When Jim started his dialysis, one of the things we wondered about was how or if we would be able to travel and go to our lake with his cycler. This past weekend was our 1st attempt and it was a success!!
We loaded the cycler into a suitcase, toted 3 boxes of dialyzing solution and a bag full of clamps, hoses, gauzes, tapes, caps and the pee bottle (yes, let’s not forget the pee bottle) into the back of the truck. We had a wonderful couple days at the lake and had no problems whatsoever.
This month Jim’s clinic visit continued on the good side. He was, however, retaining some fluids causing his blood pressure to go up. His cycler time was increased to 8.5 hours a night. In order to pull more fluids out, they substituted one of his 2.5% bags to a 4.25% bag for one night. Jim did notice the difference the next morning and said “it was the best he felt in a long time.” He was even able to bend over and ties his shoes, something he had not been able to do carrying that extra fluid.
All in all he is still feeling good. While still not able to return to work, he is finding things to occupy his time at home. We continue to pray that some of the people being tested as a possible donor will work out. But in the meantime, we continue with our new normal and are extremely happy that we will be able to travel to our lake. Someday….maybe we will venture out even further.
