How's it going?

I’ve been pretty quiet the last two months, getting used to the oh-so-fun nightly task of peritoneal dialysis. As the year closes out, I figured that I should provide an update.

So, every day/night for most of the last two months, my routine has been:

  • some time during the day, set up the cycler machine for that night
  • around 20:30, get ready for bed (can I party or what?)
  • clean my hands, sanitize my hands, and plug in by 21:00
  • wipe the connection threads down for excess iodine and hop into bed (otherwise you end up with iodine stains on the sheets)
  • go through four cycles over eight hours of
    • fill
    • dwell
    • drain

…all while hopefully sleeping through the entire thing.

But in two months, I haven’t managed to sleep well enough to sleep through it, although I’ve come close.

I spend the night connected to the cycler by a tube that is roughly 2 meters long. Given that I do need to wake up and pee on occasion, a fun plastic container is kept near the bed for this purpose. Sexy, I know.

But what about number twos, I hear you ask? No, I am not keeping a bucket by the bed. My wife has her lines that I cannot cross without consequences. I suppose I could have bought a chemical toilet but I have elected not to, in favour of simply unhooking when I need to and using the washroom.

There is one complication in unhooking though, and that is the constant use of consumables to stay sterile. Medicine thankfully takes infection these days very, very seriously. Sadly, as a result, medical waste is a real problem. I have never seen that demonstrated so obviously as in going through this process.

The end of the catheter has an extension on it that is threaded, and a “minicap” is kept screwed down on it when it is not being used. The minicap has a bit of iodine inside, and is considered disposable. When you hook up, you discard your current minicap. When you’re done, you put a new minicap on. You change the minicap when you shower, and if you unhook at night you also cap off the supply line at the cycler with a “flexicap”. So you’re constantly tossing the things in the garbage.

Nothing compared to what you throw out when you’re done each morning though. I’ll go through that in another post.

So that’s mainly what I’ve been up to for 2 months, beyond a couple of tests to prove that dialysis is actually working (pesky doctors wanting actual data…imagine). I can go into those later, not that it’s an exciting topic.

Hopefully the power stays on. You hear that Ottawa Hydro? And for those who say I should have a generator, I tried. The supply shortage a few years ago kept any electrician from being able to get their hands on the transfer panels needed. I’m wondering how long my battery backup will run the cycler. I should try that.

Cheers people. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.