passed. And yes, I started missing her as soon as we drove off :-(  

We headed back. Stopped at Bojangles to see what that was about. I was very underwhelmed. Bojangles is a fast food chicken and biscuit restaurant. But I probably was still kinda full from the giant hamburger I had earlier in the day. Went back to the hotel watched the basketball game and then went to bed.  We would pack in the morning. We had time to spare. Checkout time was noon. Our flight out of Atlanta was at 6:00 PM. The drive from Augusta to Atlanta is about 2.5 hours. 

That's it for today. I know I know. It's almost over. One more Georgia entry. And then it's  back to life, back to reality....stay cool and enjoy your day!!

The "More Georgia", edition.

Good Tuesday morning. Yes. Back to back entries. I need to write before I forget.  Saturday. The plan was to get the treatment out of the way on Saturday morning then go shopping for some items for Shawn. Brian set up the machine and I prepped. I inserted the arterial needle. Get the blood flashback.  And then attempted too insert the venous needle. After 3 tries I had to stop. I couldn't find the track.  I think part of the problem was that I was reclining in the bed instead of sitting in a chair. I was frustrated. Brian was frustrated. But. I had done treatment on Friday so I could miss Saturday, even if I really didn't want to. I just needed to watch my fluid intake. We would try again Sunday morning. 

We passed on the hotel breakfast and headed to the Waffle House. We don't have Waffle House in Michigan nor in Nevada  and you have to get to mid-Ohio to get to one. But In Georgia?  Oo-wee. They were on every block..or so it seemed. Lol. So yeah. We headed to the nearest Waffle House for breakfast. Best scrambled eggs with cheese!  

Shawn asked to go to Target to get a swimming suit. She forgot to bring hers from Edgefield to Augusta and wanted to swim in the hotel pool. So we headed to Target. She picked up a few items in addition to the swim suit. As we were leaving her purse broke. The purse she's been carrying belonged to my mother, her grandmother. She's been carrying it since before she left for Illinois. As we were cleaning out the closets, she found the purse and liked it. Of course she could have anything she found that had belonged to Grammy. <3. Anyway, we had to convince her to back into Target and a new purse. And she will get her treasured purse repaired. 

We then headed to Cabellas. She needed some new hiking boots...boots she needs to wear out in the field. And after trying to walk in that rut filled field, I certainly understand the need for special shoes.  She also mentioned that she runs through socks pretty fast. So. Dad treated her to a new pair of boots. Apparently the boots she had been wearing and had worn out, she'd been using them since her New Mexico dig...in 2010. Lol. She showed the shoes to us. They seen a lot of love and it was time for that pair to be retired. Dad also got her some hiking socks. We'll see how long they last. 

After we left Cabellas we headed to downtown Augusta. It had a small town feel. The streets were boulevards, with parking in the middle of the street. There was a statue of James Brown..I couldn't convince Brian to stop. :-(  And we passed near a farmers market. We basically just did a drive by tour of downtown. As we were figuring out how to get back to the hotel, we saw a street that passed near the hotel. I need to let you know that Augusta is not a grid city. There is no straight line to or from anywhere. Lol. And one day I'll tell you about my obsession with maps and and my special internal GPS talent. (I rarely get lost and if I've been someplace once, I can get back again..even after decades). 

Once returned to the hotel we had cold pizza and tomato and cucumber salad (remember the fresh veggies I bought ?) for lunch.  After a bit, the family headed to the pool. Unfortuneatly there were a zillion kids there, so we passed.so we went back to the room and we napped. Lol. Woke up in time to head for the movies. Shawn wanted to see Captain America - Civil War. We convinced her that we didn't mind seeing it a second time. And yes, seeing it a second time did not disappoint. What surprised us was how crowded the theater was for a movie that had been out for so long. But a good movie is a good movie. Spoiler alert!  I still hoped War Machine didn't hit the ground...even though I knew the outcome from seeing it before. :-(  

After the movie we went back to the hotel, ate our leftovers from the Italian restaurant and more tomato and cucumber salad. And went to sleep. All the time I was concerned about trying to do treatment on Sunday. I was going to make some adjustments. There was no room for any issues.....

That's it for today. It 7:00 AM I. Las Vegas and its 92 degrees. ;-(  But!!!  The humidity is 10. The humidity in Georgia was breathtaking.....pun intended. Ugh. Anyway. Have a wonderful day. We're gonna stay cool here. And we even don't have to get groceries. Hooray for freezing stuff!  Lol. And yes. There a just a few more entries for the trip. 

