Working people

[kitkatz]

My job gives you 100 days where you pay the sub pay out of your check. It is a hundred days for the same incident.  I am sure I am almost over that for ESRD. The district has treated me really well. I am fighting this year for my aide's extra hour. For some reason it as not been approved yet.  We went to work in July and here it is October.  My aide is getting upset with them.  I keep emailing the special ed boss about it.  THey will straighten it out and pay her of I am going to really get things going.

[miker]

Went on PD about six months ago and have managed to continue working full time as a policy manager.  For the first three months I was doing bag exchanges twice a day in my office and colleagues and staff soon realised it was a good time to arrange meetings with me, I could hardly refuse!

Miker

[Brightsky69]

Went on PD about six months ago and have managed to continue working full time as a policy manager.  For the first three months I was doing bag exchanges twice a day in my office and colleagues and staff soon realised it was a good time to arrange meetings with me, I could hardly refuse!

Miker

They met with you in the middle of your exchanges? They had a captive audience.  

[purple]

 

Firstly congratulations to all those people still surving on Dialysis.

I work as a security officer and i was working right up to the weekend before i got sick, I lost my job when i got sick, but that is ok i needed sometime off to recoup and learn what the
FIRETRUCK was happening to me. I had a vascath insrted in April and another in October, I had my vistula made in July and it will be ready for use next week apparently. I found another job in June and I work permanant night shifts SUNDAY through to THursday, 1830 - 0630, so i work 5 x 12 shifts a week, I dialysis on Tue, Thurs and Sat and a Centre for up to five hours at a time. I go to Dialysis get "Hooked up " crawl under my hand made blanket, cover my head and put my MP3 player at a comfortable level and sleep till the machine wakes me when it is finished, I then get up go home crawl into my bed and sleep for a few more hours then get up and organised and head off to work.  I must admit that i get very emotional and very tired somedays, I have trouble remembering to get the washing in or peg it out.

But i am living independently actually sharing a house with four men, and because of my schedule i hardly ever see them.  I am not sure how long i will be able to keep this pace up but for now it is alright, I have no one in my life whom i have to give time to everyday so that way i am both lucky and unlucky. I would love to wake up with someone, you know what i mean, or someone to have tea with, but it is not ment to be, I love my job and i love the fact that even though i am not well somedays , my boss is great and understands exactly what i am going through , he was an ambulance person for 20 years.

Well that is about all the blurb from me Keep smiling and don't let the buggers get you down ..... Purple .

[rookiegirl]

I've been on PD going on 1 year this coming Oct 22nd.  Can't believe it's been a year.

I'm still working a full time job as a Revenue Analyst Mon-Fri 8-5.  Mornings have been so hard on me.  I just can't seem to get my butt out of bed.  I thought having 3 IV Iron treatment and continues EPO shots would give me more energy, but I guess not always.  I have to be honest, some days I do feel so good I can run a marathon.  I think I'm mentally exhausted from my job.  Even though it's a desk job, it requires to much thinking, analyzing, solving and lots and lots of deadlines.  I HATE DEADLINES.  I hope to continue working as long as I can.  I have one kid in college and one started high school.  Got to pay those college fees.

[elvisxm]

I work full-time and do in-center hemo three days a week.  I arranged my schedule for Tues/Thurs/Saturday third seating to cause the least amount of impact on my job.  I usually am in at work by 6:30 in the morning, although it is a little more of a struggle to motivate now.  My co-workers have been very supportive of me and really helped especially while I was first adjusting to this.

[Rerun]

I work full-time and do in-center hemo three days a week.  I arranged my schedule for Tues/Thurs/Saturday third seating to cause the least amount of impact on my job.  I usually am in at work by 6:30 in the morning, although it is a little more of a struggle to motivate now.  My co-workers have been very supportive of me and really helped especially while I was first adjusting to this.

You are very fortunate.  Keep up the good work.                           

[elvisxm]

I feel fortunate, if somewhat overprotected at times.  My boss has been wonderful through this.  I had low BP issues for a while until they got my dry weight squared away, and when I came to work in bad shape (occasional blackouts), she would make me go home and get me a ride if needed.  At times, it bugs me when I think I am ready to do more than she thinks I can, but I know I could have it a lot worse.  Having worked hard at the same place for 20+ years, and for the same boss for a good chunk of that time helps.

[kitkatz]

Thank you God for a school district that will work with me. I am working full time for the past ten years. I will have been on dialysis ten years November 2. Long time!

[cherpep]

I work full time and do home hemo for 3 hours 5x/week.  Not much time left for my family (husband, 2 kids).  I work in an office as a Logistics Analyst Manager.  My coworkers have been very understanding when I drag myself into work a few minutes late and don't feel completely up to snuff.  But, corporate management isn't as forgiving, so I have to push myself very hard.  There are many days when I need to stay home but push myself into work anyway.  Although I am salary, I have very limited sick pay and no short-term disability pay.  Very low coverage on prescriptions, so money is tight.  Although the doctor wants me to go on disability, I can't see how it's possible.  I must work.

