Henry Feeser's Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) journey

Never ring the bell!

Pondering The Lint In My Navel

April 2, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I was sitting on our back patio, being thankful for my day, even though I had dialysis labs (no problems). I thought back to some of the situations I’ve encountered in life and decided that being on dialysis isn’t all that bad.

Let me explain a little bit. When I was sent to Vietnam by the US Navy as a third tour there, initially, I was to be an electronics advisor mainly out of Nah Bay, which is Nha Trang Bay. As things work in the Navy, this lasted for about three weeks, and a more pressing need developed – that of updating the Mk 19 Mod 0 Grenade Machine Guns to the new Mk 19 Mod 1 configuration. This update was found to be beyond the capability of Vietnamese boat crews, so a Mobile Ordnance Team was formed, and I was in charge. The team consisted of myself, a lieutenant at the time, a Master Chief Gunner’s Mate, a Chief Gunner, and two civilian tech reps from Navy Ordance Station Louisville, KY. Get this: we were in charge of all the ordance on some 1250 Brown Water Navy craft that had been turned over to the Vietnamese Navy. To further complicate matters, no one on the US side had firm data on where said craft were located.

This tracking required me and my team to travel extensively in III-and IV-Corps by whatever means we could beg, borrow, or steal to accomplish our mission. Keep in mind that conflicts were going on in which we were involved as THE ordinance Team.

And that, my friends, leads me to the conclusion that dialysis is not all that bad; at least no one is shooting at you, have clean sheets and a bed at night, and most of the time have digestible food to eat. What’s not to like?

Lookin’ Good

April 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Steadily been working in and on our yard. Given my age, 86, and medical profile – not ideal – I’m doing ok. With adequate breaks, I am working and doing some heavy-duty stuff 5 to 6 hours a day.

Sunday evening, our don Justin visited for dinner and a chat mainly with his mom. His wife and step-daughter are on holiday in Costa Rica. We took the opportunity to take our Golden Retriever for a ride in our  golf cart. He popped right in and rode like a trooper – which he is. Monday, my wife and zI took him for another ride with the identical results. If you have never experienced a Golden you just can’t understand and are completely missing the boat.

Cycler Crapping Out

March 31, 2025 / / 1 Comment

Saturday evening, during my usual setup of my Fresenius-provided Cycler, it froze up for the third time in less than two weeks. Knowing how the game is played with Fresenius support, I once again phoned “Support.” Although on the second call, we went through calibrating the screen with a promise that should it happen again, the Cycler would be replaced, The third support person told me that “they” had to run a screen calibration again and should that fail, the Cycler would be replaced. This is obviously not in sync with what I had been previously informed, but is not out of the ordinary for Fresenius. It appears that they can and do make up rules on the fly.

After the second screen calibration, the system, as it has in the past, came up and got me through the night. Now, I can expect a call from Fresenius Corporate inquiring if I was able to complete my dialysis treatment.

I thought readers should know about this and be forwarned should it happen to you.

“See It Through” by Edgar Albert Guest:

March 28, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Apply the following to facing dialysis challenges:

When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!

Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!

Guess What?

March 27, 2025 / / 1 Comment

Spent about an hour on my replacement computer and pretty much made it mine. The computer is a decent mini-PC with 16 gigs of memory, Windows 11 Pro, and a half a gig drive. It was NOT loaded with bloatware, and setup was straightforward. I loaded PCMATIC up on it and ran a scan, which came out OK. I subscribe to Office 365 so that was also not a challenge. I loaded up CCleaner, aka CrapCleaner, and had to update 5 drivers. So far, so good, and now I have audio!

On the second front, I also worked on transferring settings, et,c from my wife’s former iPhone SE second generation to her new Google Pixel 8a, which also went along easily. I had to bother her for her fingerprint and facial regonition, but other than that, her new phone is up and running.

Tomorrow, Thursday, I have scheduled another go with the dermatologist at 1000. I’ m there with a modest truck load of “stuff” for out son up in Palo Pinto. Friday, we should be back to something normal for us.

BTW, the thornless roses are in full bloom and look nice!

Lessons From Shakespere

March 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Our back patio has a thornless rose in bloom (please see the embedded video below). Got me to thinking about the phrase “a rose by any other name.”

The phrase “a rose by any other name” originates from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. In this context, Juliet argues that a name is irrelevant to the essence of a person or thing. The implication is that the qualities or characteristics of something remain unchanged, regardless of the label it carries.

This applies directly to those of us on dialysis. It is very very easy to fall prey to letting dialysis define you. Yes, we are on dialysis, but we are lots more than that. We have families and responsibilities, and some of us, enjoy a full life outside of dialysis. For me, it is at best and worse an inconvenience that we must learn to live with. It does not bind or define us. It provides and supports our life and lifestyle(s).

And below is a short video about our thornless rose plus plus:

And  Keep Rollin’ On

March 19, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Good days, that is. It is great to be alive, worling outdoors, and getting things accomplished. You know, because of dialysis, I’m slower than in my previous life, but that doesn’t take away from being outdoors and enjoying nature, of which we have lots of.

I promise that Friday I will post a video walkabout of our yard so you can see for yourselves what we have been up to.

Meanwhile, tomorrow, bright and early at 0900, I have a dialysis team meeting. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary.

We’re just rollin” along, gettin’ it on, and enjoying life. Hope you are also.

Another Great Day

March 18, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Woke up to trying to beat the weekly garbage pickup with my daily dialysis trash bag. I lost the race but will live to outbox them another day.

Made a run to town to buy needed items to work on our truck and garden stakes for our tomatoes and trees. On the truck I had two outstanding items: 1 I wanted to replace the under hood mat but ended up using robber glue to mend several torn and saying areas and tire black spray to improve appearance. Looks great now. The #2 item was to deep clean the engine. I sprayed ir with both Simple Green and Gunk and based it off. While it doesn’t look new, at least now, if a leak occurs, I’ll be able to tell.

Next I pounded in 8 stakes for our tomatoes and two to temporarily prop up the two olive trees that are placed for planting by our land crew tomorrow. Wind is really gusting.

Lastly, I worked on our sprinkler system. We still have several heads that are not working properly.

At this minute in time I’m hooked up doing my 2L evening static fill.

Life is good!

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