The "The Trip to Georgia. The Next Day(s)", edition

Good Monday morning. What a wonderful time we've had here in Augusta. I left off with us getting the rental car at Hartsfield Airport.  We made our way to the freeway and eventually got on the freeway to Augusta. No. I didn't get GPS. I'd mapped out the route before we left Las Vegas. And I used the map on the iPad. The trip was uneventful. We arrived around 5:00.  As soon as we entered the hotel, I could see all of my beautiful boxes of dialysis equipment behind the desk. We asked for assistance to get the  machine out of the car. We got a young man to help. He was surprised to receive the tip. That being said, he assisted us for the next 15 minutes!  He delivered the all the packages to us and unloaded them. And when we were trying to enter through the back door of the hotel he magically appeared and unlocked the door!  Lol. Anyway. After we got all the dialysis stuff and unpacked we headed out to dinner.  We let Shawn know we were in town. She wasn't able to meet us because she had a lecture that evening. But we would be driving to her dig site on Friday. 

Friday morning we woke up. While Brian was in the bathroom I noticed the largest black insect I'd ever seen on the ceiling. Huge!  As large as my hand. Brian went to the front desk. He returned with a broom. But by then the insect had disappeared. And we never saw it again. However. We always seemed to look up the entire time we were there!  Lol. Anyway. We needed to get to Shawn's location by 8:15 AM. She is in Edgefield, South Carolina. About 25 miles from our hotel. The route was pretty easy. Take the interstate across the Savannah River into South Carolina to exit 5 and head north. The interstate became the Strom Thurmond highway once we left Georgia. Once we exited the freeway we entered some kind of sort of rural land. Lots of churches. Lots of large nurseries. Lots of churches. Lots of roadside produce stands. Lots of churches.  And lots and lots of peach trees. Including signs for a local peach festival on Saturday. As a side note the speed limits changed frequently. Brian told me at one point a SC State police car was following him for a while and of course Brian was adjusting the speed of the car as directed. I was wondering why we sped up and slowed down. Eventually the police got tired of following us and u-turned away. 

We entered Edgefield. Little little town. Yet it had 2 car dealerships.  Lol. Before we knew it, the Edgefield Inn was in front of us...this is where the kid is staying. Text her to let her know we're there. She comes down, and other members of the team trickle down. Her advisor drives up.  Eventually the entire team arrives. The hotel is the staging location. We leave from there to go to the dig site. It's about a 10 minute drive. We turn into a field. Lol. Big ole sunny hilly rut-filled difficult to walk on field. Did I mention it was humid?  The field has several tents set up. One tent has a picnic table chairs. This is where the students unloaded the water coolers and chairs and started applying sunscreen and bug spray. One tent was where the excavation was occurring. There was another tent a ways away, but it was up a hill and it was hot and humid and the ground was horribly uneven. I wasn't heading there. There was a big trailer on the premises, on loan from a South Carolina university, a portajohn over by the fence. And way way in the back was an old abandoned bus. Shawn said it was a segregation bus. 

She was telling us about the site and the history. Lol. She was  in effect was giving us lecture about the subject. Her advisor gave us a binder about the dig site. We we duly impressed. But. It was hot and humid and I was tired of standing. Lol. We stayed about 20 minutes and they needed to get to work.  We headed out, retraced our steps to get back to the interstate. But. We got sidetracked by a roadside produce stand. You know I'm missing this in Nevada.  We purchased some peaches, tomatoes and cucumbers. Did I mention we had a kitchen with utensils in our hotel room?  I made a tomato and cucumber salad. :-D  Once we returned to Augusta, we stopped at Target to get some supplies and Brian set up the dialysis machine. I started my treatment. And just before it finished Shawn came to spend the weekend with us!  I always get a 1 bedroom suite with the soda bed. Again, if you look, you can one at a reasonable rate. And this time were staying at the Home2 Suites by Hilton. Not bad. 

After treatment we headed off to dinner. We went to a local Italian restaurant, Giuseppe's. Small, but crowded. And the food was delicious! And we ordered a pizza to go for later and whatnot. Besides, the kid likes pizza. Which sounds greedy because we all had to take home the food we didn't finish. Lol. We came home all full. Made plans for Saturday. And went to bed. The kid was tired..she'd been at work all day. And work for her was excavating in the hot humid weather for 7 hours. Oh yeah. It was cut short. Thunderstorms rumbled through the area. Brian and I were watching the trees bending during the gusts of wind while I was doing treatment ... Hoping there'd be no power outages.....

That's it for today. Long again!  Dialysis angle?  I did dialysis. In the bed. I don't like doing it in the bed, but that's it for traveling. More to come later. Heading back to hot as hell Las Vegas later on today. Lol. Enjoy your day!!! 

