30) Saturday Dialysis in Dallas

July 15, 2006
Saturday

North Dallas Dialysis Center: Today Oscar, the Hispanic charge nurse, smoothly cannulated me. Oscar is originally from the valley (McAllen) and moved to Dallas 14 years ago after a divorce and a visit to his brother up here. I mentioned that I had a friend from the valley (Cruz) who hated Arlington when we went to graduate school, because the cultural shift was too radical; to which Oscar said "he should've lived in Garland, Mesquite, Oak Cliff, or west Dallas. He would've found lots of us around those places."

There was one brand new patient there today: a youngish Asian guy with a Hawaiin shirt and bright yellow running shorts. It was like I was observing myself four months ago. He looked a bit apprehensive and had lots of questions for the techs and Oscar. The reason I mention this is that at the end of the session, after they de-cannulated him, as he was 'holding' gauze pads over the needle holes, I could tell he was pushing the pads tightly into his arm. The techs let you sit there, 'holding' for about ten minutes before they return to tape you up. And clearly they didn't tell him the 'holding' tip: start by holding the gauze very tightly and then loosen up the pressure as the time goes by so that by the end you are lightly holding. So, after he was taped and ready to walk out, he yelled out, "I'm bleeding!" and had to sit back down and start the whole process over. When you hold tightly for the whole time, you don't allow the wound to begin to clot, so when you let up on the pressure, it starts bleeding again.

Speaking of bleeding, I was able to find and watch the whole of the movie Carrie (1976, Brian de Palma: based on Stephen King's first novel), which I hadn't seen in probably 30 years. I had forgotten that Amy Irving, John Travolta, and Piper Laurie were in it. Also, I recognized William Katt (Carrie's date) who played Paul Drake in the later Perry Mason TV movie series, along with his mother Barbara Hale (Della Street). So, all that made a re-watch of Carrie worthwhile.

At the beginning of the session, I read my Alex Delaware book for awhile, then watched the news.

As I left the center at the end of my session, staff said I could return anytime and we said our goodbyes and I shouted out my ending weight to the nurse. Thus ends my adventure in Dallas Dialysis.

Notes: In at 74.9 and out at 72.1 Kgs.