Welcome to Camp D

[wbdoug]

This past weekend I escaped from my pd machine and literally took my dialysis into the middle of the desert. No power, no ac, no bathrooms. Just me and my little trailer out in the tumble weeds and dirt.

 Welcome to Camp D.

As with most of us just starting out with this life changing thing we call dialysis, there is this big fear of the unknown. A lot of the things we take for granted or things that we enjoy doing are either drastically changed or eliminated but with some determination we can add some of those things back into our lives.

When I was told that dialysis was in my near future, I just figured that this type of camping that I truly love to do would be a thing of the past, once again fear of the unknown. But after starting pd and getting a handle on what I need to do on a daily basis I started to think about what I would need to do to get back out there in the dirt. With some minor effort and a few precautions it was not difficult at all and everything worked out as I had planned. Space was an issue but I managed to take everything that I needed.

There has been a lot of discussion about how to heat the bags of solution while traveling. Several people mentioned putting the bag on the dash to heat it up and that would work well on a warm middle of the day exchange but not too good at night or for the first exchange in the morning.   My fix for that was using a small cooler, a standard heating pad and a power invertor plugged into the battery on the jeep. I found that I was able to leave it turned on to the low setting all night and still have plenty of power to start the vehicle in the morning ( yes, I brought jumpers just in case!). The bags were nice and warm in the middle of the night and in the morning.

That was my weekend and I can’t wait for the next outing.  One more thing, I did manage to get the jeep really really dirty in between exchanges

Bill

[Rerun]

How did you wash your hands or did you just use gloves?  I am glad you had fun.

[wbdoug]

How did you wash your hands or did you just use gloves?  I am glad you had fun.

I used a jug of distilled water with a spout (purchased at your local grocery store) with ani-bacterial soap and plenty of hand sanitizer.
Pics of Camp D to follow.

Bill

[boswife]

Aww, this made me smile. Im a dirt lover :)Can't wait for pics

[willowtreewren]

Way to go! 

Fit dialysis into your life, and don't let it define you. 

Aleta

[wbdoug]

Here are a couple of pics showing how I did my exchanges. I just want to show that if you use a little caution, it can be done in some out of the way places. Notice everything is in ziplock bags.

[wbdoug]

And some more...........

[tyefly]

Yea  buddy..... thats my kind of living..... I wish I could of done PD.....I camp and fish lot .....   but with hemo I had to come home often..... sometimes I could take the RV with generator..but  the places I like to go....well   one does not take a RV.....if you know what I mean....

Yes  go more   go often......and let us know about your stories and experiences..... there are many people who could learn from your experiences..... we dont have to sit at home....

I love the pictures.........

[monrein]

Great photos and even better attitude.  Life really requires ingenuity.  Looks like fun.

[Joe]

Way to go Bill! And great photos. Keep it up.

[looneytunes]

Camp D looks like a great place!  Glad to see you are fitting D into your life, not allowing D to be your life.   

[Cordelia]

That's really awesome!      

Did you worry even just a tiny little bit of infection?

[boswife]

love the pics and love knowing how great it felt to bee there to take those pictures...  Sooooooooooooooo glad you braved it and will do again 

[wbdoug]

That's really awesome!      

Did you worry even just a tiny little bit of infection?

Only every time I connected or disconected!!!
But seriously I took every precaution I could. The last thing I wanted was to get infected and have all the naysayers tell me "I told you so."

[teachwalking]

Oh those photos! Thanks so much. I spent yesterday thinking we probably won't be going anywhere anymore, but you busted that myth (hopefully). We live in Joshua Tree and as my partner begins dialysis, I was afraid that vacations would be out for us. Thanks for not letting me get negative. Your photos are some of the best I have ever looked at and you aren't exactly my relative. I like this new "family."

[wbdoug]

Oh those photos! Thanks so much. I spent yesterday thinking we probably won't be going anywhere anymore, but you busted that myth (hopefully). We live in Joshua Tree and as my partner begins dialysis, I was afraid that vacations would be out for us. Thanks for not letting me get negative. Your photos are some of the best I have ever looked at and you aren't exactly my relative. I like this new "family."

Thanks for the compliment. As you can see I am also very new to dialysis and this site and I was going though the same thought process and also figuring that a lot of things I enjoy doing would be over but I am slowly finding out that I can fit them back into my life, with a few changes of course.
I have gotten so much hope and inspiration from so many people on this forum, it really makes my day when I can be of help to others.
 
The attached picture shows the gps track that we took. As you can see, Camp D was right in your back yard! I hope to meet you both sometime.

Bill

[tbarrett2533]

umm I love this right here!!! 
What's the point in living if we cant do the things that we love to do!!!!!! 

WE were in an antique bottle show and sale about a 2 hour drive from our house so I did my exchanges in the car!!!!

I look at it like this.... I am going to go wherever I want when I want, while I was on Hemo, Dialysis and kidney failure ran my life then PD came and well I will quote Houseofdialysis....... "Dialysis works for me, I don't work for it."
So I say pack up the supplies and go camping as much as you can stand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and while you are doing that I will be running to every Antique shop in the country with my PD supplies