how was dialysis today?

[sullidog]

I get asked that question a lot, it's really annoying, I just want to say oh it was wonderful! I just love being in that chair for 3 and a half hours and I love getting meds and whatever else! It's a party!

[boswife]

ewe.... dont know if this is quite relavent to what your saying but................  beings i help 'do' the dialysis thing for hubby, i sometimes ask when it's all over.......... "how was it today"  lol        mabie i ought to quit asking..        I think i even asked that when i would bring him home from incenter.. Wonder why we'ed ask such a question like that..  Well, at least it's ment well even  though when i hear it like you put it, it's kind of a sucky question 

edited to add,,,, mabie this would be one of those  "ignorant things people have said to you" huh...lol   

[Traveller1947]

Whether I'm annoyed by that question, depends on who asks it.  Don't stop asking, boswife.  You know what your hubby goes through, and your question is a lot more than well-meant.  You ask because you really need to know.

If a mere acquaintance asks the same question, and I know they're clueless about what I just went through, then I agree with you, sullidog.  I just want to shout, LEAVE ME ALONE!  Alas, I'm too polite to really do it...

[Subeat]

Speaking for myself, I say don't stop asking.  I get that question at least 3 times on D days, husband and both kids.  It's how they let me know that they are thinking of me.  Most of the time I reply that it's pretty uneventful, but every now and then there is something to report that is out of the ordinary.  I think my feelings would be hurt if they stopped asking.

I guess it's kind of like me asking my daughter how school was when I pick her up each day.  Might drive her crazy, but I really do want to know.

[cattlekid]

I think when my DH asks, it's a self-preservation mechanism.  If I say it sucked, then he knows to stay out of my way and let me eat and go to bed.  If I say it was okay, then he knows that I won't rip his head off if he looks at me the wrong way.   

[Iwannabean]

I dont mind when the wife or kids ask me, because I know they are truly concerned.  But when others ask I usually say OK.  But once in a while when asked I say "Would you like to take my place and get stuck with Pipes (not needles) and have to sit still for 4 hours, then go home exhausted and feel like puking, getting cramps and being cantankerous  Be my guest.

Iwannabean

[Traveller1947]

I have a neighbor who watches me drag myself up the front steps after a treatment,  then asks me if I've been out shopping.  When I say, I've just come from dialysis, she says, everybody has they're own problems!

[mcclane]

since i do my dialysis at home, the only person that really asks is my wife, and she only asks once in a while - she knows how much i hate dialysis.

[Cordelia]

I could easily think of a hundred other things I'd rather be doing besides dialysis   

Mainly my hubby, sometimes my kids and sometimes my MIL will ask. Other than those people, no one else really asks. I prefer not to be constantly asked that question, it makes me feel like they think I'm sick and I very much dislike being perceived as though "I'm sick all the time" cause, I'm not, so my kidneys don't work and they need to be flushed. Other than D, I'm fine.

[ESRD Survivor]

My hubby texts me every MWF to see if I got hooked up ok, I reply, yes and try not to tell him too much bad stuff, like today, I went to my car after and started to cry, it just got to me today, they were 30 min late (first stick of the day) and I guess I no longer have my beloved tech as he has taken over the other techs patients who left for another job.  I am glad I can drive myself because I can have these moments without him knowing every time.

[thegrammalady]

I have a neighbor who watches me drag myself up the front steps after a treatment,  then asks me if I've been out shopping.  When I say, I've just come from dialysis, she says, everybody has they're own problems!

my husband and i have been separated for years, long before i knew i was sick. he calls every once in a while (sometimes too offten) any way he's called the last two friday evenings while i was on my way to dialysis. to my response "i'm on my way to dialysis" he responds "oh, do you go every friday?" to him i merely said, every monday, wednesday, and friday. to the board i have nothing to say this is a family friendly location.  sheesh!

[sullidog]

Yes, I guess this question can also go both ways, from a non clueless person they could be really serious to know what's going on, and clueless well they probably think it's a fun party or something.

[MooseMom]

My mom lived in Houston and I'm here in Chicago, and she'd call me every day.  She often would call me while she was dialyzing.  I'd ask her how it was going because I really did want to know since I knew I'd be on dialysis eventually.  She and I had a whole repertoire of phosphorus jokes, and now that she is gone, no one laughs with me anymore.

Once I start, whenever anyone asks me how D went, I intend to tell them the whole gory story.  That's probably the quickest way to get people to stop asking.

