Holiday Dialysis

We have just returned from our first break away after starting dialysis and while all went well (thank goodness) and we enjoyed having the nights off I was amazed how different it is to have to do the hospital trip again.
I am very thankful that we can have these breaks from home but I wasn’t prepared for how much your whole mindset changes. You go from feeling like an independent, “well” person to feeling like a “sick” person in an instant. You have very little control over your situation and frankly I didn’t like the fact that the nurses go about their business as if you aren’t a real human being. They attend to your needs but talk around you like you aren’t really there. Once you are in one of those chairs it is like you don’t really exist. There seems to be a lack of empathy amongst this lot of nurses anyway. I wasn’t really even asked how I was feeling or if I needed anything except on a very superficial level.I realise this is probably asking a bit much (they don’t want to become emotionally involved with patients) but when you are tied down to a chair for 5 to 6 hours you do need a bit of stimulation. There were 3 nurses for 5 chairs so it was if these ones where exactly overworked ! They were more interested in talking about who was going to do what shift and banging away on computers. I guess I expected a bit more for my money, silly me. I had been planning this break for months and couldn’t get out of that hospital fast enough.
Maybe I just had a bad experience with this batch of nurses but I did notice a huge difference between their attitude and that of the Volunteers that came in and gave us LONG AND LOVELY FOOT MASSAGES! It was absolutely heavenly and they talked and shared experiences for ages which was really terrific . I will remember their kindness for a long time.
All I can say is those of you planning to do home dialysis you won’t believe how much better you will feel mentally (not to mention physically) when you have control back in your life. You will no longer just be an arm in a chair connected to a machine the makes annoying demands now and then. You are a worthwhile human being.
Cheers 8)

Glad to hear you had a good vacation, Beachy.

My experience at the dialysis centre was very different than yours. I felt very much at home there, and I often chatted with nurses for long periods of time. They aren’t all like the one you went to. In fact, one misgiving I had about starting home hemo was that I wouldn’t have that contact anymore.

Pierre

Pierre, You must have a better patient to staff ratio than in the U.S. because in all the dialysis centers I have been in; I have yet to see staff have a chance to chat with patients other than a few words now and then when they reset a machine alarm or are holding sites etc.

Could be Marty. I think it’s one nurse for every 2 patients, plus they usually have a few floaters. Mind you, it was a non-acute dialysis centre, so maybe that makes a difference. And they are RNs only, no techs at all. Dialysis techs to us are what we call the machine technicians.
Pierre

G’day, I’m new on here, only finding it by going back to an Intro from ‘Mel’ (another? Northern NSW dialyser) on "ihatedialysis.com, where I think she was rather scared off byt the guy running it (understandably I might add!)
…anyway, where did you go for the hol, beachy?
I’ve been home dialysing since Nov’05, but switched to nocturnal just over 2 weeks ago. I’d like to go away, but having to drop back to 3 x 5 doesn’t sound to inviting, after the great figures I’m already getting from the 3 x8; 1 x6 I’ve done.

Hi Bear
Holidayed and dialysed at Noosaville. Think I am over the crowds up there. Surf was flat. How do you go surfing with your fistula arm? I haven’t been game enough to go out again on my boogie board again yet, but have a body surf most days (Pottsville). A guy I trained with is a fisho from Iluka and lives to surf (and fish) but he had a few problems by getting back into it too quickly. He was worried about going back on the trawler without protecting his arm from stray hooks! He is a bit “gun ho”.(have to be careful we don’t break into ozzie lingo here and lose the others) :wink:

You sound like you are doing about the same hours as I am per week (had tests after a week away with shorter runs and it hadn’t made much difference over a week except creatinine and urea were a bit higher than usual. I see neph at John Flynn. You? Trying to arrange a few days in Newcastle next to see my sister.

Sorry Dori and Beth, I know this isn’t very helpful for all our US mates but it is so nice to have someone to talk to from the Southern hemisphere as well. We don’t have any sites set up as well as this in Australia, the one that exists has about 1 blog a month (and it’s usually me!)
8)

I don’t know about the other posters but I enjoy reading the post from those of you downunder. I visited Australia a few years back for a couple of weeks and found the people to be some of the nicest and friendliest people I have ever met traveling.

Your pic definitely caught my attention, Bear :smiley: Boogie boarding and surfing is my passion, Beachy. Have definite concerns about safety re: my fistula as getting slapped by a wave or a directionless fellow boarder is always a possibility :cry: It’s taking a risk, but love it so and do my best to be careful. .so far so good. As long as I have the awesome beach I will be happy. Forget life of dialysis the moment I get there- works everytime, such great natural exercize, relaxation and total peace… :smiley: :smiley: Looks like you have a beautiful span of ocean in your part of the world. Happy surfing!

Dialysis on the beach, not a bad idea t all! :lol:

Next time I will take a trip to the beach with a generator and my NxStage machine right on the sand unde a shade… :stuck_out_tongue:

Marty
Next time you or any of the good folk on this forum visit Oz you must remember to come for a visit to the “beachshack”. The door will always be open to fellow “dialystas” and their carers. I consider I am amongst friends here.
Cheers 8)

Oh Beachy, if you only knew how good that offer sounded to me as I love the beach; keep in mind I’ve only seen the NJ shore and Fl., and that was oh so long ago now. Oh stop, I know some of you are laughing and quite loudly I might add! It’s nice to daydream and think that a day will come when dialysis pts. will have so much freedom that they will be allowed the pleasure of traveling anywhere they dream of, and anywhere they can carry their machines. Lin.

Your so kind! My goodness…if I can only afford to fly over there… :smiley:

Come on Gus
You are such a lateral thinker, couldn’t you get your buddies at Nxstage to sponsor a little trip out here to sell their little machine to us Aussies?

I could be your tour director, work out your schedules and you could do demos in all the nice tourists spots where you could run talkfests for Nxstage when you had time to drag yourself off the beaches. 8)

I forgot to add, Gus, my only fee would be a Nxstage set up for me and a technician at my door when needed! :lol: :lol:

Nice place, Beachy, you may well get the old Bear calling in, much to your regret! :smiley:
I too am looking forward to the NxStage coming ‘down-under’, mainly for travel purposes. Still have some questions about it tho! :?
Back to surfing (yes, please! :smiley: ) I was thinking of getting the little custom wetsuit mob @ Burleigh to make me a neoprene sleeve…ever heard of a “Resciari”? - that’s the gladiator that wore the armored sleeve, strapped to the opposite shoulder & had the net & trident. Anyway, I want something like that in neoprene, with a foam layer inside. Since I have an upper arm fistula, it can be big enough for protection, but won’t encumber my fore-arm any.
I’ll have to get a shot or 2 of my ‘shack’ (it’s a shack - but nowehere near the beach :lol: ) to put up on here. I’ve got some on DVD @ home.
Meantime, here’s me with a previous board (well I still own it, but it lives in my daughter’s garage. I now have an 8’ Surfboards Hawaii one)…a lot younger then too, btw!
:slight_smile:

…another thing, Beachy, I see you’ve got a Fresenius 4008B same as me. I mentioned on another bulletin board that there ought to be some sort of “house swap” around the world for people with same machines. Someone should set up a register…then run it by our various Nephs, to see if they’d give it the O.K.
I’ve seen a UKTV show where people do house swaps all over the place & it made me think about the poss. for us Home Haemo types. Be so much better than dropping to the old ‘3 x 5 in-center’ when you’re away, eh? THere must be plenty of people, esp. in Europe, with Fresenius beasties! :smiley: