Wednesday

Since we got a late start on Woody's dialysis last night, there was a later start for today. I guess he finally got breakfast around 10:30...which means the dialysis was finished and his last fill and dwell was finished and I had manually drained the fill and finished up with the daily details that go at the end of each dialysis. I decided to work in the front yard while that last two hours of dwelling occurred. I did some weeding.,,mainly trying to weed out what had sprouted from the bird seed! I think that I will move away from the seed that has the tiny little seeds in it. I came downstairs early this morning, prior to working in the yard, and gave Woody his crossword puzzles. I had already worked both of the puzzles online and also done Wordle and Phrazle...in other words, I had awaken way too early...when I took Woody's puzzles down to him, I found out where he was in the 4 cycles that the machine does and then went back upstairs and set an alarm so I would come back down to disconnect him. I did doze back off...and, guess I slept sort of hard as I dreamed and they weren't pleasant dreams. I woke up when the alarm went off and proceded with our day! I disconnected Woody from the cycler machine and after that went outside as I stated above. I came back in when it was time to do the next phase of Woody's dialysis...the manual drain...it takes about 45 minutes to drain...this drain happens due to gravity...fluid in his peritoneum is drained through his extension tube into what is called the manual drain bag...we always get at least 1500 ml as that is the amount of the last fill and then more comes out if some has been left...often the drain is close to 3000 ml (in other words 3 liters...that amount is easier for us to see since we can visualize 1 and 2 liter bottles!). After all is finished, then I fix his breakfast which I try to be ready to cook as soon as possible after he finishes...he is usually pretty hungry...since it is 10, 10:30, or sometimes as late as 11:30 or noon! So what starts the night before between 8 and 9 doesn't end until well into the next day! After I got his breakfast to him, I got the dialysis supply order ready. I keep a running supply list on my iPad so it doesn't take too long to plug in what we currently have in the supply department. I went upstairs to get my iPhone to call the Fresenius folk to make the order...picked up the phone and it rang...it was a Fresenius order robo call that said if I was ready to place the order to press 2...which I did and before an entire line of their recorded message played, I was talking to a real person...guess that it was about the easiest order that I have ever placed with them! After I got that placed, I called the Fresenius RX phone number and ordered a prescription that he is running out of. That done...dialysis duty was over till this evening! At that point, I got my grocery list ready and headed off to the Credit Union and Kroger. I now make my list on my iPhone with the Kroger app...that has made shopping so much easier...as the app enters everything according to the aisle that the items are on...I'm sure that it has cut at least 1/2 hour off my shopping time as I don't have to go back for items I have missed. I think that Woody slept most of the time I was gone. I did speak to him before I left and told him where I was going and he assured me he was awake enough to hear what I said...well, when I got home, he was sound asleep and when he woke up, he said that he didn't know that I had gone anywhere! Groceries got put away and by that time I was ready to put my feet up...I read a little and dozed a little. Woody has had his protein supper shake and I have gotten his dialysis treatment for tonight set up with the solution warming. Im heading in now to see if he is ready to get started, as we have a morning appointment tomorrow at the Fresenius Dialysis Center, the monthly check in with Dr. O and the rest of the dialysis team. The appointment isn't super early so it should work fine to have his dialysis over and his beeakfast eaten before we have to leave...but one never knows for sure how long each treatment will take. As I so often have to say these days..."Time will tell!" Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!