DaVita Day

I spent the day with the Renal R.D. in the DaVita center today. It was a slow day, but interesting nonetheless. Actually, it was a strange mixture of intrigue and despondency. It's pretty remarkable what those dialyzers and machines can do. The technology and science behind the miniscule fibers in the dialyzers is incredible. I observed one of the technicians clean out a few of the reusable dialyzers, and she did a great job [enthusiastically] explaining the procedure to me, and how reusable dialyzers are not only great for the environment, they're optimal for the pt and the pts body, since the body doesn't have to deal with continuous exposure to foriegn filters.

I hung out with one of the pts and his wife who was in training for home hemodialysis. In the DaVita center there's a cozy little nook where they train pts and family who want to transition to home hemo, which is more comfortable and convenient and optimal for dialysis pts (since they can give themselves treatments more frequently during the week, which is desirable).

Most of the pts are so jaded by needles and such, obviously, since they're chronically being pricked. So the R.N. explained to me that they came up with this procedure in Europe which came to the states that was called "button hole", where you basically get a peircing through your skin acessing your bloodstream, so that you can use a blunt needle to hook yourself up to the dialysis machine. The only hang up is that your skin will naturally scab up that hole, so every day you have treatment, you have to prep your button hole by picking off the fresh scabs with a forcep. It was kind of sad to watch.

Anyway, I'm back in the hospital tomorrow, which I'm excited about. I've been jumping around cardiac rehab and dialysis all week, so it's a relief to be able to hit the floors again.