ROOFS It is noon, so I head to dialysis — My clinic is in Menlo Park, almost within the Meta campus. I was on Facebook when it first came to California, but got off it when the social value of the social network became very suspect. Dialysis patients get hooked up to a hemodialysis machine using either their catheter or the two dialysis ‘sewing needles’ described above. I used a catheter for about six months, but progressed to direct artery access, which looks the same as a fistula. The flow rate can be higher with the needles, so I can support all the patients in my shift. For the first six months I needed to have another vampire (Susan) with me, but now I can go it alone. My machine is different from everyone else’s, but that isn’t visible to anyone who works in the main room. There is a technician controlling flows between patients and me, so people get their own (cleansed) blood back. I feel like the RNs know something is unusual, but they keep their concerns and questions to themselves. Josephine ‘wires’ me up, and for the next four hours I am trapped. Dialysis can be very draining for normal patients: cramps, sleepiness, etc. It is draining for me also. I commonly need to sleep for most of it. Given my dialysis shift starts at noon, it is somewhat ironic. I need to sleep for a while at night too, so maybe I am just half-vampire?
❧❧❧ “No, you are not exactly a slave — but you are also not free. From now until you wish to die, you will need to do dialysis with a Stanford-approved clinic.” “Can’t I just bite people on the neck or something?” “You can try, but there isn’t any evidence that would work. And you would likely end up dying in jail” - 23 -
