I dialyse six nights a week, for seven or eight hours each night. No, I am not in a dire condition that I need so much dialysis. I dialyse so much because it allows me a good life. I am able to lead a pretty normal life. I don't need so much dialysis. I choose so much dialysis.
I used to skip dialysis on Sundays earlier. The tech, Jayaram, who used to come home to help with my dialysis had his weekly off at work on Sundays and so, that felt like the right thing to do. It wasn't any scientific decision. It just happened. When Jayaram left because his day job was keeping him too busy, I got a couple of folks from NephroPlus to help with my dialysis.
Somewhere around that time, I decided to change my weekly night off to Tuesdays. Why Tuesdays? Well, I was swimming at a pool that was closed on Wednesdays. What has that got to do with my dialysis weekly off?
Honestly, I am about as non-compliant as they make dialysis patients these days. On a good day, I put on at least 3 litres from morning to night. On a bad day, don't even ask. So, when I skip a day, the fluid weight gain is at the very least 5 litres. I find it a little uncomfortable to swim with too much fluid inside me. Play the fool in a pool - sure. But not rigorous swimming.
So, if I continued with the Sunday dialysis weekly off, I would miss two days a week for my swimming - Wednesdays, because the pool was closed and Mondays, because I was fluid overloaded (sort of).
By coinciding these two days by not dialysing on Tuesdays, I needed to skip only one day in the pool.
Today is Tuesday. My weekly day off from dialysis. I am feeling good today. The thought of not having dialysis seems appealing. No, it's not that I hate dialysis. My regular dialysis keeps me healthy and allows me to eat and drink whatever I want and however much I want. But still, one day off gives me a nice feeling. I have me to myself. No machine, no needles, no timing.
Today, I actually made some progress on my new short story. I have been having writer's block. I don't claim to be some great writer and all to be able to justify calling it a block. But I have just been unable to write more of the story I'm working on currently. I have been stuck at the same point for months!
Why couldn't I take two nights off if I liked it so much? I tried it. I didn't like it. I felt too constrained. I had to watch my fluids too much. And that's the worst feeling anyone can have, IMHO.
So, I will let you go now. Just wanted to share my joy of not having dialysis today. See you soon!
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