our first "road" trip

petey

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our first "road" trip

« on: March 28, 2008, 07:57:26 AM »

Marvin and I got home late last night from a three-day trip to the mountains of North Carolina. We live near the coast, so a trip to the mountains is a treat for us. We had a fantastic time, and it was also our first time traveling with Marivn's NxStage machine (he's been on home hemo since last July).

My mom and dad planned the whole trip and also took my sister, my sister's mother-in-law, and my brother and his wife. Let me explain my parents' relationship with Marvin -- basically, they love Marvin more than they do me, my sister, and my brother! (When Marvin asked my dad 22 years ago if he could marry me, my dad told him it would be an "honor" to have him as a son-in-law. My dad then told Marvin, "But, if you find you can't live with Marsha, don't send her back to us. If the marriage doesn't work out, YOU can come and live with Mother and me, but don't send Marsha back!") I have never seen a son-in-law who was the FAVORITE in the whole family of his in-laws -- all of my aunts and uncles and cousins favor Marvin, too. When Marvin is sick and has to go to the hospital, my mom and dad meet us there (it's a 3-hour trip for them to Duke, too - but they come from the opposite direction). Every day, every SINGLE day, my dad calls Marvin to check on him and see how he's doing. Sometimes, they talk for 30 minutes, and Daddy never asks to speak to me! It is an absolutely wonderful relationship that Marvin has with my parents, and he loves them as much as they love him.

That being said, here's what Mother and Daddy did. They called last week and said, "Are you guys up for a road trip?" We were a little nervous because we haven't traveled with the NxStage machine yet (Marvin has been sick and in the hospital on-and-off for the last couple of months.) I wasn't sure it was a good thing to do, but Marvin said he wanted to try it. Marvin and I did a treatment on Monday, and then we cleaned Hercules (the name he gave his NxStage machine) and packed him in the car. When Marvin first started home hemo, he built a "supply" box -- a big wooden box with separate comparments for all of his other dialysis stuff (scales, warmer, saline, BP cuff, tape, gauze, band-aids, etc.) just in case we ever wanted to travel. It's a super nice box, and Marvin is an excellent amateur carpenter. Well, Monday, we packed his supply box (it has handles and when you get to the place you're going, you flip the box over and use it as a stand for Hercules -- it's wooden and very sturdy, so it has two functions). Marvin made a list of everything we would possibly need for a couple of treatments away from home (he checked and doubled checked and triple checked to make sure we carried everything we needed). Then we grabbed four boxes of dialysate (enough for two treatments) and headed out at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.

We drove to South Carolina to my sister's house (about 1 1/2 hours from us). Mom and Daddy live near Charlotte, NC (about 2 hours from us), and they left their house at the same time. My brother and his wife live in another part of the state, and they met us in the mountains. We all met up at the casino in Cherokee, NC (that's why my sister's husband wouldn't go -- it was a casino and he said he had enough vices without adding gambling to them). My sister and her mother-in-law drove Marvin and me the rest of the way to Cherokee (about 5 hours from my sister's house). Mom and Daddy had reserved rooms for us at the casino's motel.

Marvin and I were awe-struck when we walked into our motel room. Daddy had gotten the "suite" for us (12-foot ceilings, the nicest furniture in the world, a living room, a kitchenette, a huge bedroom, and TWO bathrooms). It was the most elegant motel room I've ever seen. It looked like a palace. Our room was on the 16th floor and had floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and the bedroom. In the bedroom, there was a chaise longue by the window, and Daddy said he thought Marvin might use that as his treatment place so he could look out the window and see that fantastic view of the mountains as he was having his treatments. Mom and Daddy did everything they could to make sure Marvin's first "road" trip with his machine was a wonderful experience, and it truly was! We've traveled before when Marvin was in-center, but we always had to find a clinic for treatments. This was so nice -- to take it all with you!

Mom and Daddy had an adjoining room to us (nice, but "regular" room), and the others were across the hall. Our "suite" was the gathering place. Everybody came over and visited, laughed, and talked while Marvin was having his treatments. We did a treatment Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. In between treatments, we ate -- and ate, and ate! The food was so good! We also hit the casino several times, and, let me tell you, the little bit of "spare" change that I had squirreled away didn't last long. I did hit for $250 on a quarter machine though, and that let me play some more. Every time we headed down to the casino, Daddy slipped a "little piece of money" (as he calls it) in Marvin's hand. Marvin tried to tell Daddy that he had some "mad" money, but Daddy insisted that Marvin take some more. Then, Mom would slip Marvin some more money, and when Marvin told her that Pop had given him some and he didn't need any more, Mom would say, "That was from Pop. This is from me. Take it and have a good time." They are soooooo good to us, and we are so lucky!

We had an absolute ball! It was the best time Marvin and I can remember having in a long, long time! I didn't have to cook, make the bed, or wash the towels! Marvin laughed and joked and felt really good. He walked and tried to build back up his strength, and he did really good. Of course, every few feet that we walked, somebody was saying, "Marvin, don't you want to sit down and rest a few minutes? Marvin, are you tired? Marvin, do you want to go back to the room? Marvin, are you hungry? Marvin, do you need something?" Everybody kept reminding everybody else in the group to walk slowly so Marvin could keep up. But, Marvin didn't have any problems keeping up with the group.

We were a little scared to do this. We worried that we would forget to carry something necessary for the treatments, but we didn't (in fact, Marvin carried one "extra" of every item just in case). We were nervous about putting Hercules in the trunk and moving him (no problems). When we got to the motel, two bellhops came out to empty the luggage for us, and I didn't want them to pick up Hercules because I was afraid they would bump him or drop him. Marvin told me to back off, and then he explained to the bellhops that Hercules was his dialysis machine. They were very careful. When we checked out, the bellhop who came to our room to load the luggage saw Marvin's machine before we could explain what it was. "Is that the new style of PD cycler?" he asked. Come to find out, this man's wife is on PD and he thought Hercules was a new-fangled PD cycler! (Small world, isn't it?) Marvin explained that it was his home hemo machine, and he and this man talked and talked about dialysis and dialysis treatments.

If you're on home hemo and considering traveling, DO IT !! It was a piece of cake (the only hard part was I had to load Hercules in the car before we left and when we got home -- he's 72 pounds of dead weight). But, the bellhops did all the loading and unloading while we were there, so that was nice! It was also nice to be "normal" again and go on a trip with the family without having to worry about finding a new clinic and going "out" for a treatment. We got home about 10 o'clock last night, and Marvin and I fell in the bed -- we were pooped! My sister woke me up early this morning to say that SHE was already planning the next "road" trip for the family and Hercules. She asked if June sounded okay for us, and we said, "Count us in!"

P.S. I took pictures with Marvin's cell phone camera, and I'm going to try to download them (if I can figure out how to do that).


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willieandwinnie

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