So Saturday night marked one full week that Anthony has been doing peritoneal dialysis at home. Here's kind of how our week went.
Saturday, Feb. 11: This terrible machine is the WORST sound we've ever heard! Every time it came on it seemed to rattle the room. We spent most of our night lying away wishing it would stop making so much noise. It had several problems and sounded a VERY loud alarm twice. It was very frustrating, nothing like that had ever happened while Anthony was at the clinic last week. It literally felt like we had a newborn at home again. We slept about 45-50 minutes while he was "dwelling" and then we laid awake listening to the cycle for about 20-25 minutes. Miserable...that's what it was.
Sunday, Feb. 12: VERY similar to Saturday night. The only difference is that there was only one alarm. Still a terrible awful noise.
Monday, Feb. 13: Anthony got very upset while setting up his whole system. It wouldn't make it past step 1. He tried several different things to make it work and then go so mad he just wanted to quit. He called the 1-800 number on the machine and together they realized the door latch wasn't noticing that the door was closed, so it wouldn't cause the suction and it wouldn't even get started. I have to say this was THE best night! Because the machine was broken Anthony didn't do a treatment so we slept like angels! Who knew it made so much difference to have quiet!
Tuesday, Feb. 14: Happy Valentine's Day...we got a new dialysis machine! But this one is sooo much quieter and much better. It's really just a low hum instead of a fierce rattle. We didn't sleep wonderful, but we did manage to sleep during his dwell time and make the exchanges more tolerable.
Wednesday, Feb. 15: I actually slept through the first exchange. Very promising!
Thursday, Feb. 16: Pretty much like last night...getting used to the new sounds.
Friday, Feb. 17: I slept through the first two exchanges..then the alarm went off. Something about the drain line. Anthony got it fixed and we settled back in.
Saturday, Feb. 18: Not a good night...the alarm went off twice. The machine wasn't recognizing his second bag of solution and so it wouldn't stop making noise even during the quiet dwell time. It was very frustrating and Anthony eventually bypassed the last exchanged and got it to drain just so he could unhook it and turn it off. It gets so hard to handle something new when it's not working quite the way it's supposed to. Or the way it's always worked before. It makes it even harder to realize this is something we're into for a while.
Overall this is working. Anthony went to work all week last week on a regular schedule. His work is fabulous and they are really protecting him, so they kept his schedule rather light. Tuesday was his first day back and he was very tired when he got home...just from being up and around and working for so many hours after being home and tied to a machine for over a week. Friday he came home and was in a very good mood, wasn't tired and felt good. He's generally feeling better. And after that first night of no treatment he could tell he wasn't feeling as well, his joints and bones ached again. This truly is helping and is making him feel better physically and is helping him sleep better and not be so tired. If only we could finally settle into a routine with this machine and get it figured out to an art so that it doesn't keep Anthony awake, or doesn't alarm.
We still have good days and bad days. Both physical and emotional. But we're hanging in there, sticking together, and continuing to pray.
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