I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Traveling Tips and Stories => Topic started by: Tío Riñon on September 15, 2017, 07:00:52 AM
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I was reading this article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/theres-a-window-in-my-shower--and-other-hotel-design-flaws/2017/09/14/1736f3da-9713-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?tid=pm_lifestyle_pop&utm_term=.8c8a6c4f801c (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/theres-a-window-in-my-shower--and-other-hotel-design-flaws/2017/09/14/1736f3da-9713-11e7-82e4-f1076f6d6152_story.html?tid=pm_lifestyle_pop&utm_term=.8c8a6c4f801c)) in the Washington Post about hotel design flaws (and the comments shared by readers). It made me think of my own challenges and solutions as a traveling PD patient:
- are there tables or other items where I can place my cycler and bags of solution (I have 4 bags in addition to the 1 on the cycler)? I have used luggage racks and stacked boxes of solution to make flat surfaces.
- is there an accessible outlet for my cycler and other electronics? Often have to move furniture and/or unplug items for access. A strip outlet comes in handy.
- can my drain line reach the bathroom or a least a sink? This is a tough one. May have to put my cycler further from the bed or rearrange room.
- there are small or insufficient trash cans for disposing of supplies. I bring my own trash bags and label collapsed boxes as being for recycling.
What challenges have you encountered and how have you dealt with them?
Also, feel free to share any interesting design flaws in general as well. I was pleasantly surprised with what readers shared from their travels in the comment section.
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Not having traveled other than a few visits to our Daughters house, these are all great points to consider.
Dau found a used IV pole for me to use just like I use at home to hang my other bags.
I don't normally use them, but I keep two cases of drain hose extensions so I have the option of extending the drain. Same with the patient hose, always have the option.
We need to remember some of these things when making reservations. Asking if the faculty has an IV Pole, alternative furniture to enable better placement of machine/supplies.
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I've found, being visually impaired, that most hotel rooms don't have enough lighting. They are kept quite dark, and I find it hard to see. I was lucky enough, when traveling on PD, to find a hotel in NYC that had overhead lighting in the rooms, which made it easier to see to set up a cycler. This particular hotel also stored our supplies for us, so we only had the supplies we needed for each night in the room, and they removed the massive amount of garbage that using a cycler creates, every morning.
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The Hyatt Regency, Kansas City, 1982 walkway collapse was one of the greatest hotel design flaws of all time.
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The doors are often very heavy on hotel rooms. In addition the doors are often blocking areas where a wheelchair or scooter needs to get into a room. Closet rods are often too low or too high. Dialysis related, centers can be difficult to find. Entrances are often hidden and it becomes search and find.
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Entrances are often hidden and it becomes search and find.
I had that issue in Atlanta. The bigger problem was that the cab driver didn't know where he was going, and first tried to drop us off at the wrong place. Once we did have the right spot, he just kind of let us off on the street, and we walked a block down to where the unit was, which was weird, considering that the unit had an emergency room style driveway to the door. He easily could have pulled up to the door, so I didn't have to walk