Archives for April 2019

Spent most of the day packing things up, moving the small horse trailer out of the way, and generally getting ready for our impending departure, for which we are SUPER READY! As much as we’ve enjoyed staying here, we’ve been here long enough, we need new sights to see and new places to visit, and new trails to ride! Can’t wait!

We had hoped that today would be the last day of training, but since the machine we’re supposed to get hasn’t arrived yet, we’re scheduled to come back on Monday, darn it. After a good dialysis session, which started at 5:30 in the morning so we could make out surgery appointment, we headed over to the hospital in Stuart and got that all taken care of. Super people over there, the surgeon and all the nurses were great, and event though the admission process took time, the actual surgery was only about 45 minutes. Evidently they only had to inflate one balloon to make it open right up. It’s been recommended that this be done about once every six months, the first time we’ve heard that suggestion, but it makes sense. Anyway, we were still home at a reasonable hour, even with all the activity, but after all that, Hubby didn’t have much energy! Early to bed with us!

Another long early drive, another good day of Home Hemo training, which went even better than before. One hitch, though, it seems they did a test on his fistula during the last in-center session and discovered his access was as open as it should be, which could account for some of the problems they were having in California (or more likely, the other way around.) In any event, they were able to schedule a “clean-out” surgery for him tomorrow afternoon, which everyone agrees was a good idea to get done before we hit the road. Got home at a reasonable hour again! Yeah!

Up bright and early today so that we could be at the Home Health Dialysis center in Port St. Lucie, which is an even longer drive than Stuart, arriving early, at 8:15. The point of this exercise is to refresh my initial training, since it’s been a while, and to make sure I meet the standards of Fresenius. Our nurse Rita is very thorough, and very helpful, and I remembered some forgotten stuff and learned a new thing or two, which is always helpful. I had Hubby read me my checklist, which seemed to impress her, and I didn’t forget too much, just my timing is out of whack. It was a good session, though, no problems, and we were out of there by 1:00. Can’t wait to get back to doing this at home!

After months of traveling 45 minutes each way back and forth to Stuart for dialysis three days a week, we’re very happy to be having our very last day of in-center dialysis this season. We’ve finally managed to secure a path to getting back to doing dialysis “at home.” It’s been a long road, because our initial “home” clinic in Tennessee wouldn’t let us proceed with home dialysis unless we came back for a monthly clinic, a 90-minute appointment that required us to travel 3 days (missing 3 days of dialysis as well), and spend over 500 un-reimbursable dollars just to be there. Since that was untenable for us, we opted to to “in-center” while we were here in Florida, but, as you know by now, that took up a lot of time, effort and fuel to do. Finally, we managed to persuade the powers-that-be to let us come under the auspices of the Port St. Lucie Home Health division until we get back to Tennessee under a different “home” clinic. It all had to do with the fact that Vanderbilt isn’t a full-blown Fresenius clinic, which is the chain of clinic with whom we belong, and as such, won’t let us keep their equipment while we travel around. By sticking with true Fresenius clinics, it seems we’ll be able to keep the same machine as we travel, and the real logistical problem is simply getting supplies and new “home” clinics whenever we move to a new location. We figure if we pick one central location in the area we want to travel to, we can circle around it for at least 2-3 months each, which should make it easier. Changing doctors is another matter, simply because one doctor can’t practice medicine in another state, even through a Skype or Telehealth conferencing system! Crazy but true! Anyway, with the help of the folks in Port St. Lucie, it seems like we may be pioneering a path for us to get on with our lives, living it the way we want, on the road! So as much as the people at the dialysis center have made us feel like family, we’re on to the next step!