[kennebecriver]

I've been on dialysis since the end of September and I travel to the hospital to get this done. I work full time (7-3) as an Electrical Supervisor in a Paper Mill. When I get out of work at 3pm, I head to the hospital (45 minute ride) hoping they will put me on early. (I'm not scheduled to be on until 4:45pm.) Sometime I get on early and sometimes I end up waiting. If I end up waiting, I don't get home 'till after 10pm (7 hours total)! It makes for a really long day...I'm going to do home dialysis as soon as possible. That will help a lot!

[monrein]

Yep, you'll save waiting and feel better too.

[David13]

Doing home hemo will allow you to schedule dialysis around YOUR schedule, unlike now when you are arranging your schedule around the dialysis center.  You may actually feel better too, with the more frequent treatments.  Good luck!   

[kidneyguy]

I work full time (40 hours a week) and do in center dialysis 3 times a week (MWF) 4 years now

[Lucinda]

I am starting training for nocturnal dialysis next month and will be ready to work from home on my new magazine by end of January.  In 2009 I am publishing a property magazine called The Property Times and I will be working on it from home.  I have an office in the city so I will go there whenever I can but have the versatility to work from home and have skype connection with the office if I need to.  I am in the new program where I will by doing dialysis eight hours, five-six nights a week.  I agreed to being a guinea pig for longer hours and more nights. I am really well set up for it at home.  Just pleased I had so much time to get organised.   

[jazzin11]

I work 40-45 hours a week from 6am to 2 or 3pm.  I dialyse M-W-F at 5 pm, around a 50 minute drive from work.  I usually get home around 10:15 pm, then go straight to bed...4am comes earlier than one may think!!!   Really makes for a long day, but I think I can handle it for now.   I am interested in nocturnal dialysis, but it is not yet offered here,  maybe someday.  Juggling this amount of time can be difficult.

John (jazzin11)

[Treasure]

Greetings, all! I started working part-time last August, as a librarian. In September, a full-time position opened up and I jumped at it, because I could see the economy going south and I knew that the part-timers would most likely be the first to get laid off. I hadn't been able to work full-time since going on dialysis, so this was a really big deal, financially and physically.

As far as dialysis was concerned, I had to switch to the first shift to able to dialyze before work, and that meant getting up at 5am to drive over to the center and get my time in before work. That made for a long  day, since I had to work until 6:15pm on some days-- and 8:15pm on others. OY! was I tired.

Making the switch to the first shift at that dialysis center meant I had to shorten my dialysis sessions to 3 hours, and that made me a zombie on dialysis days-- I really needed that extra hour of dialysis I had been getting on a later shift. So I switched to another center, with an even earlier shift-- getting up at 4am in order to get on at 5:15am.  The funny thing, though, was that the even-earlier shift was supposed to give me 4 hours of dialysis at each session, but somehow the extra hour got lost in the transfer. For the past 3 weeks I have been getting up earlier for dialysis, and having to go to work as an even-more-pathetic zombie.

In January, I start in-center nocturnal, and I think that's going cure the zombie-hood, and I will be more rested for my 40-hours a week. I anticipate that I will feel better on nocturnal, and get more sleep-- yes, more sleep even though I'll be in-center all night. As it stands right now, I only get between 4-5 hours of sleep at night with the 3 hour sessions.

Hell, if I feel really good on in-center nocturnal, I might get a second job, hehehe!

Treasure/Michelle

[Zach]

In January, I start in-center nocturnal, and I think that's going cure the zombie-hood, and I will be more rested for my 40-hours a week. I anticipate that I will feel better on nocturnal, and get more sleep-- yes, more sleep even though I'll be in-center all night. As it stands right now, I only get between 4-5 hours of sleep at night with the 3 hour sessions.

 

Good to see you Treasure and congrats on the full time job!!!

When I started on the big D, I was on that 4am shift for FIVE hours each treatment.  Then I would catch a train to work ... sometimes sleeping past my stop and getting stranded for an hour at the end of the line.

Sometimes by 3pm I would get real "punchy" and tell my co-workers to stay back or else.

In-center nocturnal sounds like an excellent alternative ... I hope my center offers that option in the near future, too.

[monrein]

So glad to see you back on here Treasure and congratulations on the job.  That's wonderful.  Nocturnal should really help with the zombielike feeling.  Keep us in the loop.   

[kitkatz]

Give nocturnal a few weeks, the fog will lift and you will feel better. I love nocturnal dialysis. My life is almost back to normal. I am more cheerful, work full time, less mood swings, and am working out three days a week at the gym.

[pelagia]

Welcome back Treasure.  From everything I've been reading here at IHD, nocturnal or home hemo are the way to go.  Sounds like your new year will be off to a great start.  Oh, and congratulations on the job! 

[sparty83]

Hi,

I'm on dialysis MWF in center for 4.25 hours.  I also work a full 40 hour week.  While it has become a challenge at times, it also keeps me focused.  I also have to give a big hats off to my company who has allowed me flexible work hours that makes putting in the full 40 hours much easier.  A big hooray in my book for them.

Mike