Dialysis, like much of healthcare, is all about numbers. The numbers may be examined on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, or weekly basis. Some are checked hourly during each dialysis session. Usually, these hourly numbers are registered and checked by the … Continue reading HSE computer hack has helped mental health for me as a dialysis patient
Since I transferred my dialysis care from the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore to the B Braun Wellstone Midlands Renal Care Centre in Port Laoise, we have been working towards the goal of self care. This will be where I will take responsibility for my own care and my own dialysis in conjunction with the unit staff. I am already back to cannulating my own fistula, and preparing the trolley in advance of this. Soon, I hope that the unit staff will start to teach me to prepare the dialysis machine in advance of the treatment. In the last week, … Continue reading Self care becoming an achievable goal
Following the monthly review by my consultant, it has been decided to increase my time on dialysis to 4 hours per session from the 3.5 hours that has been the normal since I started. The reason for this is that it should help to get me higher clearance which is better than not. So from Wednesday, I will have even longer to find things to do, listen to Audible or music. I also hope that it might stop there being so many sharp decreases in blood pressure. Continue reading Extra time on dialysis should bring improved results
News reached us this week that the #AIDSMemoryUK campaign founded by Ash Kotak, a long-term survivor of HIV, has announced that the London AIDS Memorial will be centrally located on Tottenham Court Road, close to the locations of: the first … Continue reading UK Aids memorials to be linked by national memorial website. London memorial due to be in Tottenham Court Road.
During yesterday’s Downing Street Briefing, the British Prime Minster, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, said that We haven’t got vaccines against SARS, AIDS or whatever. The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, Downing Street Briefing This is really not on. … Continue reading Mistake of British Prime Minister over HIV and AIDS illustrates why reporting guidelines are so important
It would have to happen on the day that Europe went into daylight-saving time, so now that we’re on Irish Standard Time, I was awake at 06:00 to ensure that I would be on the 08:41 train from Portarlington to … Continue reading AstraZeneca jab 1 received this morning
I earned my “degree” in Epilepsy Awareness in advance of #PurpleDay. Why not get yours by clicking the link below? https://bit.ly/2BkBAOu Epilepsy Ireland is the only organisation in the country that supports the needs of the 40,000 people who are living with the condition … Continue reading Epilepsy Awareness “degree” awarded
Yesterday, I recognised the gear change that has happened in my care for living with chronic kidney failure. Since December 2018, when my kidneys failed due to Goodpasture Syndrome, I have received my dialysis treatment in a hospital setting. At … Continue reading Dialysis gear change
The afternoon started with the taxi arriving at home at 13:30., the journey to Port Laoise was over almost as soon as it had begun. I was there for 13:45. Fifteen minutes? That was even shorter than the twenty minutes … Continue reading Coming home positive from dialysis session: first time in B Braun in Port Laoise
It doesn’t seem that long since I “graduated” from dialysis in Tallaght University Hospital to dialysis in the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore. That event happened in June 2019. Since then, of course, we have had the year of Coronavirus which has skewed how time feels to have passed. There have been highs and lows whilst receiving care in Tullamore. I’ve had to fight HIV stigma (see this post). Some of that is still ongoing, some of the problems have been resolved. There’s still no social worker for the hospital in Tullamore (see what I did on that issue). That … Continue reading End of an era… new chapter begins tomorrow
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