Traveling to the US - will need to go in-center

[kamalshah20]

I have been doing daily nocturnal home hemodialysis in Hyderabad, India for the past six years now.

In July this year, I will be going on a cruise with Dialysis at Sea - the seven day Alaskan one from Vancouver. Before and after the cruise, I plan to visit a few cities in the US - Seattle, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and New Jersey/New York. I have friends and family in most of these places and will be staying with them. I will be spending 2-3 days in each place.

I have contacted Davita and asked for sessions to be arranged at each place where I plan to have dialysis. They have started getting back to me on the paperwork required. They are charging me $480 per session irrespective of whether it is a regular 4 hour session or it is a nocturnal session.

I will be getting about 6 sessions - half of which will be nocturnal and half will be 4 hour sessions. I wanted all nocturnal but they don't do nocturnal on Saturdays and they don't have a center close enough that has nocturnal in Seattle.

I wanted to get your advice and thoughts on what this whole in-center thing could entail for someone who is used to daily home based nocturnal. I have been on trips within India itself before but none so long - at most 4-5 days. This one is going to be three weeks.

Do you think I can get nauseated? Do you think fluid restrictions will be a problem? How did you manage in a similar situation?

Any thoughts would greatly help!

Thanks
Kamal
http://kamaldshah.com

[Traveller1947]

That sounds like a marvelous trip you have planned!  It would be strenuous even for someone without kidney disease and without the need for dialysis. Will someone be travelling with you?  Here's what I can tell you:  going from daily nocturnal hemodialysis to three times a week in center, you will likely notice a difference in your energy level.  You'll have to be more careful with your fluids, of course and, as far as nausea goes, it probably won't be a problem.  Bring music, a blanket and something to read.  A dialysis center is usually noisy and is kept very cold.  There is television and there may be wifi.  If you engage people in conversation, staff and patients, you may find the time passes more quickly and you'll have a more pleasant experience.  Your family in each of those interesting cities will no doubt  eager to visit with you and show you the sights, but you'll feel better if you can have a nap after your dialysis  session. I hope these thoughts will be of use to you.  I admire your positive spirit and sense of adventure in planning a trip like this.  It sounds to me like the trip of a lifetime!  All the best to you.

[kamalshah20]

Thanks Traveller!

No one is travelling with me.

I will keep those tips in mind!

[mcclane]

kamalshah20,

Have a wonderful time !  Glad to hear that you're not going to let dialysis get in the way of your vacation.

I was on home hemo like yourself, and I did look into Dialysis at Sea - website plus asking my social worker, the total cost of dialysis was on the pricey side for me.

We did decide on 5 days in Seattle (you mentioned Seattle in your post), and I created a thread about it :

http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=24199.0

I was told by my social worker that dialysis in the US for a visitor is usually conventional - either mwf, or tts. 

Doing home hemo and then switching over to conventional, one thing I was not used to was the high flow rate and the higher pump speed, as I crashed a few times in the centre in Seattle.  There was TV, and I found that the centre was warm enough.  I didn't bring much with me to the centre as I had to take the bus back to our hotel.  The guy beside me gave me his paper to read, and I just found myself napping off and on throughout the whole treatment.

In Seattle, I contacted both DaVita and Northwest Kidney Centre.  I don't know how much DaVita would've charged me as they never got back to me, but my experience with Northwest Kidney Centre was a positive one.

[kamalshah20]

Thanks for your response Mcclane! I went through your Seattle thread. It was very useful. Thanks. I start in less then 24 hours!!