Don't "F" with my chair!

[Black]

...  Where we are in SC, families are literally LOCKED OUT!!!

Mom 3

Which is part of the reason we are working on getting Mike's home training in a clinic in GA instead!

Lorelle

[GuyIncognito]

In Hamilton they locked the doors to keep the second shift people out, they were coming an hour early in hopes of getting on early but as the unit was always full they ended up just causing the nurses and us to feel rushed... and thats when mistakes can happen.

I reccommend home hemo to everyone I meet, I bought myself a lasy boy and was able to work a full 8 hours 5 days a week and then jump on the machine from 6 to 10 on M/W/F or if I had something going on do a couple hours and make up the extra the following day.
 I have recently transfered to a private clinic which only has 6 chairs it's a nice quiet environment and as it's the same people everytime we all have our own chairs we sit in, there almost like family now!

[Panda_9]

Why did you go from home hemo back to in centre? Bugger that!

[nkviking75]

In my unit, whenever a patient finishes the old chair is rolled out and another rolled in, so I never know what chair I'm getting.  I'm not crazy about any of them.  I call them "Lousyboys".  I have been seated in every position in the unit and even a back room once when they were installing a new water system.  I have no idea why they move me where they do, since I'm on first shift.  The chairs each have TV's mounted on an arm extending from the wall behind me.  About half of the arms are too short, so I have to have them position me at a goofy angle, tolerate a stiff neck, or find some other way to entertain myself.  I have an MP3 player, a mini-DVD player, and usually a book available to suit whatever mood I'm in.  We have cable TV, but someone decided to get one cable TV line and use amplifiers and splitters to send the signal to all the sets.  That means the higher number channels are fuzzy and generally unwatchable.

[kitkatz]

Sounds like my dialysis unit!  Maybe were are seatmates and don't know it!
But they do not roll the chairs out and in where I am. They just do a lousy job of cleaning the chair.

[angieskidney]

Ya one time I noticed my chair had the grosses looking puke all down the inner side of the arm that they never noticed for a month's time. Gross!! And our TV's don't even HAVE cable like the hospital unit does! And they hang from the ceiling and we each have our own remote controls but if one person aims just a little toward someone else's they change your channel too! The guy beside me is a channel surfer but the middle seats are the worst because then I change everyone else's no matter how hard I try not to 

[MattyBoy100]

The chairs in my unit are cleaned and disinfected by the nurses after each patient is finished and they put on clean sheets/pillowcases as well.  I don`t mind getting the broked chair cos I`m 6ft 2" and the broken chair has no foot rest so I can stretch my legs without a barrier being in the way.  The nurses know this and always try to ensure I either get a bed or the broken chair!!!

[Rerun]

Bad day today!  Last Tuesday I didn't get my "assigned" chair and I'm very annal about that (I don't know what annal means except I'm an ass).  I didn't throw a fit.  She said she didn't know but I told her it is supposed to be in my chart, but I understand it happens once in a while.

WELL today I didn't get my chair.  What they don't understand is my "suppressed" anger from Tuesday was unleashed on top of today's anger.  DAMN!  I think I take it as a matter of respect.  I'm a compliant patient as in:  I show up on time, I get my weight, BP, once I'm on I never ask them for anything.  All I ask is MY OWN CHAIR.  My own little space in that crazy deformed, sickly room.  Just a place I can say is mine and I'm safe.  Surrounded by people who are familiar even though they are on oxygen, blind, no limbs and a constant reminder of my future.

[kitkatz]

Easy, Rerun, Easy....relax....You will get you chair back soon.

I tell them I do not really care where they put me as long as I have a machine that works good and a chair. THey usually threaten to put me out in the parking garage. However one night I did have a fit because I had a cold and did not want to sit where the cold air blows upon my head.  It was directly under an air vent. I hollered and said I will not sit there. I do not feel good already and if I sit there I will really get sick.  So they moved my dialyzer and put me in another seat.  It meant a wait of half an hour.  It sure is funny how the little things get to you when you walk into the unit.

It was blood work day Wednesday in the unit and here I am on last shift, not on until 3:40. I am usually on by 3 or 3:15.  What can you do but wait on them.  Damn it!  The people in the other shifts know it is blood work day.  They should get there on time and run their time.  But then there are those times when I am late, too due to work stuff.  But then I do not effect anyone else's time but my own except the techs and nurses.

[Panda_9]

How about giving some of the staff a break? Just because you get there on time doesn't mean you will be put straight onto a machine. Problems often arise, therefore they may be late taking people off who are on the run before you. Its not always smooth sailing. Take a look around. Its no different doing it at home either. If all goes well, it takes me an hour and 20 minutes to get on the machine. Often there are things that happen that prevent getting on at the planned time.
Not every single nurse in the unit is thinking every shift, oh this person HAS to have this chair, and this person HAS to have this blanket etc. It just doesn't always happen that way.

[Rerun]

How about giving some of the staff a break? Just because you get there on time doesn't mean you will be put straight onto a machine. Problems often arise, therefore they may be late taking people off who are on the run before you. Its not always smooth sailing. Take a look around. Its no different doing it at home either. If all goes well, it takes me an hour and 20 minutes to get on the machine. Often there are things that happen that prevent getting on at the planned time.
Not every single nurse in the unit is thinking every shift, oh this person HAS to have this chair, and this person HAS to have this blanket etc. It just doesn't always happen that way.