The "The Trip to Georgia: Day One"

Good Friday afternoon. We are in Augusta Georgia and I am dialyzing. It was time.  I last had treatment on Wednesday morning. Thursday was a travel day. So today is the day. Thursday started early. Our flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta was scheduled to leave at 6:00 AM. Since we were traveling with the dialysis equipment we wanted to get to the airport early. And then I stopped typing so now it's Saturday morning. I have to do treatment in the bed because there is no recliner here and I need to be able to lay prone if my blood pressure drops...so bed it is. Also because of the placement of the machine I can't sit up in the bed.  I wasn't totally uncomfortable doing treatment but it was difficult to type. So here I am finishing up this entry on Saturday AM. And yes, it's still worth it. And yes I had a sucessful treatment yesterday. 

So let's start again. We got up at 3:00AM Thursday morning to finish packing to get to the airport by 4:00AM. We'd seen some pretty funky security lines at McCarran plus I had the medical equipment. We get to the airport and the Delta area outside...OUTSIDE...had a ridiculously long line...at 4:00 AM!!  So this is where I admit that if I am flying with my dialysis machine I fly first class. This came in handy. First we needed someone to get the machine out if the car. I wrangled up a ticket agent just before he signed in. He got it out and directed me to the first class line. It was just me and another guy. And we didn't have to wait. Just ignore the glares of the people waiting. :-(  Once it was realized we had the oversized, medical equipment we were led inside. Again there were two agents dedicated to first class and we didn't wait long. And yes the lines inside the airport were damn impressive...at 4AM. Delta took care of us...handled our medical equipment..the dialysis machine, a suitcase with parts and the handcart..all at no charge.  Plus they had snacks at the counter. I put some in my bag. In other words, check in was a non issue. 

I requested a wheelchair. We waited a bit for it, but not long. And look. When we got to security, it moved quickly. No line. The line was at the airlines check in!!  All being said, we got to the gate around 5:00 AM. Started boarding around 5:20. Settled in with a Bloody Mary and waited for take off. The 10k feet limit for electronics was no more, but no cellular service and the wifi was free. I'm still old school so the phone and iPad were set to airplane mode. And when I thought we were at 10k feet, the music started!  Soon the flight attendants started breakfast service. We're given warm damp towels to wipe our hands, then we were shown our breakfast choices on a tablet (!). Anyway. I recommend trying first class at least once. Every now and then it actually pays off.  

The flight was wonderfully uneventful. And we arrived 30 minutes early!  Lol. Who does that?  My wheelchair was waiting for me right as we got off the plane. A wonderful young lady greeted me.  I found she was a student at Georgia State University. We got to the luggage carousel, got everything except the dialysis machine. It was over at the oversize luggage area.  We rounded up a young man with a cart and we all headed to the tram which goes to the car rental city. We looked like a luggage parade!  Look. All car rental companies under the same roof. The logistics of how to get the dialysis machine there was solved by the 2 young people helping us. They put the dialysis machine in the wheelchair!  Perfect!  Brian pushed the wheelchair loaded with the dialysis machine and our 2 small personal suitcases and the hand cart. I had the giant rolling suitcase o' parts. Lol. 

We got to the Enterprise counter. The attendant had me use the kiosk since I'd reserved a car. That was pretty quick. Then we were directed to the area with cars. Someone greeted us as we appoached, took my piece of paper, walked us to a bank of SUVs, picked out one and that was it. I rounded up a young man passing by to help load the machine in the car and we were off...trying to find our way from Atlanta to Augusta!  I need to mention that every person that lifted that 100 pound box recused a $10.00 tip. Yes. I was prepared for it. And it was worth it and I appreciated each and every person that assisted us. Oh yeah. Enterprise also had an exotic car area. I briefly though about getting a Masserati, but our luggage wouldn't fit. I eyed the Mercedes, but again, the luggage. ;-D

That's it for today. This is long. And it yeah. It's humid. Lol. You'd think I'd never been in high humidity before, the way I'm complaining. But I've been away from it.  And I wasn't missing it. And even though Las Vegas will be hotter than hell when we return, it won't be freaking humid!!!  Lol. 

Have a great day...more to come..of course!  

The "I Have a Story About That", edition.

Good Wednesday morning. Hey. I'm in my dialysis chair this morning. Doing the one finger typing thing. But you're asking why is she dialyzing this morning?  Oh. And I'm playing music. Tavares, "Check it Out". So I'm doing treatment to get it out of the way. Tomorrow is a travel day. Heading to Georgia/South Carolina to visit Shawn. Wheeeeee!!!  Ahem. The young maintenance guy is coming by early this afternoon to put my dialysis machine in the car. Remember that the total weight of the machine and it's case is 99 pounds. Just under the 100 pound airline limit. Lol. Anyway. No need for Brian or Dad to try to lift the case. So this means my tipping frenzy starts. I'm asking random people to lift this thing for the duration of the trip. Anyway.  This is why I'm doing treatment now. 

