Traveling on While on Dialysis
I have a few travel plans on my bucket list. For those of you who have no idea what a bucket list is, it is a list of things you want to accomplish or do before you end up as Stardust in the Universe once again. I have a list I keep in my head of places want to go. It takes time and effort to travel while I am a dialysis patient?
Where do I want to go?
Washington D.C. is a big one on my list. I love the history of our nation so the monuments and Smithsonian Museums would be outrageously fun to visit. I could get my history geek on at the monuments and historical sites. Then the science buff and more history interest, plus the artistic side of me would come out in the museums.
The place I have wanted to since fourth grade is the continent/country of Australia. In spite of the flat world people declaring Australia a hoax recently, I still want to go visit it. Steve Irwin’s Zoo, Urulu Rock, a real live operating sheep station, the Sydney opera house, the great barrier reef, and the outback are a few of the things I want to see. I love the idea of Australia. I headed tomorrow to see the outback area at the San Diego Safari Park- a new part of the park. I have to save a lot of money to do this trip.
How do I travel while on dialysis?
I have to make plans early and share them with the travel coordinators in my center and the company. I tell the travel coordinator where I plan to go and my dates and answer all of their questions about my dialysis. I also tell them I am easy about scheduling unless I have planned something for a certain date. Usually my vacations are loosely tied around the dialysis days and times so I need to know those to make plans. Usually they do not tell me my days so I loosely plan things around the days I asked for. Usually there are small problems, like not getting the information to me at the center level. I call the travel planners at the company level frequently to make sure my request has been seen.
So you have been on dialysis for twenty years, prove you’ve traveled.
I have traveled and what I mean by traveled a week or more to these various place: Oceanside, CA twice, Pismo Beach,CA once, Palm Springs,CA 3 times, Indio,CA once, Clearlake, CA once, Windsor, CA once, San Diego, CA three times, Bellevue, WA once, Tucson, AZ twice, Milwaukee,WI, twice, Oklahoma City, OK three times, Williamsburg, VA once, Lake Tahoe, NV twice, Las Vegas, NV, three times, Hawaii twice and other places I cannot think of right this minute. I have had dialysis treatments in everyone of these places. I find dialysis centers are the same for the most part. Safety precautions are the same. Some techs listen when you explain your preferences, some don’t. Nurses will give meds as needed.
Advice for those traveling while on dialysis?
Your prescription needs to be accurate coming from your home center. Bring what you need to survive a dialysis treatment-your nesting materials. Make your plans early and get them in at least a month or month and a half to your center and to the dialysis company travel people. Have firm dates for your travel. Be flexible in your dialysis schedule while traveling. Tell the new place what your needs are nicely.
Go and have fun!
Remember Dialyze to Live, Don’t Live to Dialyze!