That’s Not So Bad

Last night was Jim’s first night on the cycler. His training this week went well. He seemed to pick up everything on day one of training. Janet, his PD, nurse came and watched him set the machine up. The whole setup process takes about 10 minutes. She left with him ready to “hook up” when he was ready for bed. 9:00 pm was the anticipated bedtime, giving him the 8 hours needed to dialyze. That way I could help him at 5:00 am when I wake up.

Connecting went fine. At first Jim slept like a mummy on his back not moving. After about 30 minutes and feeling more comfortable he attempted to lie on his side and move around. Initially there was a small amount of “drain pain” which Janet told him he would most likely experience. That lasted about 5 minutes until the fill portion began. We both seemed to wake up every couple hours to check the status on the machine. Drain, fill, dwell, drain, fill, dwell, 4 times a night. Although Jim said he slept terrible, I recall hearing snores, which he probably will say he also heard (from me). At 5:00 am as scheduled, process was complete. Jim disconnected and went back to bed for a more sound sleep.

All in all in went well. It was nice to hear Jim say when all was done….”that’s not so bad”.

My thoughts. 12/12/12 was the day Jim first started dialysis. 1/3/13 was the day Jim first started on the cycler.  While both these days will forever be engrained in our memory, I am thankful that things have gone so well for him. This was something we always hoped would never happen, but it has and we are dealing with it. His next big step will be attempting to go back to work on 1/14/13. We still are hoping and praying for a transplant, but for now, this is our new normal.