Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Dialysis 101

Sorry for the delay in posts. I generally like to wait until I feel good to write a post, and I really have not felt good recently. I don’t seem to have energy to do anything, and have to force myself to do the necessary things.

Anyway, this is the part of the process that becomes a grind, nothing new to see here, move along, the excitement is over. Recovery from this operation.... 1-6 months. Time required to get used to dialysis..... unknown.

I am not sure if it is just the general recovery from the anaesthesia and the operation, or just how you feel on a diet of dialysis 3 times a week. I was hoping to use the dialysis time to do something useful, but that does not look like it is going to happen. After a month of dialysis, I can only remember one person reading a book..... The rest, including me, are mostly lying back with their eyes closed, or watching TV. The process seems to make me very tired. I feel my best the day after dialysis, and not too bad the morning of dialysis.

The dialysis center itself is a curious place. The literature shows lots of healthy looking people with smiles on their faces, but the reality is very different. Lots of old sick people..... none of them smiling.... I may be the youngest and healthiest person there. (Yikes, that is hard to believe.) It has the same ambience as the chemo clinic at the cancer hospital. No doubt, everyone there is happy that the technology exists to keep us alive, but, there is no apparent joy in the process.

Anyway, my plan for situations like this has always been the same..... Keep on walking, put one foot in front of the other and keep plodding along. Several of my doctors (yes there are many) want to diagnose me with depression, and have offered drugs and/or therapy to get over the hump. I think that I will wait a bit longer before I head down that slippery slope.

Thanks for all of the comments and support.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm planning another trip to CA in early November. Hoping that by then you will be adjusted to the routine and we can do something fun together.

JoAnn

Lydia Durant said...

I wish there was more I could do than just comment on your blog, but at least you should know that I am following your journey, I am meditating on your healing, and I love you.
I am confident that as your body adjusts to dialysis, you will be able to be more productive and thus happier. Would therapy be a bad thing though? Mental health is paramount.

JC said...

Nov. would be fine for a visit...

Hi Lidia, glad to know that you are on my team. I hope that all is going well with and yours. I think that i feel normal under the circumstances, and that time will heal.

pdurant said...

I just saw your update - Tim and I left for a legal conference the day you posted it and this is the first I've checked since then. Glad to hear you are hanging on and plodding through step by step. Sometimes that's all that can be done. I hope you start to feel better as you adjust to the new routine.

You do realize you have pretty much ruined "pity parties" any of us might have wanted to throw for ourselves, right? Judy, JoAnn and I were discussing this very thing by text this morning. So you have accomplished more than you know...

Love you brother, think about you and pray for you often.

Peggy

Anonymous said...

Update: trip booked for November 1-7. There is a very good chance that another sibling will be joining me. We will have a quorum for important family decisions! Top of the list for possible subjects: when to put mom in a home,

You aren't reading this are you mom?

Jo

JC said...

Yup, lots of unadvertised consequences come with a good case of cancer... lol
Be careful dealing with mom.... I hear that she has become feisty.

JC said...

OK, first week in November.... I have my first scan scheduled for the 4th, I think.... we can celebrate, or have a pity party.....

Anonymous said...

I much prefer celebrations :)