Once treatment is over Brian has to remove the cartridge, clean the machine and then remove some parts so it's ready for packing. Which means we have to carry a screwdriver. We have an additional suitcase for the removed parts...like the IV pole. And I have to pack medical supplies...needles, syringes, syringes with needles, tape, gauze, blood pressure machine, thermometer, gloves, masks, and other stuff. Last time we had 5 pieces of luggage, including the hand cart. We weren't charged for the extra luggage because it was medical equipment. And this doesn't include the stuff that NxStage and my dialysis clinic are sending to the hotel. Portable?  Lol. Ok. It's still better than going to a dialysis clinic. It's my life and I'm claiming it!!  

So what do I have a story about. It's a story about alligators in Disney World. The first time Brian and I went, I was pregnant. 1989.  Yes I made the reservations before I knew I was expecting.  Anyway. We stayed at the Disney Inn. Yep. This was a while ago. The Disney Inn is now a resort for Armed Forces (Shade of Green) on vacation. Anyway. We drove. As we pulled up to the hotel there was an alligator sunning himself in front of the hotel!! ( D.M.S.R by Prince! Just came on). We got the message. Also during this vacation we brought our golf clubs. I opted out of playing. Too hot and humid for a pregnant lady. Brian however, took some lessons. I sat in cart and was his groupie!!  The lessons were also videotaped. Later on during the stay he played 9 holes. Oh. Did I mention that when we checked in our clubs were taken to the golf club house where they cleaned them and put Disney tags on them?  Anyway. At one point Brian shot an errant ball into the woods. He took the drop. Because signs were posted everywhere. And I mean everywhere about being beware of alligators. Since we'd been greeted by an aligator, we took the signs at face value. Had a ball gone into a water hazard, he'd have taken the drop on that. 

I'm surprised And dismayed Disney didn't have those signs around the lake near The Grand Floridian resort. The aligator snatching the two year is horrendous. I can't imagine. It is so upsetting. And on our last visit, we had dinner at a restaurant at the Grand Floridian. On the waterfront. And we're asking is this the same lake where people are paddle boating and jet skiing on?  I'm just having a hard time with this.   And is this the same lake that we crossed in a ferry to get to the Magic Kingdom?  I'm just devastated. 

Well that's it for today. Our flight leaves at 6 AM. I'm just giddy about seeing Shawn!!  She's going to take us to her dig site. We're excited about this. As long as she's been archeology-ing, we've never seen her at work!  

Have a great day!!!  Signing off with Teena Marie, "Ohh Wee". 

The "Misunderstanding My Xzibit Meme"

Good Monday morning. That sure is a clunky title. But yeah. It the subject. And no, I as a person don't feel that was, but I as one of many who are on dialysis do feel that way. The text of the meme reads, "Yo dawg, Heard you were dying of kidney disease.  Nobody gives a fuck". Of course I tried to explain what predicated the meme. I was lamenting the fact that over 650,000 people in the United States  are in complete and utter kidney failure. The point of no return. 650k+ of us on dialysis. 650k+ people doing dialysis trying to stay alive. The majority doing incenter dialysis 3 days a week for up to 5 hours on each of those 3 days. Having fluid removed from their systems. Having blood moved out of their bodies to be cleaned and then returned to their bodies. And their organs being shocked by the entire process...each and every time they do dialysis. 

For the people doing home hemodialysis, they do treatment up to 7 days a week for 2,3,4 hours a day depending on their conditions. For people doing peritoneal dialysis, they must do exchanges 4-5 times a day otherwise fluid builds up in their system. Oh and let's not forget each and every one of us are highly susceptible to infection. Life threatening infections. Dialysis wears our hearts out. Our blood pressures go up and they go dangerously down.  Take off too much fluid and we cramp. We cramp like you've never experienced. Imagine cramping horribly every other day. And to add insult to injury, you're stuck in a chair with 2 needles in one arm and and blood pressure cuff on the other arm. Prisoner!! 

So the point of the meme?  I mentioned that more often than not  prayer requests for every illness get posted on my Facebook timeline for every disease and condition under the sun. Except End Stage Kidney Disease..also known as kidney failure. How is it that 650,000+ people who have a condition for which there is no cure are left off these lists?  Is it an oversight or are we being overlooked?  People think dialysis is a dirty little secret condition? Or is it people don't know about it?  The discussion was initiated in one of my support groups. Honestly, it wasn't the first time. 

The text of the message in the group that initiated the discussion. 

" Am I politically incorrect? Am I insensitive?.. am I unfair? .. or, worse, am I utterly out-of-line? ... 

Or, do you, the unheard, unsung, unrecognised, unfriended masses on dialysis sometimes feel 'left out' of the national/international health or illness frame? For one, I think you are. 

