Dialysis and Anniversary

On August 21, (yesterday) I “celebrate” the anniversary of when I started dialysis. I will be ending my fifth year and starting my sixth. My, My! How time flies!

In that time, I’ve been to “The Center from Hell” and where I am now (Center from Heaven?). I’ve learned a lot and suffered much. I have seriously considered ending dialysis and found genuine human compassion and caring. I realized how traumatic that decision would have been on more than just my family at home but my family at the dialysis center. I wrote about that in “Dialysis and Depression“.

I’ve found the support I needed and am returning that support by participating in The ESRDNetwork.org of Texas and the Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) and the CDC Infections Control Forum. I’ve found being active and having a life outside dialysis is necessary. I am person on dialysis, not a dialysis patient.

I was working full-time until I was “laid off” and of which I wrote in “Dialysis and Your Job“. I tried to relate the struggle that I’ve been through in the hope that my fellow ESRD’ers will benefit from that experience and not have to go through what I did. My best advice is if you can go out on disability insurance, do it while you can because you may not be given the chance if you leave it to the corporate bottom-liners. I am chronicling my struggle to get the EEOC to mediate a settlement with my former employer under the ADA and ADEA protections so I can have something to fall back on as I live on the pittance from Social Security Disability and Food Stamps.

So this “celebration” of an Anniversary is bittersweet. It’s both good and bad but I’ve learned to take life as it comes and just deal with what is before me. I don’t look to the past for much more than the lessons I learned and to the future with the optimism that things will work out and that always seems to be the case. I don’t fear the future, I just take it as it comes.

Happy Anniversary to me and blessings on those who share my fate and read my blog.

Devon

About DevonTexas

I am a person with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) which means my kidneys don't work. Forty or so years ago that would have been a death sentence but today there is Dialysis which means I could be hooked up to a machine that would clean my blood as the kidneys should. Three days a week, I went to a dialysis center and had too very large needles stuck in my arm to remove and replace my blood as it passed through a process where it was cleaned and the fluid was removed, a process taking a little over four hours each time. In November 2017, I received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. My life went into overdrive. With a "new" functioning kidney, I no longer had to go to a dialysis center and my days were not open to be lived rather than recovering from dialysis which meant dialyzing for three days and resting for 4 days a week. I work full-time and often 50 hours per week. It is something I never imagined. I highly recommend it! HeeHee I want to advance knowledge about dialysis and transplant so that others can learn from my experience and mistakes. We shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, eh? There is so much to be learned and experienced about our predicament. There are vast resources available to support us and enrich our lives but many patients don't know about them. There are also many issues that we have to deal with whether we want to or not. So I blog about them in www.DevonTexas.com All comments are confidential until I approve them. If you don't want your comment public, let me know and I will respect that. So, feel free to leave a comment. I also blog in LegacyTales in WordPress if you are interested in the ramblings of a Old Man. Give a peek and let me know what you think. https://legacytales.wordpress.com/ Enjoy.

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2 Responses to Dialysis and Anniversary

ovaldaze says:

August 21, 2012 at 8:44 am

Wow! I read all your links and the story could me mine! I also wanted to stop dialysis when my transplant got cancelled. But my husband talked me out of it. He fully understood why I wanted to end it, but gave me such great reasons to keep on fighting. In this country it’s against the law to lay off a person who is undergoing treatment, the employer has to consider the empolyee’s circumstances, I’m so sorry to hear you lost your job. Great post!

- devontexas says:
  
  August 21, 2012 at 2:53 pm
  
  I’m glad you can relate to it…. but then not. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through what you have and that’s why I read your blog. It’s inspired me.
  
  I know it’s against the law but this is one of those civil actions that require me to enforce the law and I have no guarantee of success. By putting me in a “lay off” the company gets some protection because I was “laid off” rather than fired. I have to prove I was included the “lay off” because of my disability. It’s not easy. Wish me luck. I’ll be blogging about this soon.
  
  Yes, it’s been a bitch year. But, like everything else I’ve been through, I’ll get through this. People like you help me. Thanks for visiting and commenting.