When can I go on vaction?
That is a question that I am sure that many have that are on dialysis. Now I do want to say here that pre-covid days, this is a question that many of the medical staff would say, when do you want to travel and where do you want to go? In todays unprecedented times that we live in, there are many precautions that must be taken and most I am sure recommend to keep travel to a minimum. Now lets get back to the questions and lets assume that travel is much easer and that there is no pandemic.
When I posed this question to my care team they said yes of course you can but you have only been dialyzing for about three months and that Medicare (A type of insurance) would not cover my treatment at another clinic. (This will be a blog on this subject at a later time.) and if I wanted to travel it would have to be over the weekend or travel somewhere very close that way I could return and receive treatment. I had planned to go to Ohio which is about 8 hours away from where I was at and with that amount of travel it would be very difficult and very costly for me to try to come back and do one treatment so I planned to go over a long weekend.
To ensure that I could get the most time out of this weekend I asked if I could switch my time to first thing in the morning. They said they would see if they could adjust the schedule to so I could run earlier, and I was hoping and praying that something would work out so I could go on this trip. The staff got back with me and said that another patient from the morning shift had offered their spot so I could go on this trip. This was amazing to me that someone I did not even know would do this. I told the staff please thank them much for me for I really appreciated it.
The Friday that I was leaving. the first thing I did was go to treatment, boy was I excited and was ready for my treatment to end, and it seemed to go on forever but once it was done I went home and finished packing and then left. I felt as though I was free, free as a bird my mother had decided that she wanted to go as well which was good. I don’t think I could have made it up there with out her help driving.
Once we arrived at our destination we were both tired but glad we got there safely, and after rest that night. We were able to visit family and friends that we had not seen in a long time. It was a refreshing and encouraging time for us and many that we saw had heard about my situation and encouraged me. That weekend was very much needed and I am glad that I was able to go.
When we came home it was a little sad but also I realized again that dialysis could not stop this aspect in my life that only I could stop living. There is a saying that I have seen and it says this. You live only once. Wrong, you die only once, you live everyday. How true this is if more people realize that they live every day and what matter is what they put into those days. Many more would not only find but live out their purpose and passion. It really is up to you and what you do with your life and the challenges you may face.
I hope and pray that you find this out so you can start living your life beyond kidney disease. Next week I am writing about the end of the summer. By the way don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any new and exciting content also check out our Instagram @kidneytrails. Until next time keep traveling on to the peak of success.
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