Every weekend, there is a walk for breast cancer, a bike ride for prostate cancer, a fun run for hearts, a telethon for kids hospitals, a football game for motor neurone disease, an intersection can-rattle for the disabled ... but, I cannot remember - ever - more than a whimper for you ... the millions who, for a minimum of 3 times every week, for 4-5 hours (or more) at a time, for week after week, for year after year, and with some of you reaching into your 4th decade of this ... sit, connected to a dialysis machine. 

Of all the chronic illnesses, yours is the most unending ... yet who walks for you?

How can you get more exposure, support, and public sympathy on the inter/national agenda? 

It saddens me, every day, to see you .. my heroes .. unsung.

Recently, an international icon died ... with Parkinson's disease, yes, .. but also ON dialysis. The icon was revered! .. but the circumstance of his passing were ignored. I do not dispute his greatness ... not for a moment ... but I dare suggest that the sorrow and plight of 'the circumstance' may have demanded more attention. 

Had he died of some a rare cancer, I dare to think there may have been national/international fund-raisering walks within a week. 

That he died on dialysis passed un-noticed. 

As that, to me, is sad ... any ideas?"

I've been blogging about ESRD since January 2013.  I want you to know and understand what it is and what someone who has it has to go through. How it is clearly life changing. And I want you to pass it on. I'd like you to be involved. When I was in Detroit, I got quite a few pledges for walking for the National KIdney Foundation...close to $2000.00 in 2 years. And that was great.  I shouldn't complain. But I'd have preferred your presence, walking with me. And here I am in Las Vegas, which does not have a chapter of the NKF, I have to work through Southern California. *sigh* 

So. Anyway. When posting the meme, I wasn't I wasn't inferring that my friends and family don't give a hoot. But I'd like you to help me with remembering and acknowledging ESRD. Spread the word. Awareness of ESRD saves lives. It can help research to make the dialysis process less harsh. It can lesson the number of people who,have a heart attack during dialysis. That was the point of the meme. 

I posted the meme on the groups page. Lots and lots of likes by people with ESRD. Understand though, there are hundreds of thousands of people on dialysis who do feel that nobody gives a hoot. 

And finally, I want to acknowledge the people who responded to the post. It means a lot to me. Thank you. 

That's it for today. Enjoy your day...and be grateful your kidneys are working. 

The "I Voted in the Mall", edition.

Good Saturday evening!  Yes. Saturday evening. It was on my mind.  Plus I'm going to be busy tomorrow so why not knock this out now?  Nevada has a primary election on June 14. Early voting started in late May. Isn't that something?  So different from Michigan. And early voting locations are all over the city. We are not limited by where we live or precinct..at least for early voting. We even got a notice that voting would be available at some grocery stores over the Memorial Day weekend. How cool is that?  

The last election, in 2014, we voted early at a mall that's a far distance from where we live. This time we went to the mall closest to us. The original plan was to go to yet another mall after we left deep water fitness, but I wasn't feeling well after. I digress. 

We walked into the mall and not to far from the entrance was the voting area. There were people set up with laptops. One of the clerks called me over and asked my name. He looked up the name on the computer and asked me to verify my date of birth. He then printed out a sticker with my name, address, date of birth and some other information, handed it to me and asked me to verify it. Once I verified the information, I was given a key card....like what you use for a hotel room. 

Once I have the card I am directed to a voting machine by a guy with American flags. Like the guy directing the airplanes. Yeah. That was just the guy being different. But. In Detroit, each precinct has 6 machines and it can cause a backlog during a big election. You know you've waited over 30 minutes to vote. Here, there were about 12-15 voting machines.  

I go to the machine. I enter the key card into a slot in the voting machine. The card determines the ballot I get. A Democratic ballot for the area I live in. Once I insert the card keg, my ballot appears on the TOUCH SCREEN. Yes, a touch screen. Not a scantron where I need a pen to fill in a circle next to my selection.  Each elected position has its own page. I touch the name I want to vote for, then touch the "next" button. And yes there is a "back" button if I need it. Once I finish, I am notified that there were some positions I didn't selected, but that's ok. I'm asked to verify my choices. Once I verify, I accept and that's it. I take the card out, give it to the lady by the exit and she hands me a "I voted" sticker. The entire process was less than 10 minutes. Using the scantron method adds time to the individual voter process. And I don't have to hand my ballot to someone and stand there while the machine reads my ballot. 

I'm impressed with the technology. I can vote anywhere in the greater Las Vegas area.  The network is county wide. And Clark county is huge!  There were no glitches. My name and location determined which ballot I was given. It makes Detroit look horribly backwards. That being said, Detroit did not..does not invest in infrastructure as it should. And the idea of early voting over the course of weeks is absolutely brilliant. But I guess when "people" want to suppress votes, the early voting process will not occur. And oh. Election Day voting is at a location near where I live. But the early voting process?  How convenient is it if I am shopping at the mall. And decide to vote.  I like it. 

