I really hate dialysis

[Goofy]

Just reading your post gets me angry.  People are insensitive.  Don't you just want to sick a needle in their arm....or perhaps somewhere else!!

[kimcanada]

they got it and
laughed
and gave us the new rules
no food
no talking
no company
no saying who sticks you


no talking rule -- as soon as you get to know a neighbor and start talking -- you are separated - I was told dialysis is not a social hour

Twirl, that is crazy, but I do know how to get around one of those rules... learn to self needle, it would something that you would never regret

[willieandwinnie]

Hey twirl, I found 2 clinics that aren't Divita. Might be worth looking into.

CYPRESS CREEK DIALYSIS CENTER
9449 GROGANS MILL RD
THE WOODLANDS, TX 77380
(281) 363-1262
Mapping & Directions

Type of Ownership: Profit
Corporate Name: FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE (FMC)
Facility's Initial Date of Medicare Certification: November 20, 1980
Facility Services

Shifts Starting at 5 PM or Later: NO
Number of Hemodialysis Stations: 15
In-Center Hemodialysis: YES
Peritoneal Dialysis: NO
Home Hemodialysis Training: NO


SPRING DIALYSIS
607 TIMBERDALE LANE, SUITE 100
HOUSTON, TX 77090
(281) 880-7066
Mapping & Directions

Type of Ownership: Profit
Corporate Name: REGIONAL-TRC TEXAS LP
Facility's Initial Date of Medicare Certification: October 07, 1998
Facility Services

Shifts Starting at 5 PM or Later: YES
Number of Hemodialysis Stations: 18
In-Center Hemodialysis: YES
Peritoneal Dialysis: YES
Home Hemodialysis Training: NO

[dwcrawford]

I think twirl got the same info  that I  did.  Both Houston area davitas.  They said no "self service" which specifically mean sticking yoursel.  I'll be writing letters to lots of people this weekend as soon  as the anger subsides.  Twirl, you can help me.  I'm going to check with Tina on facebook  to see if she had a similar experience.

Any comments or suggestions for the  letter would be appreciated as well as any corporate names.

[dwcrawford]

as for no food,  I think they'd be hard pressed to deny food to a diabetic.  The only One I was informed of was the sticking rule (cannulation???)_ but not much patient interaction in there.  Now that I recall, the staff barely spoke on Wednesday...

I am wondering how you feel about staff complaining that they are so tired from being overworked, extra shifts, etc?  I seems to me I want people who in charge of messing with my blood to be alert.

[Deanne]

What happens if you talk to yourself?

[Rerun]

What keeps me going is knowing that I have the ultimate control to stop. 

                           

[paul.karen]

WOW
Twirl amd DW WTF kind of rules are those.  Some i quess i can kinda see but no tlaking??  No computer??  Why not just throw you into a cell for four/five hours.

The bigger some companies get the greedier and more obnoxious they become.  I am SO GLAD i dont use Davita.
I mean really arnt you kinda there boss?  Dont you pay there saleries in an offhand way.

I feel for both of you and anyone else using such a sad pathetic unit.  No talking.  There is a first ammendment

[kitkatz]

The first ten years are the hardest then it just......





sucks some more!

[RichardMEL]

Wow! I cant believe what I'm reading from twirl and Dan (and sorry KS we kind of hijacked your thread!).... that is unbelieveable! !!!

The stuff about no talking and it's not social hour?? Oh my god, I am sure I have read a paper somewhere about the positive effects of community in a dialysis center and that if you have to go through this it's better if you CAN talk!!

Geez, at our unit everyone talks to everyone! Nurses, patients, guests.... if they put some stupid rule like that in it would last about 5 minutes. Absolutely ridiculous.

It seems that the bean counters who come up with rules like that clearly have no conception of reality and have forgotten that people are dealing with a terminal condition here and if something simple like having a snack while doing it or being able to chat helps even a little bit then it should be allowed. Who does it harm (well apart from the fried chicken smells making everyone hungry I bet!).?

I would be absolutely outraged and I would definitely write lots of letters. I wonder what the social workers think of these rules. I know my mother, who was a chief social worker of a major hospital, would have been appalled !

I am so sorry you guys have to deal with that crap. As if Dialysis isn't difficult enough making petty rules like that just make it worse... and I am all the happier for my awesome unit with the friendly nurses and patients (even the deaf Greek ones who yell at each other!)

incredible !

[dwcrawford]

What happens if you talk to yourself?

I usually get a more reasonable and intelligent response.

[monrein]

This kind of treatment and these kinds of rules are inhumane and everyone ought to protest them.  Richard is completely correct about the letters and some possible social worker involvement. 

[dwcrawford]

The only rule I was told about was the "no choice of stickers" and no buttonholes.  The other's were given to twirl... I had no problem with those if they come to me, no talking (no one near me talks), etc.

