Been a long time
Long time since I’ve used LJ. After all these months, I felt the need to dust it off and use it to put my thoughts down about everything that has happened. Not using FB as well, I'm not that fond of it.
For those who haven’t heard, in January my husband was diagnosed with kidney failure. He also began suffering vision problems that have made him legally blind. As we weren’t insured at the time, we started to apply for Medicare and Medi-Cal. Something that I thought wouldn’t be too difficult. We’ve paid into the system for years, and both of his ailments would qualify him for coverage. How wrong I was.
Flash forward six months of lost paperwork and loads of misinformation from government workers. In June, his kidneys were functioning below 15%. With no time left, his nephrologist made the call to have him start dialysis. We had to go to an outside organization to get a social worker in order to wade through the ineptitude that is Social Security. She was able to get through to a human being who approved my spouse for coverage. He has been going to a dialysis clinic 3x a week since.
Two weeks ago, the spouse and I began training for doing dialysis at home. It’s called Peritoneal dialysis. It’s pretty fascinating as it uses the peritoneal membrane in your body to mimic the cleansing function of your kidneys. The training has gone very well and he’s been doing dialysis at home since Thursday.
I was a quick study. Had to learn both how the machine worked and the theory behind dialysis as a whole before we could start. These past two weeks have made me realize that I really enjoy learning about how the human body works. I also like being able to help people. So I’m starting to think about a career change. I think I could make a decent nurse. Taking care of my spouse has given me a lot of practice.
I’ll be going back to school at some point to become a nurse. Right now, I have to focus on my spouse getting better. We’ve completed one step with home dialysis. Our next step is seeing an eye specialist in a couple weeks. There’s a really good chance his sight can be restored. After that, some physical therapy to restore his strength so he doesn’t need to use a walker to move around.
For those who haven’t heard, in January my husband was diagnosed with kidney failure. He also began suffering vision problems that have made him legally blind. As we weren’t insured at the time, we started to apply for Medicare and Medi-Cal. Something that I thought wouldn’t be too difficult. We’ve paid into the system for years, and both of his ailments would qualify him for coverage. How wrong I was.
Flash forward six months of lost paperwork and loads of misinformation from government workers. In June, his kidneys were functioning below 15%. With no time left, his nephrologist made the call to have him start dialysis. We had to go to an outside organization to get a social worker in order to wade through the ineptitude that is Social Security. She was able to get through to a human being who approved my spouse for coverage. He has been going to a dialysis clinic 3x a week since.
Two weeks ago, the spouse and I began training for doing dialysis at home. It’s called Peritoneal dialysis. It’s pretty fascinating as it uses the peritoneal membrane in your body to mimic the cleansing function of your kidneys. The training has gone very well and he’s been doing dialysis at home since Thursday.
I was a quick study. Had to learn both how the machine worked and the theory behind dialysis as a whole before we could start. These past two weeks have made me realize that I really enjoy learning about how the human body works. I also like being able to help people. So I’m starting to think about a career change. I think I could make a decent nurse. Taking care of my spouse has given me a lot of practice.
I’ll be going back to school at some point to become a nurse. Right now, I have to focus on my spouse getting better. We’ve completed one step with home dialysis. Our next step is seeing an eye specialist in a couple weeks. There’s a really good chance his sight can be restored. After that, some physical therapy to restore his strength so he doesn’t need to use a walker to move around.