I have had a lot of progress in the last week, I am now flying solo with my dialysis exchanges!! I do 4 of them a day and to be honest, like everything else, this will take a little time getting used to. The biggest hurdle I need to get over is my confidence. I spent the last week doing the exchanges over and over again, but doing them at home somehow is different for me.
It is not hard to do, and really not nearly as time consuming as I thought they would be. I have found the most challenging things to be getting the bags to the proper temperature and getting all the required supplies. Now gathering the supplies is not much of a challenge as to remember to get everything the first time.
The funniest thing that has happened is Torre comparing me to a new born baby this morning. She said "think about it, you are now on a whole new schedule, a new eating schedule, and you have to do the exchanges (comparing it to changing a diaper change), you are like a new born baby!!" It cracked me up and helped lighten my mood, as much as this is a difference in my life and as I adapt, she helps me see the brighter side of things!!
As for the exchanges, they take less than an hour to complete, which includes getting what I need, draining and then filling again. I think once I become proficient with it, I can get it down to 30 to 45 min which I don't believe is bad at all.
The next milestone I have to look forward to is after about 6 weeks, there is a chance I can get on a machine that will do the exchanges for me overnight, so then I will just hook up at night and unhook in the morning. Most people qualify for this type of treatment and as the nurse said yesterday, I am "average". Average meaning that I drain and fill in an adequate time period and I am pulling off an adequate amount of fluid each time, which is what they seem to be happy with. If this is what it means to be "average", then I am happy to be just that Average!!
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