Friday, February 6, 2009

Long and winding dialysis road

I cannot begin to describe how intense the training for home hemodialysis is. For us, it meant waking up at 6:45 to get to the training clinic by 8, getting out anywhere from 12:30 to 2 o'clock. We have arrived at the restaurant by 12pm for 10 years, so by the time we got there from training we were stressed and behind in our prep. Danny felt better so that was the carrot at the end.

We should have been home with the machine two and a half weeks ago, but our training nurse broke her foot, so for two weeks we were just coasting.

Last Friday, after a treatment full of problems, Danny decided that the modality of home hemodialysis was not for us. It is perfect for patients with normal hours, people who work during the day and get home in the evening, have dinner and then dialyse. For us, it was constant stress. So he decided to switch to in-clinic dialysis which means that he goes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to get treatment.

He started in-clinic yesterday. He had to be there by 6:30 and finished by 11:45. His treatment may become shorter after a couple of tests, but for now he has to dialize for four hours.

After his treatment he felt worn out but today he feels great! We think his body will get used to this modality after a few weeks of treatment. But we are already less stressed and that's great!