Couple shares all — even dialysis

Couple shares all — even dialysis
By Jessica Sanders
The Gazette-Enterprise

Published September 25, 2008

SEGUIN — On Monday morning, David Serna is kicked back in a chair watching a detective show on a miniature TV.

With his baseball cap pulled low on his head he’s the picture of relaxation.

It’s hard to believe that a year ago, he didn’t want to be here.

“I guess it was that I was worried and I didn’t know how the procedure went,” he said, glancing at the dialysis machine by his side. “I knew there was an injection, but that’s kind of it. Once they get that in, there’s no problem. It’s like a shot or a bee sting.”

Across the dialysis room at Fresenius Dialysis Center in Seguin is the reason that 81-year-old Serna agreed to treatment.

His wife, Hermenia, is receiving dialysis herself. Wrapped in a blanket and watching a Spanish channel on a miniature TV, she smiles and chats with passing nurses and other patients.

Meanwhile, the 76-year-old is plugged into about a five-foot tall machine, all tubes and blinking lights.

“When someone is afraid, I just tell them that it’s something they need to have,” explained Hermenia, who has helped quell the fears of other patients. “It’s very little pain, it’s like a shot and that’s it. But without it you will die, that’s what happens.”

Patti Gomez, clinic manager at Fresenius in Seguin, said dialysis is treatment necessary for patients whose kidneys are not properly filtering the blood.

“Dialysis acts as an artificial kidney, filtering blood through a machine instead of through the kidney,” she said. “It does what the kidney would do — removes waste, toxins and extra fluid from the blood.”

Doctors may prescribe dialysis three to five times a week for a few hours each session. Gomez said the treatments cannot be paused for vacation, holiday or any other event, but patients must work dialysis into their schedules and even make arrangements to receive treatment when out of town.

She said many of the patients at the dialysis clinic have kidney failure because of complications from hypertension or diabetes.

In the case of the Sernas, both David and Hermenia have been diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, also known as ESRD.

When kidneys no longer work, you must either have a transplant or dialysis or you will die,” Gomez said. “Patients can opt to be on the transplant list, or choose not to.”

The Sernas have both opted not to seek a transplant. Hermenia said they are both getting older and have health issues that would make a transplant impractical.

“There is very little pain with dialysis,” she said. “It’s kind of time consuming, but it’s no trouble at all.”

Hermenia, who has received treatments for three years, said the only difficulty was convincing her husband to follow doctor’s orders when he was prescribed dialysis just over a year ago.

“He’s pretty cool about it now, but at first he thought he didn’t need it,” Hermenia said. “I told him that the doctors know better. I talked to him, the doctors talked to him and I told him, ‘You have to do it or die. Do you want to die and do you want me living here all by myself?’”

David and Hermenia haven’t been apart since their marriage 58 years ago.

The two met when he was a 21-year-old airman stationed at Randolph Air Force Base and she was a 17-year-old housekeeper on base. Hermenia and David began dating and about six months after he got out of the service, the two were married in his hometown of Victoria.

“I guess we never really thought about being together so long, time just went along,” David said. “I think the main thing is that we worked with each other. That’s what really makes a marriage, cooperating and understanding that there will be good times and bad.”

David worked in civil service and then repairing and painting automobiles. The couple raised five children and settled in Seguin about 40 years ago. Two of their children, Richard and Veronica, both live in Houston. But the rest of the family — including daughter Janie and sons David Jr. and Christopher — still reside here in town.

“This is our hometown now,” David said.

He said another key to a happy marriage may be having separate hobbies. Hermenia enjoys shopping and sewing gifts for her family and other patients. Her most recent creation was a dress for their great-granddaughter’s fourth birthday.

“I like fishing on the coast, but my wife doesn’t like the coast and she still doesn’t like eating fish,” David said with a shrug.

Though they may occasionally spend time apart, Hermenia said all the hard work and years of commitment have been worth it. Since the early days of their marriage, the two worked together as a team — even when it came to tasks like washing diapers.

We never had any trouble, I guess it was a good match,” she said with a smile. “He used to help me a lot, like when our children were babies I would wash the diapers and he would hang them up to dry for me. He’s been a pretty good guy.”

Both of the Sernas said that in marriage, as in life, there are plenty of ups and downs. However, the importance is to work through problems and rough times, whether you’re struggling newlyweds or a long-married couple.

Even when the couple is apart, it’s not long before David and Hermenia are back at each others sides.

“It’s not necessarily easier having her here when I get dialysis,” David said. “Once I had heart problems while I was here and they had to take me to the hospital. But she stayed calm and finished her treatment and then came over to the hospital to visit with me.”

Hermenia said that her treatments are typically finished about 30 or 40 minutes before David’s, but she patiently waits outside until he is ready to come home with her.

“I remember one of my granddaughters once asked me how could I stay married with him so long and I said ‘You have to work at it,’” she said. “Some days are bad and some days are good, but we work it out.”

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