148) River Inn Vacation

July 24, 2007
Tuesday

Kerrville Dialysis: I am driving the 20 miles from River Inn to the dialysis center at 7 in the morning, curving around through the fog of the river basin of the South fork of the Guadalupe River. It is so green this year that the luminous signs along the road seem to illuminate the greenery along the way. I get into town a little early and stop at a Mexican restaurant for huevos rancheros before getting to the center. When I get to the dialysis center, I walk in and sit down in the waiting room for about 5 minutes before the administrator comes out and brings me in. Maria cannulates me today and remembers me from the folk festival in June. She asks about my kids and my vacation. I ask her about the center: this is the only dialysis center in K-ville. They have about 40 patients and stagger their treatment. I am amazed that in a “retirement” town like Kerrville there are only 40 dialysis patients, and I ponder that for a good 30 minutes or so after getting hooked up.

Today I read my Biff book almost the whole session, aside from checking the weather a number of times. We arrived at River Inn yesterday and got some cloudy drizzly swimming in (Shayna & Liz did; I watched from the relative warmth of the deck) and the water was cold! The water is higher than I’ve ever seen it here, but it is still crystal clear. Today it was foggy into town and now that I’ve been here for a couple hours, it has started pouring outside.

The weather people say 80% chance of scattered showers and high of low 80’s. This is Texas in July? I get unhooked and head to the store for more supplies for our week.

Note: I didn’t note my weights today.

July 26, 2007
Thursday

Kerrville Dialysis: I drove into town a little later this morning, so didn’t have time for a sit-down breakfast. Slid through the line at a donut shop for two twists and a refresh on coffee. When I got to the center, I sat down in the waiting room and waited over 25 minutes before Barbara poked her head out and said “Hi”. A few minutes later I was brought in for a chair. Later I learned from the administrator that they thought I was coming in “…at 7 like you did on Tuesday.” “I came in at 8:30 Tuesday and thought that was the time today too.” “Oh”, she said, “…well, we had your chair ready at 7 and then tore it down cause we thought you weren’t coming.” So, what could I say? I didn’t want to punch a gift horse in the mouth. I’m on vacation and I will simply accept that things don’t always go my way. Barbara came over and stuck me and did much better than last June. I wondered if she was new back then and has practiced and gotten this much better, or was she just nervous about sticking such a handsome guy as me. Yuk yuk.

Today I watch TV to asses the weather (was nice yesterday afternoon and cloudy again this morning) and they say, “…rain all day today…”. I watch National Geo’s “Megastructures” on the tube, where they describe a cool bridge built in Australia. Then I read about Biff’s continuing adventures with the Messiah learning Buddhist meditations and Kung Fu on their trip to the Far East (Thanks to Andrea for the tip on this book. She was right: I do like it).

Cindy unhooked me. Earlier she had come up and woke me up to ask some questions for her ‘records’. She started with, “How do you spell your last name?” I spelled it and she looked quizzically at her clip board and said, “What? Are you sure?” and I looked her in the eyes and said coolly, “Yes…. I am sure.” “Oh. You are the wrong person.” …and the administrator broke in with, “We’ve already done him.” I wished I had stayed asleep. Later Cindy was the one to unhook me and for the first time ever, I had someone come up and unhook my and put pads on my stick holes and have me hold ‘em without a surgical glove. This behavior caused me to think either (1) she doesn’t know what she is doing, or (2) she thinks I’m already sterile, or (3) maybe gloves aren’t as important as El Milagro makes it seem. I was so shocked by her behavior that I didn’t say anything. Later I wished I had; and you know what? If I can’t pipe up with a statement about that, imagine how other, less vocal patients act when they see medical staff doing things they know are wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s scary.

I lived through it however and drove back to the inn to find Johnny there ready to hang out with his sister all afternoon and then watch me cook burgers in the afternoon downpour and eat a rushed dinner before heading back to Center Point and Camp C.A.M.P.* He took an ear of corn with him… that boy. What a great day!

Notes: In at 74.7 and out at 72.1 Kgs.
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* Camp Camp retrieved July 2007 online at http://www.campcamp.org/