Good times in dialysis Prt2

It’s funny, as I was finishing up part 1 of “Good Time’s in Dialysis” I realized that there are so many things that happened when I was in dialysis that were good. Sometimes downright funny, and I thought I would share some of these experiences.

I want to first start out with a disclaimer if any of my former care team reads this blog, forgive me as some of these stories are too good not to share. Also, I do not recommend anyone trying these things during a dialysis treatment.

Saline, Saline, Saline 

Being one of the youngest patients in the clinic and sitting in a chair for four hours I would get restless and which could lead to a restless antic. One of these had to do with the saline syringes.  If you have ever been in the hospital and had an IV in, you may have your IV flushed with a saline syringe. The same is true for dialysis, once treatment was over the nurse or tech would take a 15cc syringe and flush out the dialysis needles. Well, sometimes the staff would leave the syringes on top of the machine or on a side table on my chair. It was tempting at first and sad to say I finally gave in to the temptation, sigh. I mean, I tried to be perfect and good, but sometimes the temptation was too great. So when the syringes would be left in places I could reach, I would get those syringes and would get the nurses and techs with them, all in good fun. Sometimes I wonder why they put up with this, but they did it gracefully. Well most of the time, one time I sort of miscalculated where it was going, and the tech ended up drinking the saline. Ooops not good, not good at all. I sure heard about that one and boy did I deserve it.  Ok now that that is off my chest let me get on to the next story. 

Remotely picking on a fellow patient.

One of the things that almost every clinic has, other than dialysis machines, is TVs and our clinic was no different. Now, I did not watch TV, but I did notice one thing about them. Every TV had a remote, but they did not just work on your TV. If you were not careful you could change someone else’s channel without even realizing it and would not know until they would complain, and boy you sure knew it when it happened. Anyhow, one day during treatment I was sitting in a corner chair and a patient was watching their TV and for once I had a remote. This was a rarity because the staff knew I never watched TV, so they would give my remote to a patient that needed it. While this patient was watching their show I grabbed the remote and was wondering if I could turn off the TV from where I was at and to my delight it turned off.  So throughout the next 30 min or so I would do it at random and while I should not have done it um I did it, and they never caught on until the nurse caught me and told on me. It is a good thing they had a sense of humor, otherwise they may have bopped me on the head. 

Lost too much weight

This story was a doozy, I tell you. If you have read Dwelyn Williams story, I Don’t know about this. “ A patient’s initial treatment” you may know that before you start your treatment you will have to weigh in so the staff can tell how much fluid you have on and what they may need to take off. One day I got my pre-weight and gave it to the nurse. Now I usually did not come in too heavy, so it was a normal day for me. I made one mistake. I wore some exercise pants that snapped up the side of the leg and also did not have a tie. This did not bother me too much because I had worn them before and never had any issues. Well this was not my day because after my treatment I was getting a standing blood pressure and when I stood up, the snaps broke loose and my pants went down to the floor in front of the patients, staff and whoever else happened to be in the room. The nurse was walking towards me when this happened, and she just busted out laughing and said ANTHONY, what are you doing. I kept trying to pull them up, but it is quite difficult to do when you are laughing and the blood pressure cuff is trying to do its thing at the same time. The patient that sat in front of me said Oh My and covered their face. In between laughing and trying to pull my pants back up, I am sure it was a spectacle, and they will be etched in my mind for a long time.

AHH memories, these definitely are good memories and ones that I will cherish and laugh at for the rest of my life. So you see, good and memorable things can happen in life even in the most challenging situations. I learned to laugh at myself and also to not allow dialysis to get the best of me. Which is something that I recommend to you the reader as well. 

Also keep your eye out as in the month of July the Kidney Trails team and I will be making some huge announcements and dont forget to subscribe so you dont miss any new and exciting content until then Stay encouraged and be happy along your journey, for you my friend are one step closer to the next peak.