But I was promised a woman who is the expert in buttonholes to be the only one to stick  me when the time  comes, and I was promised that I could learn to do it myself once they were created.  I'll limit my letters to that issue.

[RichardMEL]

About who sticks you. Yes, we get nurses assigned to us (or usually it's more like whoever is free to put you on given a lot of people start around about the same time as the shift changes over from morning to afternoon). I don't mind they are all pretty good - some better than others. I've never actually challenged anyone though so I'm not sure what would happen if I said "I don't want X to stick me" - I'm in two minds on that one. In theory the patient should be given the choice where it is reasonable (if so-and-so always has problems with me why should I not request someone who has no problem?) but I can also see it from a staffing point of view. In the buttonhole situation Dan talked about when I was being suggested for buttonhole(they decided against it in the end claiming my fistula was mega mature and it wouldn't really benefit me?) they said it would be the same person doing it, but they also wanted to put these plastic "guides" (I think it was called the "Biohole kit"-sounds a bit rude !  ) so that anyone could needle the spot with the guides.. but we never got to that point because they decided against it.

I think what some of these dialysis units forget is that we are still patients and dialysis is classed as "life support" - yet some people are treated like, oh, passengers on a bus or something... for some it's more about numbers in and out and less about people and their lives.. which is sad.

[Des]

" think what some of these dialysis units forget is that we are still patients and dialysis is classed as "life support" - yet some people are treated like, oh, passengers on a bus or something... for some it's more about numbers in and out and less about people and their lives.. which is sad."

I think the "passengers on a bus" sums up the whole situation.

Get your stuff get on.... don't talk, don't walk around, don't eat, don't complain when its late..... and GET off.

[RichardMEL]

Yesterday the chief nurse was whinging to me because some patients were coming in and demanding this particular chair or that particular position or machine or something and she was fed up with it. In one way I can understand - we have this one guy who comes in - he comes in AT LEAST an hour earlier than his scheduled time and if he sees an "empty" machine (nevermind that it may be disinfecting, or down, or primed for someone else) get gets upset and says it should be for him because he's showed up early (hmm) but THEN if he doesn't like the chair they have setup he whinges about that etc.... and when you get folks like that you can understand the nurses getting a little fed up. I did comment to her that I never did any of that and I was happy to accept where they put me and whatever chair etc.

[rose1999]

What happens if you talk to yourself?

I usually get a more reasonable and intelligent response.

thanks for giving me a laugh at this difficult time.

[kimcanada]

You are "not allowed" to needle yourself??   They are going backwards instead of forward

[Pierre]

Hi, I've never been on PD, I've been on HD since december '07 so  realy can't compare.

I usually read books, watch tv, or, as I'mdoing now, I surf the WWW. I also eat during HD. ut yes, times does not fly when on HD.

[KICKSTART]

How i wish we could tie all those people who set the rules up, in our chairs and some of the nurses as well (though none at my new temp unit as they are all decent) I would love them to do a week of dialysis ( i would say longer but dont think they would last a week!) Just because they've read the book doesnt mean they know what its like.

[twirl]

when I talk to myself -- I am asked to be quieter

[iketchum]

There is no reason dialysis cant be a social event. Its no night out with your friends , but you see the same people everyday and get to know something about them. I understand the machines need attention and loud conversation can mask an alarm, but you can only really talk to both you neighbors anyway. Those grumpy old guys with the earphones on are having the same troubles as you are. In my unit we greet each other and get the news over before we settle in for treatment. Maybe the VA hospitals are different. Im sorry you have to deal with that system.

[dwcrawford]

I come to make amends for some of my previous comments.  Of the rules twirl gave from her  unit the only one posed to me was the "no choise of stickers" plus my own which were "no buttonhones" and "no sticking yourself.  None were valid in my  unit such as eating, talking, etc.  Today I asked the powers that  be and was told there were no such rules intended.

That leaves the "sticker"  quesion.  Only techs are allow to stick and nurses do the catherers.   Seems backwards to me, but what do I know.  Kevin is our head floor nurse.  He agreed my nurse Tan could continue sticking me unless I wanted a specific tech.  He said he'd make the good ones wear special hats.  (lol)

Many of the techs are excellent and most I like.  Unlike other centers, this one is so large that many of them I've never seen.  I expressed, without calling names, that some of them were truly goofoffs and dodos.

As to the button holes I was told that the nurses don't like to do them but if I insisted (when the time comes) he will assign someone like Jamie to me.  He, Kevin, likes them as do my neph and my surgeon.

I jumped to conclusions and want the record straight.  I still like most of them~~.

Twirl, I hope you had an equally good resolution.

[Zach]

 

[dkerr]

Have you asked about NXStage?