6/29/08

250) Kerrville Folk Fesitval '08 Report

K-ville, Texas:This year's KFF was the best yet... mostly because I was there and healthy throughout the whole three weekends. I received my dialysis each Saturday at the Kerrville Dialysis Center and the staff mostly remembered me and took very good care of me. Alas, since it is a few weeks now, I can't remember who to thank by name.

The first weekend my son, John, and I went together without Liz and the girls, and had a Father / Son "bonding" time together. We set up the new pop-up and on Friday night his pals, Sara (green shirt) and Eddie (green cup) came out for one night and they were fun to have around. The next night John worked in the staff kitchen until half way through the main concert, came out and sat with me until afterwards, and then he talked our friend Palmer (who has her own booth this year as well as working on Kitchen Krew) into going out to the campfires all night long. He did make it in time for the last call for breakfast. I miss most of my breakfast work cause of dialysis, and usually do some errands for Cari (Kitchen Krew Chief) and then help out making cookies, deserts, or some sort of thing all afternoon.

The music
the first weekend was really excellent across the board: Friday night the Two High String Band played blue grass that featured several of the best of Texas, Eric Hokonan and Billy Bright (from EP). Last of the five groups t o play was Dale Watson and his rocking western band. Dale was the best I've ever seen him. After the show on the Kennedy Stage, John, Eddie, and Sara went out to the "meadow" , where musicians play all night.

I turned in
and set my alarm for 4 am to get to the dialysis center by 5:30. I got there on time and they thought I was coming at 8, so it was awhile before they had my chair ready. I got poked and went back to sleep fairly quickly although this center keeps all the lights on all the time, unlike mine that turns 'em all off after people are hooked up.

I picked up som
e supplies for the kitchen and helped clean up after breakfast and then headed down the the Threadgill Theatre for the New Folk Concerts, a line up of new singer song-writers that competes in this nationally known contest. The music is fresh and the talent is usually quite amazing. After about an hour I saw Kim, Emma, and David come in and I visited with them for awhile.

The evening concert on Saturday featured a lot of my fav
orites, including Chuck Brodsky, Shake Russell, Caroline Aiken, and ended with Jimmy LaFave... who I missed cause on my dialysis day I usually pass out early... tonight Caroline ended up around 11 and I turned in.

Sunday morning I worked my whole shift, from 7 til about noon... and then worked on, making 1000 chocolate chip cookies for the dinner. When I finished I shot o
ver to Threadgill's for the finals of the New Folk and then back to the pop-up to do a little work on the top.
Sunday's evening concert featured Sa
ra Hickman, Eliza Gilkyson, Kevin
Welch, and my fel
low El Pasoan (recently moved to Wimberly), Tom Russell.

Monday
John and I relaxed most of the day and he went swimming before his shift and I took a nap. That night was the highlight of the whole weekend (the only CD I bought week 1), The Bellville Outfit; one went to Montessori and the Science Academy with John. The young woman playing the fiddle in both pics is Phoebe! She was putting up her dinner dishes and saw John washing dishes and cried, "Johnny! What are you doing here?". John replied, "Dishes?" Anyway, these kids were really something to hear. Later Jon Vesner, Albert & Gage, and the Lost Gonzo Band played to finish up the first weekend.

249) Message to Andrew

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Home

Andrew ~ I briefly discussed with Ester the concerns she has about your reluctance to begin dialysis. I only have a few things to ask you to consider.

#1: Before you make a decision about this thing we sometimes call "life-alysis" (as opposed to dialysis), please do a lot of research about the process and how it can impact whatever kidney situation you have. Look up your condition and how it responds to dialysis. Look on the Davita website for the info they have on the plusses and minusses of doing dialysis (http://www.davita.com/dialysis/). This website can answer all your questions.

#2:
Beginning dialysis is scary for everyone who decides to add this time-consuming thing to their lives... AND one thing you can do is to find out everything you can about the actual process. Before I started, I visited a local dialysis center and interviewed the nurses and a few of the people on the dialysis machines. Also, I had a good friend of mine go with me the first few times and that helped my anxiety.

#3:
I don't know how you are feeling, health-wise, but when I started dialysis, within a week or so, I felt completely like my old, energetic self. The toxins that are running around in your body may be making you feel depressed, run down, cranky, and worn out. Dialysis will clean your blood and you will feel better. Almost everyone on dialysis says that.

I hope reading my blog is helpful to you, and I can fully understand why people are hesitant to begin this dialysis thing. Good Luck to you! And, please contact me if you have any questions or thoughts you have. JN