Hemodialysis

“No, now he is very charming, but it is unclear whether the transformation is the major cause of that. Something about the transformation tends to produce that skill: innate charisma you might call it.”

“We are hoping it produces a number of skills, please be on the lookout for them. Your recommendation was already approved unanimously by the whole committee: this was all just a formality.”

“Thank you”

HEMODIALYSIS

The sun is setting — behind the Santa Cruz mountains at 5 o ’clock, so I shift into twilight-mode and start visiting the local ‘houses’ and communities that I know. These are people’s homes, but not the standard white-picket-fenced wood-siding-shingled houses that is iconic (if not real) of the American home. Some people are in RVs. Some are in cars. Some are in tents. And some are in boxes, under a blanket, or completely exposed. There are shelters, but they have many rules that many people do not like. And in the time of Covid, many of the shelters are shut down. I only visit people’s homes, not the shelters.

Mostly I am trying to keep in touch with people, and see if there is anything I can do to help. The problem is both massive (hundreds of thousands of people that are ‘homeless’) and intimate (‘Linda’ needs to replace her carburetor to stay warm). I continue to hope the intimacy will spark insights into new solutions. The ‘Pico Pico House’ project was one solution that came out of intimate understanding of individual needs, and the discourse with Jerry and Nancy are meant to help with the massive problems.

I need to talk to Grace.

History

Hemodialysis was invented — by Drs. Kolff, Haas, Abel, and other great minds. It removes undesired dissolved substances and excess water from the blood through special membranes. After a few hours of pumping a patient’s blood through a dialysis machine, the body has been ‘cleansed’ similarly to the way kidneys clean it continuously. With dialysis, you can live without your kidneys.

There are a few issues though.

First, the machine needs to access your blood, which it does in a couple ways. Initially, it is done through a catheter (a tube) that is hooked into your blood stream. The short-term version of that access method is the trialysis catheter I had when I was in the ICU of Amasa. This access method is so dangerous that you can not leave the hospital with it. A longer term version is attached to your chest, and goes pretty directly to your heart after passing over your collar bone. This access can be used outside of a hospital, but can still only be used by an RN because the risk of a deadly infection wiggling up the catheter line is so high.

The ‘upgrade’ from a catheter gets rid of any permanent attachment to your body, and is useable by technicians that do not need to be RNs. Instead your body is augmented with access points beneath your skin, and the technicians ‘cannulate’ you with two needles to access your blood only during dialysis itself. But don’t think “Insert two blood draw needles… in my arm… for a few hours… eek!” No. Think “Insert two sewing needles… in my arm… for a few hours… “

It is true, that after a few hours of dialysis with those needles… and a few more for the holes to seal… all you have left are impressive track marks running up your arm. You look like a ‘druggy’ but with different benefits.

Second, your schedule — is seriously impacted by the dialysis rhythm: in my case I do it every other day for about four hours. Plus time to get to the clinic, be wired into the machine, be unwired, make sure I am not going to pass out, and then the time to get back to my ‘normal’ life. In theory, you can work during part of this. But one of your arms is pinned by dialysis needles. The room can be noisy. Sometimes you cramp or have other symptoms. Most people just mindlessly watch TV.