Sorry we are full!

[Rerun]

I am so mad!
                               

My Aunt's 80th birthday is October 10 and so I would like to go over to Seattle for the party but would need dialysis Saturday morning.  I called Northwest Kidney Center today, a month away, and they are full and she told me I was calling at the last minute?  WTF?  Should I make Christmas plans now at 5 different places because I don't really know where I'll be?

Traveling is a pain in the ass and if someone dies and you need to attend a funeral forget it! 

Don't let dialysis take over your life!  Yeah, Yeah, Yeah........

There is a DaVita close by but they are "new" and aren't Medicare certified yet so only private insurance can go there.  Hmmm that's a new one.

There is maybe another DaVita a long way away that may be able to fit me in.  I'm not going half way home to dialyze! 

I really just want to bust something!         

[thegrammalady]

know how you feel. i could walk to the center closest to my mothers, but they are a small unit, only 12 chairs, and are full. every time the social worker checks with them, they just laugh.

[Chris]

Not sure this would work, but dialyze on Friday before going and then again on Monday, but that means hurrying home since no one can fit you in.

You probably thought of that already I bet, but that does suck. Yeah, don't let dialysis take over your life my    If you can't travel, how can you have some sense of normalcy.

[Rerun]

We are full too and I'm a Tu, Thr, Sat.  I may ask if I can come back and dialyze Sunday night if there is a spot.

They always say we are FULL but there is usually a couple of chairs empty.  Someone calls in or someone is in the hospital. 

It seems like they would say "come on over and we'll find you a spot somehow".  They just don't want to deal with the paper work.

I wonder if I offered them $100 cash if that would make a difference.  Probably, this whole field is so corrupt.

[dwcrawford]

Well I am still persona non grata and shouldn't be posting, but this situation made me angry.  Have you tried calling  Davita headquarters directly.  Surely they can intervene like there's a month in advance.  Or maybe your current unit could accept the charges (medicare issue) and transfer it to  the local non medicare site.  Surely Davita would go out of their way since they are such a "caring" corporation... I mean after all, its the same corporation and they could divy up moneys as they please.

Anyway, good luck and try more stuff.  Make a noise.

[Bill Peckham]

I am so mad!
                               

My Aunt's 80th birthday is October 10 and so I would like to go over to Seattle for the party but would need dialysis Saturday morning.  I called Northwest Kidney Center today, a month away, and they are full and she told me I was calling at the last minute?  WTF?  Should I make Christmas plans now at 5 different places because I don't really know where I'll be?

Traveling is a pain in the ass and if someone dies and you need to attend a funeral forget it! 

Don't let dialysis take over your life!  Yeah, Yeah, Yeah........

There is a DaVita close by but they are "new" and aren't Medicare certified yet so only private insurance can go there.  Hmmm that's a new one.

There is maybe another DaVita a long way away that may be able to fit me in.  I'm not going half way home to dialyze! 

I really just want to bust something!         

Who did you talk to? Which unit?

[Rerun]

Your Cheryl Lake.  I wanted to go to the Totem Lake center but there all full.  AND I'm asking last minute?  I'm hoping Davita can fit me in but it is farther than I wanted to drive. 

If I was her I would say.... send in all your paperwork and call me the day you leave and let me see what we have. 

What is going on over there the weekend of October 10th??  A Seahawks game?  Nahhh that would not draw a crowd!  (Just Kidding I love the Seahawks)

                                                                                       

[Bill Peckham]

You don't want to drive downtown? The new downtown unit is beautiful. I know the Totem Lake unit is not one of the larger NKC units and the T_T_Saturday shifts are the more popular. Combine your dialysis treatment with a trip to the market. Make a day of it.

[Rerun]

You don't want to drive downtown? The new downtown unit is beautiful. I know the Totem Lake unit is not one of the larger NKC units and the T_T_Saturday shifts are the more popular. Combine your dialysis treatment with a trip to the market. Make a day of it.

