Dialysis patients find ways to pass the time

[okarol]

Dialysis patients find ways to pass the time

Sunday, April 29, 2007.

By The Gazette Staff

It takes nine to 12 hours a week, typically spread evenly over three days, for dialysis to clean waste and excess fluid from the blood.

For people who need the procedure, that adds up to a lot of sitting, and dialysis patients find a number of ways to pass the time.

Many watch television, and most dialysis units provide each patient access to a TV and headphones.

Joan Allred, who dialyzes in at the hospital in Sheridan, Wyo., keeps the tube tuned to craft shows or C-Span. Allred, 75, likes to keep up on politics because her son and four grandsons are in the military.

Other dialysis patients bring novels or crossword puzzles, and some take naps during the procedure.

Paul Etheridge, a patient at Dialysis Clinic Inc. in Billings, whiles away the time by dreaming of his next cruise vacation.

Etheridge, 92, and his wife, Billie Gail, have already taken a cruise to the Mexican Riviera and have another one planned to the Caribbean. They sail aboard cruise ships that provide dialysis stations.

"We love to cruise, and we try not to let this stop us," Etheridge said.

Story available at http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/04/29/news/wyoming/25-time.txt

[boxman55]

God bless Etheridge hang in there man and cruise away..........