You do not ..

[RichardMEL]

Riki can you arrange for your friend to deliver to me next time? That would be great! 

Our nurses are cool with extra drinks and stuff - if you have one (sometimes I buy everyone - staff n patients who want it) coffee/mocha/hot chocolate... so if we have it, just add 200 or 250 to the target no sweat.

It is true some of us are allowed to get away with some things. Today I was rather naughty. I took in a bottle of vodka. Yes, you read right... VODKA.  . Now before you all yell at me I have to explain this was medicinal in nature for I hd to endure a football game. My team would get absolutely slaughtered and I knew they would. The nurses did too - when I showed up they handed me a BOX OF TISSUES!!!! oh ha ha! Yes well, I wondered if that would totally push the boundaries, but the nurses kind of laughed. One of them said "you can't drink that!" but didn't stop me, and the boss jokingly said it was against hospital policy, but again sat right near me, and didn't do anything. I had a few shots as things went from bad to worse and my BP stayed nicely low! 

Maybe if I did crap like that all the time it would be different, but that was a bit of fun (and yes, I came off at my target weight).

KS, regarding bringing your own stuff in... I don't understand why they would be like that and not allow you? I mean within reason (but then again it seems a lot of your unit's 'rules' seem to not make a lot of sense). At my unit we are given lockers, and I store 2 pillows and a blanket in it. Most folks have their own blankets(the hospital ones suck), pillows etc because you simply need it for comfort. At least our unit is humane in the way they treat us (except for the nuirse who took great delight in turning the TV over me on to the football game which was on a delayed broadcast so I could watch it again  )

KS I had no idea you didn't have a fistula - I thought you did.

[Riki]

The hoodie would work, I think, if it was a cardigan type, with the zipper in the front, so that they could get to the line.  I had a sweater that I used to wear, because I was always so cold in the beginning, and it was thin enough that they had no problem putting the bp cuff over it.  I can't do that with the fistula, but I don't get as cold as I used to either.

[jbeany]

The hoodie would work, I think, if it was a cardigan type, with the zipper in the front, so that they could get to the line.  I had a sweater that I used to wear, because I was always so cold in the beginning, and it was thin enough that they had no problem putting the bp cuff over it.  I can't do that with the fistula, but I don't get as cold as I used to either.

It's also easy to adapt one to open where you need it too with iron on velcro tape.

[Riki]

The hoodie would work, I think, if it was a cardigan type, with the zipper in the front, so that they could get to the line.  I had a sweater that I used to wear, because I was always so cold in the beginning, and it was thin enough that they had no problem putting the bp cuff over it.  I can't do that with the fistula, but I don't get as cold as I used to either.

It's also easy to adapt one to open where you need it too with iron on velcro tape.

Good point.  I don't bother wearing sweaters in anymore.  I think I've gotten used to the temperature in the unit.  I do sometimes ask for a heated blanket, though.

[aharris2]

Oh, heck.  My nurses wouldn't reheat mine either, but it was more about clinic rules about what was allowed to pass from the clinic area into the break room where the micro was located.  I used one I made with uncooked white rice.  So I nuked the living daylights out of it when I was home, and brought it along, still too hot to touch.  It tended to get scorched, and smelled rather odd.  They complained about the smell, but oh well!

You also need to take a note from Rerun.  Get a small, very dark umbrella, and loft it over your head.  It will block out the lights and the draft.  Bring your own pillows as well.  You already don't get along, so when they bitch, just tell them you'll have them charged with theft if they try to take them away!

Same with our unit - they won't heat up any personal patient items in the breakroom microwave, which does address any patient to patient / patient to staff infection issue.

KS, they limit what you bring in??? We come in with 3 pillows and two blankets at a minimum.

[RichardMEL]

whoa... heated blanket Riki?! Talk about luxury!!!! I am so organsing a holiday now. hmm I wonder if Aus and Canada have a policy about dialysis.....have to ask 

I wear a polo shirt when I am doing D (unless it is high summer, and it's a plain T). It keeps most of me fairly warm and my arm free for needle time.

One problem I have is that soemtimes I can overheat and be cold, so I tend to use my blanket, then take it off, then put it on again.. Annoying but more convenient than a hoddie or something like that which would be nigh on impossible to get off once hooked up - though a zipper one would definitely help.

[Riki]

yep, heated blankets. *G*

The unit in the hospital in Halifax limits you to 2 heated blankets, but the one I'm at in Charlottetown doesn't seem to have any limits.  But that could be because of the size of the unit.  The Charlottetown unit is a fraction of the size of the one in Halifax