The "My Tech is Back After 6 Weeks. It's Gonna Be A Good Day", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Joy", Isaac Hayes.  One of those songs you forgot you liked until you hear it again after, oh, several decades :-)  So I'm settling into a dialysis routine. My appetite has come back...with a vengeance. I surf recipe websites. Let me tell ya, the web is the ultimate cookbook!!  Allrecipes is my go-to site. The recipes include nutrition info. That allows me to discard bad candidates at a glance. We've found a sloppy joe recipe without tomato products, mushroom lasagna, white sauce pizza, and I learned how to make killer enchiladas using tomatillos. :-) Tried chili with hominy. Sounded good on paper, but I hated the texture. Ugh. Makes me stick out my tongue just thinking about it. Yuck yuck.

"No Diggity", Blackstreet with Dr. Dre. Teddy Riley is talented as all get out. And he can put together a group.  Admit it, you liked Guy.  "Groove Me" always got the party started. As a matter of fact, I'm trying out a strawberry pudding today. Just like banana pudding...except I'm using strawberries. Well same concept. 

So one day in the chair, someone I'd never seen before came up to me and told me I needed to make decision on how I wanted dialysis. Huh?  She gave me some literature. Oh.  My choices included the catheter , which I had. According to the literature, the catheter is the worst selection ever in life and if you select it you are a loser. Well not quite those words, but I got the message. The next option was a graft. You know, I don't even recall how it worked, but the literature said it barely a step over the catheter. Hey, I fall for propaganda with the best of them. The literature called the fistula the GOLD STANDARD of dialysis. I'm all like, "Yeah, yeah I want that!!!11elelventy111!!!"  My tech had briefly explained fistulas to me and I'd been observing my fellow patients. I'd also seen the arm bulges after the needles came out and I'd also seen the bleed outs, but it was the GOLD STANDARD!!!!  

"You Haven't Done Nothing", Stevie Wonder. Do do wop, stand up and be counted"  Ack my foot is tapping and my head is bopping. Lol. And as a bonus observation, the gentleman in the chair directly across me always sleeps with his mouth open. Everyone sleeps with mouths closed. Lol. I'm the outlier who's always awake. So this someone who approached me with the literature is the lead social worker. She's all smiles all the time, has a bounce in her step, is always professional....and I find out she's a soror <3. I announce, "I want the fistula", with more confidence than I actually felt.  Everyone nods like I'd made the wisest decision I could have ever made.  I was actually scared of and repulsed  by fistulas, but the catheter had to go. Anyway, I barely said yes and was given the vascular surgeon's card, with the appointment already made. Rofl, I was a sitting duck. 

This happened the first week of December. I was scheduled for the out patient surgery December 6. I need to disclose that when I was in the hospital, someone tried to schedule me for a fistula. I wasn't having it. Didn't they know y kidneys would come back to life?  Sheesh. Ok. I'm not delusional anymore. Sometimes I wish I had got the fistula then, but I subscribe that everything happens when it's supposed to.  So no regrets. 

Photo of my fistula and photo of where the catheter used to be. Signing off with "I Just Want To Be", Cameo. I saw them in concert at Kings Domnion amusement park near Richmond Virginia.  The opening act was Roger Troutman featuring Zapp.  Yes the concert was exactly what you're thinking. A great time was held by all.  ;-D. And yeah, Roger went through the crowd in his tightie whities.  He went right past me. You are old school if you remember that. Lol.