On the dialysis front, I had digestive issues today. I'm not sure where it came from. I tried chicken sausage for the first time today, so that may have been it. Belchy and nauseous. Ugh. I ended up sleeping the day away. And then I started cramping. Geez. The cramping may have been from being dehydrated so I'm drinking water now. Trying to maintain that balance of drinking to much to not drinking enough is a challenge. Remember, because my kidneys don't work, I don't pee. So all fluids just hang around until I dialyze. And I'm sure being in the desert doesn't help. The good news is, is I did my workout today. Yay! 

Well that's it for today. Or tonight. Hah!  Have a great day!  

The "Salmagundi", edition

Good Thursday morning!  Who remembers salmagundi?  No, it's not the name of a person.  Well maybe there is a Sal Magundi out there somewhere. Anyway. Back in the day I was that kid that watched Channel 56, the PBS channel in Detroit. I got the word salmagundi from watching the telethons. There would be categories of items...fashion, travel, restauranrs, etc. and the there was the salmagundi category. I had to look up the word. And thanks PBS..always making sure we were learning no matter what the programming. So what is the definition of salmagundi?  There are 2. The first is - a salad plate of chopped meats, anchovies, eggs and vegetables arranged in rows for contrast and a salad dressing. The second is -  A heterogeneous mixture : potpourri.  So even though definition one sounds tasty, it's the second definition that I'm using today. A potpourri of topics, salmagundi. 

I'm doing ok with my workouts, but Tuesday I had trouble breathing. I don't know why. And I mean the "I wish I had  oxygen nearby" trouble breathing. WTH?  And I don't think what  I was doing was extremely strenuous. Wall lunges, wall  push aways, resistance weight pulls....I eventually felt better and continued. I was frightened while it was occurring. I'll be asking about it today at my monthly checkup. It has never happened at the previous sessions nor had it happened during deep water fitness. 

My trainer also has me adjusting how I eat. Cutting out snacks isn't so bad so far. It's the eat something every 3-4-5 hours that's an issue. I'm not hungry. I guess I need to eat smaller meals?  And yes, I am keeping a food journal. Sometimes I have to push back on foods, particularly whole grains or high potassium, like avocado. But avocado deviled eggs do sound tasty. 

After deep water fitness on Monday, Wednesday, Friday we may go to breakfast. Las Vegas - Henderson area has a lot of breakfast restaurants. Yesterday we stopped at an Omelet House not to far from the aquatic center. This place uses 4 eggs in the omelet. I learned a while ago to ask for a baby omelet. That has only 3 eggs. :-/  And they serve home made potato chips. And you have a choice of pumpkin bread or banana nut bread in addition to toast, English muffin and biscuit. I ordered a baby Denver omelet. And the banana nut bread. I ate about a third of the the bread. And about a third of the omelet. Both were good, but I got full. There is no need to serve that much food. Oh. And as we're paying we noticed a photo of two of the items they feature. The monster omelet..uses 12 eggs and includes almost everything in it. And the monster burger, a 3 pound hamburger. And that's without the bun and fixin's. It had been a while since we'd been to an Omelet House. I now remember why. 

Shawn made it safely to South Carolina. She drove alone and had to stop over night. Of course we were concerned but she was pretty good at communicating with us. We will be visiting her next week. And yes, it was at her request. We've been visiting her in the spring since she's been living in Illinois. What happens is the visit takes us to sites she is working at. Like Springfield. This time it's Edgefield, SC. We'll be staying in Augusta, GA. It's about 25 miles away. Shawn wants us to visit the dig site and we will. She's instructed us on what we need to wear, so we will be prepared. We talked last night and she's excited. She will be a lead on this project. Oh. And as always her lodging is included, but this time she has to provide her food. She's staying at a hotel..and they do serve breakfast, but she is on her own for other meals. At least the hotel room has a refrigerator and microwave. A mini-fridge. Lol. 

Last night we went to the pool and jacuzzi. It was around 100 degrees at 10PM, but there was a nice breeze. Go to the pool first. This time since we went a while after the sun set, the water wasn't real warm. It was...nice. Then the jacuzzi. Bask in the warm water jets. Then finish up back in the pool.   Lol that relaxes you just before bedtime. And yes, I slept well last night. 

