Life on the list

I have a 5,000 word case study to write, a book to finish, reading to do, jobs to search for and applications to complete, a party to plan, and what am I doing? Looking at camouflaged cats on the Daily Mail website. Yet another problem with Dermot meant the tech had to come out, yet again, and fix him before I could go on today. He's now mended thankfully, but it's only a matter of time before he teases me again with his non-compliance. I love Dermy, but he pisses me off sometimes. Anyway, late start = late finish and I wasn't done and wiped down until 8:30; by the time I'd eaten and let my mind unfurl in front of the TV for an half and hour (I flicked between Only Connect and Man vs Food) it was past 9 and I was not inclined to start doing anything cerebral. I was sold on home dialysis as soon as someone said "no fluid restriction" but having extra time to do all my..stuff...was another massive benefit. So why is it I now seem to have less? I got an hour

You know, it's funny: there are about seventy-nine things that could go wrong during a dialysis session. We're dealing with blood and needles here, so infection, haemorrhage, hypotension, needle in the eye...these are all par for the course. I had prepared for all these things, and was confident I could handle them should they arise. What I did not foresee was that the problems might not actually have anything to do with me, but the technology would fuck me over. Until last Monday, this post was going to be entitled: "Home Dialysis is Super Rad Yeaaaaaaah" and would go on to list all the ways in which it has made my life crazy-awesome. But that was then. Move on. Now I find myself forced (out of ire) to vent about the fact that Dermot - whom I loved up until Monday - is being a bit of a dick. On Monday afternoon, I had spent an hour assiduously preparing Dermot and was just about to insert my first needle, when he started alarming at me and shamelessly flashing h

I did it: I have started dialysing at home. I'd love to make a big, "years in the making" hoo-ha about it but I only started training at the beginning of February, so the whole process has only really taken about six weeks start to finish, though I had been thinking about it for several months beforehand and boring everyone with inane HD chat for much longer still. Hanging with Bear, doin' some dialysin' Verdict? It's awesome-by-way-of-terrifying. Even after three sessions I am beginning to see the benefits: most notably, the easing of the fluid/diet restrictions (they have not been expunged, but I'll happily take what I can get) and the almost surreal realisation that I don't have to go to the hospital anymore - not for dialysis anyway, unless I contract a tropical disease or my flat burns down and takes my machine with it. I shall still have to pitch up to have a monthly blood test; I got pretty shirty when I learnt I would be having an extra