AW, is still chuckling as Ms.Elayne is wheeled off by Dicyn. AW, says to me,” Dwelyn I must say that this first day of dialysis has been quite interesting. I’ve met a lot of people and have seen so much. It’s actually kinda fun here. Just wish it wasn’t so long here. “…….Well AW, if it makes you feel better you only have about fifteen minutes left of your treatment. “ …”
No way Dwelyn. I have to admit, the time in this place goes slow, goes fast, then goes back slow, and so forth. I guess time is an illusion.” I replied,” For certain AW, time is definitely an illusion. I really hope that you learned a lot today. Being that today was your first day of Dialysis. I hope that we here at the clinic were able to answer your questions, and you will have many more for sure. “ AW replies,” You know Dwelyn I have had a memorable day. I met a lot of people. I’ve seen a lot of things here, and it’s certainly unforgettable. Quick question. How do you know my treatment time is about to end if you’re so busy walking around, talking?…I replied,” Well you remember when we first got here , I mentioned your prescribed doctors orders for your treatment time?”, “ Well I estimated the time give or take a minute or two and worked my other duties around your time and my other patients in my pod. We are short staff, but we manage to help each other out when the time is needed. “ Also to piggyback off your time I programmed into the machine, it’s like a countdown. So your treatment time was three hours and thirty minutes. So from the time I put you on , or as I should say initiated your treatment, each minute was a countdown. For example: 3:30,3:29,3:28,3:27,3:26, etc….” . AW replies, “ Ahhhhh , I see that makes since “ and, I also remember you told me to try to stay still as much as possible and that’s one of the ways to keep the machine from beeping, and it won’t pause my time.” ,” Sheesh man , you Techs be having to know a lot there boy.” …. As I laughed at AW while I was getting her supplies together to take her off the machine. You know the usual. Tape, gauze, alcohol pads, and band-aids ….I look to my left and I see the Charge Nurse , Dicyn, Ashley , and Denym run rather swiftly. All I could here was ,” Cadence, Cadence can you hear me?”, …. I also hear,” What’s her blood pressure?”…” Lay her back in Trendelenburg !”….” Get the crash cart!”…” Call 911!!!!!
AW, and I were looking in disbelief. Cadence was just talking to us both feeling full of life and at a split second , she …….She was passed out. She suddenly became weak and in distress. Unresponsive, but she had a pulse. I could tell from a distance because I saw her nodding her head back and forth slightly. She had her right hand over her chest holding her heart. As you remembered I said before, Cadence has had a few heart issues in the past along with her recovering from Breast Cancer. I’m not sure if she was in remission. It’s been months since we have seen her, and wow. Out of all the years I’ve been a Hemodialysis Technician, it still hits you a certain way when one of our patients has to suffer more than what we feel that they need too. Hemodialysis is enough, let alone having other issues. I guess that’s why we refer to them as Renal Warriors.
AW, says to me,” Dwelyn , is that Cadence down there that they ran too?”, “ What’s wrong with her?”…” What’s all those machines around her?”…….I replied ,” I think she’s okay . She may have had an episode with her heart I suspect.”.” The surrounding machines are a crash-cart and a portable oxygen concentrator. “…And just as we assumed things were okay, the paramedics came in. One of the paramedics proceeded to ask Cadence the usual questions of what year is it? What day is it? Does she know where she is? Cadence was in a daze. The other patient’s around us and throughout the clinic seemed frightened. Some even shed a tear. Cadence played a special part in all of our lives. This is really hitting us hard. As the paramedics loaded her onto the stretcher . They passed by AW . AW, in total shock can’t believe what she’s seeing and how it’s happened so quickly. So drastically. So all of a sudden. It’s so surreal because as Cadence passes by on the stretcher, her and AW made eye contact as Cadence is rolled further away throughout the treatment floor and out the door.
To Be Continued…………
Kidney Trails 