Finally, I need to shop for some stuff at Trader Joe's. Per my trainer. On the dialysis front, I mentioned that my monthly team meeting is today. I got my labs and phosphorus has spiked. I'm at a loss as to why. I may have an idea, but I'm not looking forward to everybody chastising me. You know, I'm grown. I get it. Geez. Well it's still hot here. And since we're not at 109 anymore, we're not at a heat advisory. We're going down to 106!!!  Whoo hoo let's celebrate!!  Lol. Anyway. Have a wonderful day.  

:-) 

Yes I am doing this. 

These do look good. As long as I don't go overboard. 

The "Getting Fit and More", edition.

Good Sunday morning!  Yesterday, on my way home from sorority meeting I noticed the car thermometer read 109 (!).  My drive home takes me down Las Vegas Blvd between downtown and the strip. I turn off Las Vegas Blvd before I hit the strip. But the area between downtown and strip is always interesting. The pawn shop where  Pawn Stars is filmed is there, along with 648 wedding chapels. Well. Maybe not quite that many. Anyway. The Pawn Stars shop is always busy. And sure enough, even though it was 109 degrees, there was a line of people waiting (in the wretched sun) to get in....and more people coming. You just know the "stars" of the show aren't there on Saturdays...or Sundays. There's a whole tourist industry just based on that pawn shop!  

So.  Getting fit. I've realized I've gone backwards in feeling phyically well. Since I was ill late last summer and fall, I'm crazy weak, my stamina is nonexistent and my blood pressure is low. I can't stand for long periods of time. I'm not sure I'd be able to do the zoo walk anymore. :-(  I don't like this. Even grocery shopping is a challenge. *sigh*. I am doing better in deep water fitness. It's not wearing me out as much. I still thought I needed more. 

Brian started Crossfit a few months ago. He had me come and watch. I think he wanted me to join the group. The trainer wanted me join. Crossfit looked way to intense and difficult to me, but I though I'd be able to ease into it with modified routines. I mentioned Crossfit to my doctor. She chuckled and said maybe eventually. Lol. I was actually relieved. But I still needed the activity. A gym doesn't do it for me. At least not yet. I decided to research personal trainers. I found one that sounded promising. Tony Cress.  He has a gym in Henderson. 

Three weeks ago we stopped at the gym in the home from deep water fitness. The front of the gym is all window and a guy greeted us with a smile as we entered. He introduced himself, Tony Cress. I explained why I was there and why I wanted a personal trainer. And what my limitations were being on dialysis regarding my renal diet. He says he has just the trainer for me.  He immediately calls her and she shows up within 5 minutes!  I mean she drives up!  We're Introduced to Gaylynn. Tony explains my needs to her and she accepts the challenge. I am to come back the next week. 

So. I show up on Friday, after deep water fitness, expecting an evaluation. Gaylynn greets me with a hug and yes I got the evaluation  and binder with a chart of foods that are identified as best, better, good, fair and questionable...and pages of photos and directions of some exercises. But wait. There's more!  We get started with the workout!  That's fine except I'm not dressed for it...meaning I'm wearing sandals. And not wearing workout clothes. ..and I'm whipped from an hour of deep water fitness....Patty, the deep water fitness instructor, decided we needed to do a marathon that Friday.  But. I go ahead and start my first workout with my personal trainer. My routines didn't seem that difficult...until I started the repetitions. OMG. That wore me out!  Lol. But I did it with minimal whining. At the end of the session, Gaylynn stretched me out. Feels good! And instructed me to keep a food journal. And we schedule my days for Thursdays so I don't come in on the same day as deep water fitness. 

So this past Thursday I arrive dressed to work out and I have my food journal. We go over that. I'm to switch out my bagels for English muffin, cut out soda...I don't drink that much anyway. And most of what I ate was fine..although she frowned at my baked beans, but acknowledged it was at a picnic. I also need to write down the the times I eat. Then we got started. And again I am dismayed at how easily I get tired doing the repetitions. I am supposed to do these exercises at home 2-3 times a week...not on the days we swim. And..she videoed me with my phone doing the exercises so I have a record of what to do and so Brian can coach me. 

The time seemed to go pretty fast. And I whined and Gaylynn pushed. And I did what she asked. And the odd thing is afterwards I felt pretty good and had a sense of accomplishment. I'm going to like this personal trainer thing. And here's a bonus. Brian can join me and he'll get his own workout plan...for no extra cost!  Woot!  

There are other people working out in the gym while we're there. Tony is also there working with other people. Equipment all around the gym. Some of that stuff looks intimidating!  Lol. And yes, Brian comes with me. His choice. Remember, he's my helicopter husband! Lol. And. Tony has a big ole Iowa Hawkeyes banner on the wall. I walked in on Thursday singing "Hail to the victors!"  Rofl. And oh yeah. Gaylynn is originally from Michigan...Lapeer!  And of course I know where Lapeer is. My cousin lived in Lapeer and we drove through Lapeer getting to the cottage!  Small small world isn't it?  And. Gaylynn trains the gospel singer we saw at the House of Blues Gospel Brunch, Patty Pennington...who's from Detroit. Lol. It's a small world after all!  

