I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Introduction => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: sueg on November 17, 2007, 03:12:29 PM
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Hi, I am new to the site, and I hope I will be allowed to praise, gripe, get information, find similar comrades, and most importantly laugh. I am in Louisiana....been here all my life....and can almost hear the, "Oh No, poor critter", but it's not as bad as you might have read.
I had to begin dialysis 1 year ago and am still trying to get used to having to "donate" SO much of my time just sitting and waiting to be dialyzed.
My first question has to be, how long do most folks have to wait.....I mean in the lobby....before being able to go into the treatment area to begin their dialysis? Where I go, it is sometimes 1-1/2 hours, or 2, or even sometimes 3. Adding that wait period to the actual treatment, it often takes 5 or 6 hours for the 2-1/2 hr. treatment (in my case at least). This week was a perfect example: On Wednesday, my treatment began immediately after I arrived at 9:00 o'clock, but on Friday, treatment did not begin until 12:30. On Wednesday, I was home by noon, but on Friday, it was 4:00 p.m.
I have no idea of what the problem is, but it does seem to depend on which nurse is in charge for the day?
Oh, and a little about me: I am 76 yrs. old, single for 35 yrs. (25 yr. marriage ended in 1976) and live with 3 precious toy fox terrier dogs who are gracious enough to let me share in their home (as long as I "sit", "stay" & "heel" when they tell me to). Ain't life grand? LOL :clap;
Sue (the Shrew)
EDITED: Removed bold and italics prompts - Sluff/ Admin
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Hi Sue! :welcomesign;
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HI :waving; and :welcomesign; Sue,
The longest I can remember waiting when I was in centre was about 1/2 hour to get on. The waiting times you seem to have to be put through is ludicrous. Can't they ring you beforehand and let you know there is such a long wait, they must know when they are that far behind for the day.
Anyway hope to see you around
Take Care
Tamara xxx ooo :cuddle; :grouphug; :beer1; :waving;
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Welcome to ihatedialysis.com Sue,
Glad you found us because that is the exact reason we are here. To gripe, complain, and praise every aspect of dialysis. We accept the good with the bad. Feel free to read and post all you want. Being an animal lover is not mandatory here but it helps. There are a lot of animal lovers on IHD. Feel free to post your picture in our member section and your pets picture in the pet section.
Sluff/ Admin
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Welcome to the group. You've found the place to get information. I hope things get faster for you at the clinic. It sure seems that you have to wait a long time. Please stay in touch.
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:waving; Welcome
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Hi Sue, Boy do you fit in with this group! I love that the dogs let you live with them! It does seem like you wait way too long in the lobby. Have they given you any explanations? You have found a great site. We have lots of fun; but we also rant, cry, commiserate and celebrate together. Looking forward to hearing more from you :welcomesign;
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:waving; Hi Sue (love that "The Shrew"--
I am glad to see you here and hope you achieve your goals!
My daughter never waited more that 20 mins for dialysis at her center. I don't know how they get a way with those long waits! Raise hell and get some answers!
One of my best friends lived in NO all her life, just recently moved to Lafayette. Louisiana is a great place to be from!
Welcome!
okarol/moderator
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Oh My Goodness, how every sweet and thoughtful all of you are. Something absolutely does need to be done about our waiting time. One young man (I think he had a stroke) and is currently in a nursing home....but is progressing and we love that. His treatments are "scheduled" to begin at 10:00, so the home brings him every treatment day at 9:30 promptly, so he sits there in his wheel chair and just waits, waits & waits some more until they finally begin his treatments at 11:30, 12:00 or often 1:00, meaning he has to spend 7 or 7-1/2 hrs. at the center. His case is typical for all of us, but the rest of us are "mobile" and feel SO sorry for that sweet man.
One good thing about the center I go to is that the Techs are absolutely marvelous. They seem genuinely conpasionate and caring about their patients and often apologize for us having to wait so long. When they have problems with a "button hole", they are quick to use a smaller needle to keep from hurting me as much because they want to be as gentle as possible.
That is one of the reason I have hesitated to say anything about that horrible waiting time. I feel that they are doing the best they can with their circumstances. There are 3 nurses assigned to my center and when there is only 1 particular nurse working on a particular day, everyone gets treatment on time, so that makes it even more mysterious to us?
Enough complaining for me.....again thanks for the cordial welcome and hope to "see" all of you again real soon. {Big cyber hug to you all}
Sue
P.S. Next time I won't gripe.....promise!
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:welcomesign;
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We learn the most from the "gripes"! Welcome!
You probably get tired of hearing this, but is the waiting time because of the lack of centers due to Katrina? Or no? I'm sure not every problem in Louisiana is due to Katrina, but I was just wondering.