[HILINE]

I got home alive   , these people frighten me with BS rules when they are unprepared for an emergency

[Whamo]

All the nurses sang "Happy Birthday" to me.  I was surprised because my birthday is on a non-dialysis day.  The Nephro team at Loma Linda is the best in the Inland Empire.  All the old-timers tell me they travel a long way to avoid the other centers and go there.

[ToddB0130]

I wouldn't appreciate random acquaintances asking too often,  but family and friends I fully expect to ask how I'm doing (once I start) and I will also give them the honest truth.  For a long time,  I was really private about what I have been going through with my chronic illnesses.  Now that they're fully informed,  I have come to rely on their support and the opportunity to talk to them about it all.  And hey,  maybe them hearing all about D will help inform them more about my need for a living donor and consider it even more (and network more for me).

[Riki]

If I talk to my best friend on a dialysis day, and we talk almost every day, she will ask how dialysis went.  She likes that I call it an oil change. *L*  We both have issues, so if she doesn't ask me how dialysis went, I'll ask her how her day went.  Sometimes we don't say much, sometimes we elaborate on how each of our days went.  It just depends on the day.  For me, asking her how her day went, is genuine.  I want to know.  I'm sure that when she asks me, it's the same.

[Iwannabean]

I am a founding member of the "Piss and Moan Club".  When talking with my wife last night she tells me I complain a lot.  I told her that I don't always tell her when I'm not feeling good, she startled me and said "I know". That kind of shocked me .  I have been having terrible hand cramps lately, I mean almost unbearable, I had to pull over last night after dropping my daughter off because I was in so much pain.  The cramps are always in my left hand, which is also the same arm as my fistula.  Anybody else have this problem.

Iwannabean

[Cordelia]

I am a founding member of the "Piss and Moan Club".  When talking with my wife last night she tells me I complain a lot.  I told her that I don't always tell her when I'm not feeling good, she startled me and said "I know". That kind of shocked me .  I have been having terrible hand cramps lately, I mean almost unbearable, I had to pull over last night after dropping my daughter off because I was in so much pain.  The cramps are always in my left hand, which is also the same arm as my fistula.  Anybody else have this problem.

Iwannabean

I sometimes get a cramp in my hand when I'm on dialysis, in my left hand on the side where my bp cuff goes.  Haven't had it for awhile.......OMG, cramps are so terrible even off dialysis. Lastnight I woke in the middle of the night experiencing a cramp at the side/back of the knee.  I tried not to wake my husband up while I got up walking around in the dark to get rid of it.   

And then I woke up this morning with a kink in my neck. I always wonder how one can wake up stiff and sore from lying down all night for six hours, I mean, you're just laying there, doesn't make any sense how one can wake up so stilff and sore         Cramps and kinks,  are really frustrating.

[ToddB0130]

Read on another thread that drinking  tonic water helps with cramping.  Haven't yet tried it myself.

[Riki]

I get cramps in my left hand and my toes.  The one in my hand I've had for years.  I always thought that it was my pinkie knuckle coming out of joint, because I can usually put it back and stop the pain.  I haven't gotten the cramps in my toes in a while.  I used to get them in the summer when it was damp or raining.

[Whamo]

I get kinks and cramps near the end of dialysis.  When my left foot cramps I raise it up, and that mitigates the situation.  They took out 3.0 yesterday.  I started at a weight of 187, and by the end I weighed 182.  I spent the previous day at Disneyland.  I ate at the "Cafe Orleans" with my wife, mother, and sister.  I ate a Monte Cristo cheese sandwich.  I used to love them, but now I wish I'd splurged on the chicken.  It was perfect weather for D-Land.  I went on the new Star Tours.  It's pretty cool.  And then on the Ariel's Mermaid ride in California Adventure park.  It's fairly new, and I'd never been on it before.  It's okay.  It's like a Fantasyland Dark ride.  My wife wouldn't go on the "Tower of Terror" because it throws out her back.  I should have gone on it anyways.  Next time.  It was good, at age 59, to feel 3 years old again, if only for a few hours.

[Cordelia]

Whamo, I'm getting very hungry just reading your post! LOL       

[Big E]

Iwannabean, yeah my left hand (my fistula is on the left arm) gets really stiff and cramped during dialysis and for several hours afterward.  Also, one of the finger joints on my left hand feels like it's "off-track". 

Whamo, you're making me jealous talking about your trip to Disneyland.  I always gain a lot of fluid when I go there because of all the delicious, non-renal friendly food offerings.

[DonnaPaul]

I have to admit, I ask Paul that question when we head home from the center.  Maybe I shouldn't but we are both expecting such a horrible time for him and thank God it hasn't happened yet.  He's too sweet to me to tell me that question is getting on his nerves so thanks maybe I'll try to remind myself not to ask