Things I have learned after a week of dialysis

It has been just over a week now that hubby has been doing peritoneal dialysis and here are some of the things I have learned.

No matter how prepared we felt after the classes, nothing could have prepared us for the constant alarming of the machine, the emotions, the fatigue, and the steady work of cleaning, preparing, setting up, and putting away.

A 12 oz bottle of antibacterial hand sanitizer only lasts a week, this is also true of a bottle of bleach, three rolls of paper towels, and what I was told was a month supply of cotton swabs.

There is, mostly definitely, more trash.  In one week, we filled an extra large construction trash bag which cost us extra each week to put on the curb.

I can function with less than 3 hours of sleep that was interrupted by an alarming machine, but it isn't pretty.

We followed all the directions in the book, all the directions from the dialysis nurse, and did everything possible and hubby still drains slowly for at least one drain out of 5 each night, which causes the machine to alarm.

When the doctor and nurse say not to lift more than a gallon of milk, they mean it.

Even when you do everything right, things can still go wrong.  After three weeks of healing, hubby's catheter site has decided to start leaking.  If it doesn't stop in 5 weeks, it will be back to the surgeon.

Even with it's headaches, peritoneal dialysis is worth it, because every night my hubby is sleeping by my side, even though his feet are in my face :-)  We figured out he drains better sleeping that direction.

Unscheduled trips to see the dialysis nurse happen.

It has been a long week, but Hubby is alive and in time will feel better, so it is all worth it!