I'm so glad you have a marvelous staff. Like someone above mentioned, maybe you could get someone to call you when someone is an hour from getting off and maybe they could "reserve" your chair. That would be sweet!
Good Luck!
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Hello and :welcomesign; Sue. So glad to see someone here, finally, in my age bracket. I am 74, live in
Georgia and not on diialysis yet. However I am trying to get prepared for it I know you will find this site
helpful. It has EVERYTHING! :thumbup;
Love, Mimi
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Hi Sue, Welcome to ihatedialysis.com. Please, by all means, gripe away, but if i may ask you to please refer your questions to the general discussion thread, this thread is for introductions of oneself, and not everyone reads the introductions. You have some very valid questions that need to be discussed, that is crazy :urcrazy; that they make you wait that long, they should have everyone a scheduled time. I hope they change that for you and your waiting time isnt so long. Looking forward to hearing more from you (and your precious little ones) we love some pics if you have them, we have a thread for pets here: http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=1036.0 Hope to hear more from you soon. :2thumbsup;
Goofynina/Admin.
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:welcomesign;
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:welcomesign;
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Welcome to the IHD family,. I hate to wait at the dialysis center.
kitkatz,moderator
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Welcome Sue, good to have you aboard.
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:welcomesign;
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g'day Sue and welcome,
That sounds like an outrage to me! I'd be so pissed if that happened on a regular basis. Sometimes I have to wait maybe 20-25 minutes if I come and the early shift started late or whatever and the machine isn't ready.. but they are good and say it will be XX time - go to the pub or something (LOL - seriously! :) ) and they are pretty spot on if I come back in 30 mins it's all ready. Mostly though I haven't had to wait more than 10 minutes for quite some time. I think I have got it down pat to the right sort of time to come in. Sometimes they'll call and say the machine is ready early if I want I can come in early which is good.
Sounds like your unit management isn't doing their job properly. I mean if you're scheduled to start at 9am what's going on beforehand that means you can't start for 2+ hours ??? Is it the people in before you? Can you change to a different shift maybe that might help? Maybe is there another unit not too far away that you could shift to? Sounds like things are bad at yours if you have to endure that (and yes I'm aware of Katrina, but still...)
It sounds most frustrating and I don't blame you for being pissed and wanting to vent. Welcome to IHD!! I hope things improve for you!!
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Welcome to our community, Sue the shrew! We are so glad you joined us. It seems we go to the same unit (and mine is in the Caribbean!). On Wednesday I reached at 11.15am and walked out to my car at 6pm! It depends on how the shift before mine goes. I look forward to hearing more from you. Please keep posting. We want to know how you are doing. As I always say, we're not nosy, we're family. :grouphug;
Bajanne, Moderator
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Hello again folks.....who I like to call, "Sweet Peeps, who have to Meet, Greet & Treat", LOL. Thanks to the Mod who reminded me to reserve timing problems to "General Discussion" and will comply with that and keep this for introduction only. I would love to post pics of my little doggy children and will as soon as I learn how to. As already stated, they are little toy fox terriers named "Molly", "Bitsy" (females) and "Pepper" (male) and they weigh 3, 6 & 9 lbs. It never ceases to amaze me how they can be all the same breed, but have such completely different personalities and dispositions.
I never intended to have 3 dogs, but a local kennel owner spied me early on for a really soft touch *patsy*, so when he traded dogs with other owners and got 1 or 2 he did not want to keep, he knew he could dump them on me. :urcrazy; (I LOVE these emotes). He would come by my house and say, "I'll just bring him/her/them by to let you see them, and if you don't want it/them, it's okay". Yeah riggght....he knew when I saw the little things that saying, "No", was not an option for me when I saw the little, trembling & scared "tootie toots" (my nickname for them). Anyway, enough about them for the moment.
Also stated before, I am single and have been for a l-o-n-g time, but have to say I love it. Of course, I am like most single folks and would love to have a male companion to share going places and doing stuff with and have even dated a lot and been proposed to (wonder of wonders!), but it took much, much, hard concentrated work to un-learn how to iron, cook, clean house (thoroughly) & "be where I'm supposed to be at all times", etc., that it would take a major effort on my part to learn all that junk again. LOL, just kidding of course.
Again, thanks to all of you for such a warm welcome, it has made me somewhat teary!
Love, Shrew Sue
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:welcomesign;
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:welcomesign;
as for your time question, my center has scheduled times, i think all here in colorado do. but as i have learned from this site all states/dialysis centers are created equal.
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Welcome!!! I can't wait to see pictures of your doggahs!! Enjoy your stay here, but I must warn you, once you get started, it's sooo hard to leave!! :welcomesign;
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Hello and :welcomesign;
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hello and :welcomesign; hope you enjoy the ride
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:welcomesign;
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Welcome Sue :welcomesign;
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:welcomesign; Sue