Well, that made the decision easy. AAKP National just called me to say the whole conference is canceled. What a bummer. Now all I've got to do is keep an eye on where that behemoth Frances is headed. We could be in for some bad weather here in the Tampa bay area if it continues to head in the direction everyone is predicting...
Can you believe I'm getting ready to head to Bal Harbour, FL for the AAKP Annual Conference and there's ANOTHER HURRICANE headed straight toward that area!?! I can't seem to get away from traveling while chasing hurricanes at the same time. The projected path (as of tonight) is directly through where I will be (on a beach resort hotel, of all places) and then heading north and west toward home. Yay. More of Mother Nature's wrath... just what we Floridians need! NOT!
The entire time I was in California the unit there didn't draw one lab on me. Also during the entire time I was still getting 20,000 units of EPO twice a week because I had been anemic in June & the beginning of July. Too much EPO - Now my hematocrit is 51.9!!!! I am not anemic anymore, I am whatever the opposite of anemic is! The charge nurse at my unit called me on the phone yesterday to tell me that it was that high and to ask me if my access was clotted. I hadn't realized that a clot could happen from having too much EPO/red blood cells (come to think of it, I guess I didn't know what, exactly, could cause it to clot, so now I know...) I always check my thrill a few times daily so I would've noticed before she called if it was clotted. She also asked me if I was feeling OK or if I felt hot or flushed. Eeek. I got a bit freaked out, so I took a quick trip down to the unit so she could check my fistula & BP just in case something was wrong with me. Nothing was. Strangely, my blood pressure has been VERY LOW (not typical for me) lately. On Monday my post-treatment standing BP was 65/20 and my tech wouldn't let me leave. That's the first time EVER that I've had to stay longer because my BP was too low. Weird.
The hurricane went around us, thank goodness! I was worried I'd have to go until Monday without a treatment. The part of Florida where the hurricane hit had a lot of unprepared people and a lot more damage than was expected. I just hope all the ESRD patients living there will be able to get treatments - personally, that's my biggest fear about a "natural disaster"... not being able to get to a treatment or not being able to be treated if the unit was damaged.
Due to the fact that there are two large hurricanes headed directly toward Tampa and I am also on my way home from vacation in California tomorrow, I'm in a bit of a pickle. My unit at home called and said they aren't going to be open on Friday (when my next treatment would be). Which would mean more than 4 full days between treatments... Yikes. Luckily, I called the unit here (in California) and begged them to dialyze me again today (had a treatment yesterday, too). They managed to squeeze me in around noon, thank goodness. The next few days will be interesting, I just hope my unit is back up and running by Saturday when they have scheduled me for my first treatment back home!
I am still in California and have decided to stay another week. I really like the dialysis unit here, the only problem being that it is colder than a deep-freeze in there! I have been so cold at every treatment that I end up shivering the whole time. I look around and no one else seems to be bothered by the A/C. It must be the difference in climates or something... I've also noticed I can have more fluids here than normal. Its a nice change but I'd bet its making me spoiled!!!
