Last week was a doozy! We completed our first week of training and homework reading on home dialysis. It was a s---t---e---e---p learning curve (last night I dreamed about sterile connections and tunnel catheter hookups!). On Friday we had a number of alarms on the machine and a problem with some of the tubing and had to do a 45 minute restart. Sabine was in the chair for six hours! (Hmmm, I thought this was going to be easy and faster??).
Nevertheless, we are committed to keeping open minds and fully participating in the training. We will make a final decision when we finish the course. But let me just say that what we have here we are told is a trade-off for flexibility, a "cleaner" dialysis, and less chance of infection versus thrice-weekly clinic dialysis.
As the caregiver, I am now in a much more active (and critical) role. I joked that after training I should automatically receive a degree in nursing! And the staff congratulated us for going through the first week of training without crying (but it was close on Friday!).
Stay tuned for the latest in a series of not only encountering the health care system, but now being active practitioners!
Our love to all...
p.s. This Sunday Sabine and I attended the First Congregational Church in Madison. My friend, Pastor Jerry Hancock (former Wisconsin State Assistant Attorney General) invited me to be the guest preacher. He tells me that my sermon will be on their website at: http://www.firstcongmadison.org/srmarch.htm.
It was a fun Sunday as we ran into a lot of old friends including Sr Loretta Dornish who was my graduate advisor when I was at Edgewood College.
