Usher, "Yeah". Wakes you up and makes you dance. Nothing Lil Jon hollering "YEAH". Lol. Ok. Being at the mercy of staff. I had never looked at being at dialysis in that light. I'm not saying I was oblivious, but I was in the chair being treated. I go in, set up my area. Get the earbuds for the TV and plug them in. Get the earbuds for the iPad (I'll explain 2 earbuds later). Get my candy, blanket and phone out. Fiddle around with the TV and cable to get the station I want. Wash my hands and access , then get into the chair.
The Moments, "Look At Me (I'm in Love)". Lots of strings. Now it's time for the staff to do their job. The blood pressure cuff is put on. Take standing and sitting pressure. They wipe the access area with the alcohol swabs. Remove the scabs on the buttonholes ... No it doesn't hurt me. Although I guess it's painful to others. After the scabs are removed, the needles are inserted, then I'm hooked up to the machine. Now I'm held prisoner for at least 3.5 hours because even after time is up, I have to wait for someone to run me off the machine and take my blood pressure. After that happens, I get control back, because I can remove my needles. I had one tech attempt to teach me how to run myself off the machine but she never came back to my module. I think I'll ask her one day. That being said, there are some techs who work with us when we want more control over our treatment. :-)
The System, "Don't Disturb This Groove". Lots of synthetic sounds. Stark contrast between the Moments, but it still sounds good. :-) So after all of that care what pissed me off about being at the mercy of the staff? Not that it's been obvious as I observed the care and treatment of other patients. When the patients in the chair to the left of me change the channels on their tv, my channels are changed also. I'm in the middle of a news story, and the next moment I have an infomercial. The patient is aware of it. Once they're finished, the transfer of the remote needs to be done by the staff because, you know, we have needles in our arm hooked up to a machine...
Last week my partner and I asked a staff member to execute the transfer of the remote. She says to wait a minute while she tries to sign on to the computer. Ok. I can wait. Another staff member walks by and they strike up a conversation. Then another staff member. When they finish, she runs off. Comes back, calls a fixit guy to help her sign on. After 15 minutes (!). I ask a staff member passing by to transfer the remote. The assigned staff member then says she was going to get it after she logged in. I told her for all the time she spent not able to log in and having conversations, she could have walked 12 feet, got the remote and continued on her business. We actually argued about this. What? Of course I don't like being at the mercy of the staff and then pissing them off. I've seen where that goes. :-(
I'm not saying staff gets vindictive, but some patients are more difficult than others and the whining, fussing, yelling, cursing, refusing to follow the rules, demanding, etc. gets tiresome. Yes I've witnessed the patients doing this. The staff on the whole responds professionally. Some are able to address it better than others. ;-) I'm not here by choice. Compassion and understanding by those caring for us goes a long way. If you work with us, the drama levels will decrease. I know "we" get tiresome, but damn, we're on dialysis. Maybe you should sit in our chair and see how'd you feel.
I had a pretty nice weekend. I'll get to that later. For the hint, I went to a surprise birthday party! Signing off with Run DMC, "Walk This Way". Classic! Well, at least most of the snow is gone. :-)
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