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!