The "day" is my Aunt's 80th birthday party starts at 2:00PM Saturday in Kenmore.  I may see if my clinic over here in Spokane has an opening Sunday night.  I could go from Thursday to Sunday night. 

[Chris]

Bid low first, then work your way up to $100

[d-man]

I really like to travel on short notice and I don't know if this is true but  tech told me that if I really had to go I could go and just go to the er and make them do it there..... it would suck I'm sure but the feeling of being trapped is pretty bad for me so just thinking that if I really wanted to I could (ya I don't know if it's true) helps a little.

[paul.karen]

Just want to wish you well in what ever avenue you decide to take ReRun.
I cant believe a MONTHS notice isnt good enough.  Sounds like a very lazy person point blank.

As for the Seahawks i have been following them since Jim Zorn and the great Steve largent.  Nothing but broken dreams with this team. But they are still my all time second place team.  One day they may win the BIG ONE.

[Zach]

I really like to travel on short notice and I don't know if this is true but  tech told me that if I really had to go I could go and just go to the er and make them do it there..... it would suck I'm sure but the feeling of being trapped is pretty bad for me so just thinking that if I really wanted to I could (ya I don't know if it's true) helps a little.

Not all ERs have competent hemodialysis.
And some contract out ER dialysis to for-profit organizations such as DaVita.

I remember reading a few months ago a person died waiting for the DaVita ER Dialysis Nurse to arrive.

[thegrammalady]

i don't see how a month is short notice. when i'm traveling, i let my sw know as far in advance as possible but she doesn't make any requests of the unit i want to use until a month in advance.

also, there is a davita (mine is fresinius) a few blocks from my daughter, they are a small unit and once when i wanted to spend extra time at my daughters they told me they were full. however a few months later when rebekah needed me because her mother-in-law had passed away the unit was contacted on a wednesday and got me in for that friday. i got the impression emergencies are handled differently.

i'm mwf, but have switched to tts when traveling with no problems. keep plugging away, you'll find something that works. i know you will.

[Chris]

Yep Zach is right.
My local hospital staffs dialysis techs between5 other hospitals they own in the area, but the do not staff the techs at night. So one would have to be called in and who knows how long that will take for them to get there for whom ever is on call that night and if they they are already at another hospital doing dialysis. Not to mention the ER wait, then blood test to see what your levells are, calls to your doc. Heck, if you get one bad ER doc, you may not even get dialysis. So that is trial by error unless you really feel bad, which would probably mean they may admit you and ruin your plans to do what you came out there to do.

[okarol]

It seems like there must be a solution Rerun.

Remember, Mary and Joseph were told that the inn was full.

Hmmm, I guess dialysis in a manger is unlikely.

That is, unless Bill P. comes and hooks you up! 

[d-man]

ya I always forget they can make you jump through so many hoops it's not really worth while but it's a nice thought   

[aharris2]

This dialyze at the er thing - we have been told that we would have to be ADMITTED thru the er and dialyzed as an inpatient (my first thougt is 8 hrs in the er, 4 hrs waiting to get all of the paperwork done, too late for them to get a dialysis staff in...blah blah, blah blah). I don't know if this is a peculiarity of my brother's insurance (Humana Gold Plus Medicare Advantage Plan... advantage?  ) or not, but we will avoid the er option at all costs except an emergency.

D-man, we have traveled frequently and find it well worth the trouble. It's actually the home dialysis unit that does most of the hoop-jumping. We do try to give as much notice as possible (3 months for Guatemala, no less than one month for other travel). But, within a month and a half of starting dialysis, we had the opportunity to travel for Christmas with less than two weeks notice. We did successfully arrange it with the help of the social worker (she was a good one who has, of course, moved on).

One thing that we do is let them know that we are willing to travel for dialysis - start close to our location and work outward. The worst case was a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a graduation from the Univ of Alabama. We had to travel 1 hour away for dialysis, but we we able to dialyze and still enjoy the graduation weekend.