Dialysis 2019 Thoughts

Twenty years on dialysis as of November 2018, Sometimes I think I will go absolutely mad doing it. Three days a week for six hours every week, no rest from it. Just keep going to stay alive.

Three days a week for 52 weeks a year 52*3= 156 treatments a year.

20 years= 3120 treatments.  Over 6000 needles. 

156* 6 hours each treatment= 936 hours of dialysis a year.

X-rays, scans, ultra sounds, minor surgeries, interventional radiology, major surgeries,hospital visits.

Illness, infections, sepsis.  Antibiotics, medications, vitamins.

Life with an invisible illness.   

If I stop to think about it all; I would probably run away as fast as I could screaming.  Most days I just handle things and do life.

When people ask me “how do you do it?”  My usual replay is “To dumb to know any better.”   

I often have to take life one second, one minute, one small increment at a time.  “Okay, there was one second, breathe again, okay there is another one.  Hey a whole minute went by and you are okay.”   I find myself five minutes later, still okay.   Tears and frustration may still be around, but I am still okay.