Dialysis Football Season Is Over for Now

Tuesday   2014-02-11

Adieus various hospitals and centres, today is the last day I go about town dialysing, this Friday I am starting home dialysis training. I’m tired of being sent everywhere, copping with last minute changes and fighting every inch of the way not to get the wrong medical treatment.

Starting five months to the day, I have now dialysed 61 times at 6 different places for repeated rounds, amounting to 17 switches, 54 nurses attended me (As a permcath patient sometimes on and off the machine I got two nurses.) excluding those who did blood pressure for me only. I’ve never met this many people so closely in such a short amount of time in my life.

I should be given the job of quality inspector. I know how each place is managed, the personalities of each person, their skills and working ethics and I even know the quality of their medical supplies. I can start my dialysis Guinness record for a patient who visited for repeated rounds to most centres in the shortest period of time and experience most changes in schedules and meeting the most number of medical staff.

One of the reasons for me to learn home dialysis is to avoid people meddling with my treatment. Today I met the training nurse, the first thing she mentioned was to make changes which is not the kind I would like. I hope I made myself clear that I’m not interested in the changes she was suggesting. In fact I only want to learn how to operate the machine and needling myself. I’m not relishing the thought of more battles.

It is not easy going through so many conflicts and maintaining a cordial relationship with the people one fought with. But it can be done most of the times. Humans are such complex creatures, when goodness in them is encouraged could emerge, vices unchecked knows no bounds.

Last Wednesday I got a call from the mother hospital M telling me to go to hospital D to dialyse in the last moment. As usual I accepted without a second thought. After hanging up the phone I suddenly remembered that I need to return my ECG halter to M and called them again. After checking their roster they said I could come to M to dialyse where I return my equipment.

While I was dialysing I saw the roster woman and thanked her for the consideration. Hearing my compliment she was obviously pleased and she went back and personally wrote out my schedule for the next appointment which had never happened before (even though the schedule didn’t hold, the thought counts). In contrast to this, previously each time we met, she always looked blank and walked right pass me as if I wasn’t there. And for a few times that I went to other places where she forgot to let people know of my coming, she flat out denied knowing anything. I heard every one of the conversation on the phone. She made it seem that I was demented and showed at other dialysing centres without being told to go there in the first place. Anyway, that was the past.

Back to the story of last Wednesday, before I finished for the day, she came again to me, so once again I showed my appreciation for the special arrangement. Most of times when one is nice to others, others will nice you right back. This time she thanked me for my understanding and cooperation being sent all over town and copped many changes. In her heart she knew what she had done to me. Everybody knows that squeezed wheel got oiled. I never made any complaint and accepted what they dished out silently. They simply took things for granted and abused my good nature and accommodation.

If I‘m not wrong I would think they intentionally drove me to home dialysis. It was the same roster woman who sent me on my roving trips out of vendetta. That was two weeks after I started dialysis when my condition wasn’t even stable yet.

Doctor prescribed 2 cartons of 8 x 100ug of Aranesp. Before it was even unpacked the dose changed from 100ug to 40ug. I was told to throw away the 100’s and buy another batch of 40”s. It cost more than a few pittance (without prescription it would cost thousands of dollars). I don’t have money to burn, besides it is such wanton waste. There must be other ways to solve the problem. After much hassle this roster person reluctantly swapped one carton for me with the hospital ones. After that incident I started my roaming about town. I’m glad today was the last day of my round.

One last thing needs a mention, as what I was expected last Saturday the theme of my changing schedule played to the very end. This morning 7:30 I received a call asking why I was not arrived at D for dialysis. I told them that my last instruction was to go to M in the afternoon. Ten minutes later they called again saying that M has no place, that D it is. Luckily I don’t live too far from D. Thus bring to the end of the football season, being kicked out by the professionals.