Oh yeah. Brian did Crossfit yesterday and he wanted to go to the jacuzzi. No question we were going to go once the sun went down. I wanted to go around midnight when the temps finally got into the low 80s. He dragged me out at 8. Temp dropped to 102.  :-/  I opted out of the hot tub and went into the pool. The pool water was lukewarm!  Lol. I can imagine how warm it must have been during the day. I did go into the hot tub for a moment, but then we went back to the pool. Night time swimming is kinda nice. ;-)  

That's it for today. The whole workout thing IS the dialysis angle. Trying to build up my strength. This has got to be a positive by me feeling better and functioning better. Have a great day. I think we're just gonna get up to 107 today!  Whoo hoo!! Lol? 

My trainer, Gaylynn

Tony 

The "It's Hot Out Herre", edition.

Good Thursday morning!  It's officially desert summer. Heat advisory warnings. Yay!  This week deep water fitness is on break so we wandered over to the condo pool and hot tub early in the morning. Before the sun hits the area. I am such a water woman. Love. To. Swim. It helps that I am so bouyant. I can float on my back with my hands behind my head and fall asleep in the water. One of my special talents! 

We went to see XMen Apocalypse in 3D yesterday. It did not disappoint.  Yes, I'm a 3D movie fan. Anyway. I've mentioned that I'm late to the Marvel world and really late to XMen. Yes I saw the first and second XMen movies but I wasn't impressed and too many things I didn't understand. But summer of 2014...lol. Just got distracted by my dad waving a feather duster at me like a sword. Anyway. Summer of 2014 Brian dragged me to see XMen Days of Future Past...because his movie buddy, Shawn, was gone. He bribed me with 3D. I went. I was hooked. The 3D was good, but the story was good. And so here I am now. I enjoyed the movie yesterday.  Had some things explained. Learned the origin of some characters. And it was just a good entertaining movie. And as always, the casinos have the senior (over 50) Wednesday's, so tickets are only $4.00.  Well 3D was $7.00. But that's fine. And we get senior discounts at concessions. Lol. Once they gave us so much popcorn we took home like a bag!!  Lol. 

The countdown for our trip to Augusta, Georgia has started. I got a call from the dialysis machine company, NxStage, this morning  they verified the location they are to send my supplies. Now before you get too excited, they only send the major components. We still have to transport a considerable amount of stuff. Oh and the dialysis center sends some stuff also. I need to bring my syringes, needles, gloves, antiseptic pads, gauze, Purel, and heparin. And the sharps disposal container. And a thermometer. And some tools to reassemble some parts back on the cycler. And the cart to tote around the cycler. And our luggage!!  Lol.  And we have to go to the dialysis center here in Vegas to pick up the travel case for the cycler. Lots to do still. It'll get done. And yes, I've alerted the hotel that I'll have medical equipment delivered there. 

Our itinerary has us arriving in Atlanta around 1:00 PM, Eastern time. I'll let you do the time change.  We'll pick up the car and the drive to Augusta. I know you're asking why don't I just fly to Augusta. I'm leary about transferring flights with my dialysis machine. I don't want it to get separated from me. Anyway. The drive to Augusta looks to be about 2.5 hours. It'll be like driving from Chicago to Champaign-Urbana.  Shawn will be at her dig site which is about 30 miles NE of Augusta. We're going to drive the dig site on  Friday. We're excited as we've never visited her on site!  Archeologist at work!!! After Friday we'll have for her the weekend. When we visit Shawn I always book a suite at the hotel so she can spend the night with us if she wants. This allows everyone to have their space. Not sure what else we'll be doing in Augusta, but I'm sure we'll find something. And no, upgrading to most suites don't cost that much. One day I'll explain my hotel philosophy. 

So the dialysis angle is the travel. Oh yeah. I've started working with a personal trainer. Friday was my first day. I was appalled at how quickly I got tired doing "easy" things. But I guess that's why I'm going. I need to increase my stamina and strength. I recovered from being sick last fall, but I still get tired. This has to stop. I'm not sure I'd be able to do the zoo walk now. >:-(  The trainer is also adjusting my diet, keeping in mind my renal diet restrictions. I know what I should and shouldn't be eating. And that's at odds with what I like!!  Random statement. I don't like quinoa. Anyway. This along with deep water fitness should help a lot. 

That's it for today. High today will be 105 with the highs going higher each day. Oh. And I'll go into yet more detail about the trainer, the gym and how I ended up there. ;-)  Have a great day. It may be hot but the humidity is less than 10. So instead of melting, I just fry..ouch.