The "Surviving the Weekend", edition.

Good Monday morning!  Just got back from deep water fitness. We've been away for a week. We had an appointment last Monday and then I spent the rest of the week at the dialysis center. Friday was my last day there.  So yeah. No deep water fitness last week. Anyway , I finished treatment, came home and rested. Then Brian and I headed to Circus Circus for the first day of the Home Dialyzors United conference. 

What is Home Dialyzors United?  Well it initially was a Facebook group I found for.. You guessed it..people who dialyzed at home.  "Home Dialyzors United, a 501(c)(3) non-profit patient organization, is the only dialysis patient organization dedicated to the home dialysis community. Our mission is:

To inspire, inform, and advocate for an extraordinary quality of life for the home dialyzor community." Its an informative community for those of us who dialyze at home, sharing information and issues with our machines, treatment, travel...and the list can go on. 

It was announced that this year's conference was being held in Las Vegas. Well, that was clearly a sign that we should attend. Lol. I registered me and Brian (care partner) and then we waited. And then I realized another organization I belong to, The Society, Inc was having its signature event that same weekend. What are the odds that everything happens at the same time?  Actually the odds are quite low. Lol lol. And again, all of this follows an intense week of treatment for me. Yay?  So as much as I was looking forward to the week, I was also dreading it. Wondering if I could last. Did I have the stamina to do it all. 

So back to Friday. I took a nap, but I was still tired. And I knew I'd be walking a nice long distance in Circus Circus to get to wherever the meeting rooms were. I did look up the map to get an idea of where the rooms were located. And know which valet parking area to go to. We got there, got directions to the meeting area. Did I mention Circus Circus has a Fright Dome Haunted house for Halloween and that was going on?  And that we had to walk past that line? And that Circus Circus is perpetually crowded and busy...like a circus?  Bwhahah. I digress.  I finally made it to the meeting rooms. I should add that the following days, the distance didn't seem as long. Lol. 

Friday was registration and meet and greet. I got my name tag and goodie bag, headed into the room and promptly sat down. I was winded. :-/  But I immediately met someone who I'd "met" online and we proceeded to have a friendly animated conversation. It was an absolute delight to talk to other home dialysis users and Brian got the opportunity to talk to other care partners! Win win for all!  

They had food out. I chuckled that some of the food wasn't  really dialysis approved...but being on home dialysis means are diets are nowhere as restricted as incenter.  We ate!  We met and talked with more people. I talked with Dr. Shuvo Roy, who is part of a team developing an artificial kidney (!)....I didn't know it at the time. We finally left around 7 PM. It had been a long day. And we needed to be back the next day at 8 AM. That being said, we didn't have the jet lag like the folks from the east coast..New York, Maryland, Florida, Michigan. And we didn't have to dialyze since I'd done it that morning. However, some of the attendees did need to dialyze.  

We got home, tired, but excited. It looked like this was going to be an informative conference. We were looking forward to it!  That's it for today. My body has to recover from the weekend and deep water fitness. More to follow tomorrow. And I suppose the entire blog is "on the dialysis front" today. Have a great day!