Ya THINK?  NO SHIT Dick Tracy! 

I have told them I would wait.  Not a problem.  I am the easiest patient they probably have.  That is why they run over me.  I just want one thing.

[sandman]

I know this may seem wrong of me to say this but all this talk reminds me of a song.  I can't remember the name of the artist right now but the artist name is not important in this case.  Anyway, there is a sentence in that song that goes something like this....

You CAN'T always get what you want.

[Joe Paul]

Thats the stones aint it?

[Joe Paul]

You cant always get what you wanted....but you find sometime, YOU GET WHAT YOU NEED...AH YEAH, you get what you need.
 Sorry if I'm wrong, but it sounds good to me 

[goofynina]

Rolling Stones sing that song, sorry off topic but to jump back on,  when i was in hemo and on the early shift, that was the only time i got the same chair every morning,  when we moved to another center and different times, we were always shuffled around, although i did complain a couple of times cuz they would try and sit me in a chair that was broken,  i didnt mind otherwise, but believe me, there were those that did and always got their way.

[sandman]

You cant always get what you wanted....but you find sometime, YOU GET WHAT YOU NEED...AH YEAH, you get what you need.
 Sorry if I'm wrong, but it sounds good to me 

Yeah, you got it.    But I believe the words go like this.....

You can't always get what you want..... but if you try sometimes...... well you might just find.......... YOU GET WHAT YOU NEED !

Here are the lyrics.  http://search.able2know.com/About/16605.html  Sorry if I took this off-topic.

[Rerun]

You guys are dorks!        (new one had to try it)

OK... I won't bitch anymore about the chair, but I'm going to stop bringing them goodies on Saturday.  If by some miracle I start getting my chair the goodies may reappear.  I think that is called "Passive AGGRESSIVE."   

[kitkatz]

I can hear it now  Rerun: "No goodies for you guys until I get MY chair every time" Stamps foot and pouts at the techs and nurses.

Oh well.  As far as giving them a break. Come on now. I always give them a break. I wait patiently.  I take whatever chair is available.  I do not complain unless it is a legitimate complaint.  I try to be friendly with everyone.

But come on. I am not getting home until eight O'Clock at night now and I am to be on the machine at three or three fifteen.  Not getting on until 3:30 or later.  I work a full time job. I know what deadlines are.  I know how hard these people work!  I work too.  I am out of my house at 6:30 every morning and on dialysis days I do not get home until 8pm.  I suggest you check yourself before making a snap judgement on how we should act when we do not get the chair we want or put on the machine on time.

[angieskidney]

You guys are dorks!        (new one had to try it)

OK... I won't bitch anymore about the chair, but I'm going to stop bringing them goodies on Saturday.  If by some miracle I start getting my chair the goodies may reappear.  I think that is called "Passive AGGRESSIVE."   

I think that is the right idea though! I mean, if they want their treats they WILL remember right? 

[Rerun]

I can hear it now  Rerun: "No goodies for you guys until I get MY chair every time" Stamps foot and pouts at the techs and nurses.

Oh well.  As far as giving them a break. Come on now. I always give them a break. I wait patiently.  I take whatever chair is available.  I do not complain unless it is a legitimate complaint.  I try to be friendly with everyone.

But come on. I am not getting home until eight O'Clock at night now and I am to be on the machine at three or three fifteen.  Not getting on until 3:30 or later.  I work a full time job. I know what deadlines are.  I know how hard these people work!  I work too.  I am out of my house at 6:30 every morning and on dialysis days I do not get home until 8pm.  I suggest you check yourself before making a snap judgement on how we should act when we do not get the chair we want or put on the machine on time.

Kit, you are trying to work.  To me you take priority.  You should get the shift you want, the chair you want, ANYTHING you want.  People who don't work (includes me now) have all day.  I can wait.  But, I still want my chair.  That is one reason I quit work.  The old center (the one I quit) wouldn't set me in a good light where I could read my procedure.  Plus I was freezing.  There was a chair that was accommodating and it sat empty because they wouldn't give it to me.  I was trying to work, keep my life.  But, No.......... a few bitches got together and put an end to that.  Plus that place wouldn't allow cell phones and a bunch of other "crap".

[kitkatz]

I am totally with you Rerun.

[Rerun]

See EVERYBODY me and Kit we are like this

[kitkatz]

More like 

[kevno]

Yeah I agree to that Kitkatz I am on the early start too But I get there after all the arguments have stopped. Some of the patients get in for 6.30am just to be first on  the Nurses do not start till 7am So I ponder in about 7.30am and usually get on straight away. Can not be bothered with the waiting thing.

Rerun! You bring the Techs Goodies and you are going to stop. Bringing the goodies is called "CREEPING"  or in Kitkatz case "TEACHERS PET"

[Treasure]

Hi, everyone.

Ooooh, I love this subject. Everyone knows at my clinic that I don't want to be reclined, because it puts a lot of pressure on my neck. But sometimes, there's a visiting nursing student or a new tech and without asking, they'll flip me back. Instead of getting angry at the newbie, I just say*loudly*:

The only time you're going to find me with my legs up in the air like that is when I'm working in a brothel-- and today is my day off!


hehehe... they don't forget to either leave me upright or ask what I want, after that!

Michelle ~ Treasure  <~~~~ vying for "most perfect patient"...yeah, right!