4 MORE DAYS OF TRAINING!!!!!!!!!

I have the pureflow at home. DH did a great job of running the wires through the attic and then down behind the sink. (That made me very happy). For those of you who don't know, I cried when they told me that it wouldn't be a good idea to connect and disconnect my machine each time I needed to use it. I thought that I could put the machine in the bathroom when I was making a batch and then disconnect it when I was done. For the drain part of it I just figured that I could run the drain line to the bathroom while I was on the machine and then wrap it up when I was done. Actually, I had seen a pic online that showed someone dialyzing with the drain line in a distilled water bottle. Gross, I know, but at least it would have been temporary and removable.
So, when I realized that I needed to have this thing hooked up to a water source most of the time, I was disappointed. But my Dh stepped up and took care of it for me. What he did was to run the wires from the bedroom thru the wall and into the attic. Once he got the wiring in the attic, he dropped it down into the wall behind the sink and then drilled a hole behind the sink. He had a little trouble with the tubing that was already on the sink. He had to replace the copper tubing because it was leaking. But other than that, it all seemed to go the way he wanted it to.

I took this as an oppurtunity to tell him that I thought that he was a smart guy with good ideas. I told him that because I started crying when the thing started leaking. I quickly got it together when he took us out to eat at Red Lobster.

Anywhoo, training is going. This is my fourth week. It's a lot to learn. Especially when you are trying to learn and sleep at the same time. What I probaly should have done is take a short vacation, but I didn't. I'm getting through it though. I still think I am a good student, but not as good as I would have liked to be. I am very tired these last two weeks. Mostly because I was not getting a lot of sleep last week, 2 hours at the most.

I am glad however that I will be finished next week. Another person that is training started before me, but won't be able to go home for another two weeks because he can't stick himself. Thanks to all those people at IHD and HDC for encouraging everybody to learn to self cannulate as early as possible. Because of that advice I began cannulating myself as soon as my fistula was mature. And because of that, I am ready to go home.

I remember those days back in-center when I was so adamant about needing to stick myself. I didn't even understand it sometimes, but I knew that it was something that I must do. I knew that in the long run, it would be to my advantage if I didn't give in and start letting "them" stick me. I also knew that I couldn't worry about what they thought of me.

During those days when my venous bh would give me such a hard time, I had to keep telling myself that it was going to get greater later. I didn't think I would ever get that one site to do right, but sure enough, with some determination, I kept trying. And before you know it, I was consistently getting a good stick on that one too.