Kristi Karnopp's Diary & Blog

Dialysis Update

My catheter is giving me a little bit of trouble with the arterial (red) side. I take it that my catheter does not want to be here today (Sunday), lol. My technician for the day C (female) says my catheter is not liking her today. Another lol. Not true. My catheter is being problematic because of positioning. My catheter has its issues too, of course. I will be at dialysis when I need to be there always weather permitting in the colder months of winter and it’s unpredictable wintry weather. I do not like being here con a Sunday, but the dialysis center needs to take care of all its patients during the holiday weeks ahead. I believe the dialysis team can handle the holidays a little better during the holidays. Not all the patients make it to clinic anyway. That is on them. I have a good track record with my nephrologist Dr. A. Dialysis is going smoothly now. C reversed my lines and laid me back a bit so my head does not cutoff the catheter from malfunctioning.  I am comfortable and have one hour and twenty-four minutes left.

Saw My Friend JS This Morning 

While waiting for my ride, my friend JS stopped to say hello and we had a few minutes to chat while sitting outside for my ride. We talked about Garden Court is failing as a building, and how management is slacking in getting the troublemakers out or evicted. When I first moved in, I thought Garden Court was wonderful and I was finally home to stay. The past few months have proven to be the opposite and now I want to leave Garden Court for good. The only friend that concerns me living at GC is my bestie DC. Other tenants really do not deserve my concern at the moment. Knowing who deserve the boot is scary enough, and once I leave GC, only one tenant deserves my attention and that is DC. Anyway, JP, JS, and I all agree that GC has its major problems, and I want nothing to do with GC anymore. It is no longer my home. At least it does not feel like prison like Burbank Plaza did for me the last year I lived there when Bing Kitty died, and Magic Kitty came into my life in 2020. The tenants did not make my home feel like a home anymore. I could no longer be a part of group activities anymore. My home at Burbank Plaza felt like a prison because all I could do was come and go to dialysis treatment three times a week, and while I walked in the hallways, I was not greeted by other tenants in a kind manner. A tenant gave me heck about having her friend who lived above me evicted, and that her friend and boyfriend were not doing anything wrong. Other tenants who heard this agreed with the tenant. That day was the end of my appreciation of Burbank Plaza and the tenants who lived there except for one tenant and friend CD. Yet, I have not spoken to her for three months, and another friend from church KL lives there. KL living there now has me a little upset. I do not want her to know the tenants who have pretty much make me leave with a bad taste in my mouth. Even management there will never have my time anymore either. That building will no longer be a waste of my time. I will never go there again.

With me being dressed for the day, I am in my power chair waiting for my ride downstairs in the lobby. You Buy We Fly does not transport patients on Sundays so another company I have used before called Cream City is picking me up today. Am I looking forward to be at a clinic on a Sunday? No, no really. I would rather be home playing games or reading a good book instead, but the doctors and nurses want their patients to be dialyzed three times a week for good cleanings. Some patients do not care and will miss a cleaning session. I rarely miss a cleaning session, it is because of the unpredictable weather we get in the winter. If the roads are bad and my medical rides are not on the road on a very bad, snowy day where roads and streets are not passable, rides will be late or not coming at all. Four years ago, I missed dialysis three Saturdays in a row. I was not thrilled or excited about it, but the weather can be unpredictable at times. A couple of weeks ago the weather was drizzling rain until it was time to get out of the medical ride. The rain became a downpour just as my driver DL (female) turned into the driveway. That afternoon, DH had to take my wet clothes off me and hang them to dry in the bathroom. My chair got wet a little bit, but the joystick controller was dry because we got a plastic bag over it in time. No, I do not mind rainy days; I do not like being in my power chair on a rainy day unless I have to. Getting into the building was not quick enough as it takes times to back out of the vehicle and get unhooked from the straps the vehicle uses for wheelchairs and power chairs. You get it. Getting wet is unavoidable at times for a month or two.

While I am am waiting for my ride, it is nice to see other tenants abide by the rules at the back door. Tenants, not all of course, have to wait for the door to close before the other door is open.  There are notes on the door that trouble JP a bit. She wants to investigate into these notes. She believes it is wrong to tell the tenants they would have to pay for breaking a door. She wants to get the health department involved. 

It is 10:21 AM, so I will be leaving for dialysis in a little bit. I am not in the mood for anything to go wrong at the moment or at all today…period. It is Sunday and my schedule this week has been turned around enough to bring on anxiety if something does even the slightest off during the day. I just started my new med on Friday evening, and I am dealing with one of the side effects now. It is dry mouth, and it is annoying to the max. JP got here a few minutes ago at 10:18 AM, and Magic Kitty is already in the way of JP getting things done before we get settled in my power chair for the day. More later.

Anew day has begun. I am doing my best to rest some more, but I am indeed awake at the moment and it is 4:11 AM. My mouth is dry, and rear is a side effect of my drug Quetiapine/Seroquel. Not a welcomed side effect whatsoever. At least, I do not welcome it anyway. Now I have to put up with it somehow. Not my my cup of tea, either. I rarely drink warm tea anyway. Where in the world am I going with this? I think I am going nowhere at this point and hour. Hmmm? Agreed. I think I am going to rest the best I can until DH gets here at 7:30 AM. I have dialysis today at 11:45 AM to 2:30 PM. More thought later. Goodbye for now.

With it getting late and winter months bring on the dark by 4 PM due to daylight saving time, this is going to be the last entry of the day. I gave into dozing between 6:30 PM and 9 PM a couple of times this evening. I do get tired easily or I do not sleep at all. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday is coming in a few days, I have to go to the dialysis clinic tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 AM to get dialyzed for the first time of the of week and again on Tuesday at 11 AM. Because You Buy We Fly and Specialized Transit/ADRC do not run on Sunday, I will be getting a ride with Cream City Transport tomorrow. Why am I so thirsty? Lol, I will be ok. That is a promise.

As I write my last entry of the day, I can say it was not a horrible day, but I did get frustrated for a few minutes until JP told me that we have already spoke to someone at J & B medical about my needed products at 4 PM yesterday when someone called at 2 PM leaving a message in my voicemail box. I get frustrated about calls like that very easy and often these days. I need my new anxiety and depression to work properly this time.

With the idea of dozing off between 6 PM and 9 PM, I have to admit that I am going to be up for a while until I get drowsy again. I just ate some Teddy Grahams that were chocolate by the way. Yummy for the tummy says the little girl inside me proclaims. DH texted me at 8:28 PM to tell me she will be here at 7:30 AM tomorrow morning. JP will be here later to get me downstairs for my appointment because DH has church tomorrow morning at Bethel Baptist Church. I do not go anymore. Boy Sunday and Tuesday, and having my two-day weekend on Wednesday and Thursday, then return to my normal routine on Friday, November 24^th is indeed kind of interesting because I will have my two days of no dialysis, then have no dialysis Saturday and Sunday, and be back to my regular schedule until Christmas, December 25^th. I will be glad the holidays will be over as of the eve of January 1, 2024. Next year, I will be 54 years old. Wow. I am getting old, lol. Good night..

 JP has come back and left again forty-five minutes later with what she wanted to get going. She left at 2:20 PM. What she did for me was get my snacks for the evening of cheese, crackers, and turkey pepperoni, chewy jolly ranch candy bites, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an ice cream snickers bar. Yummy snacks my little girl inside says daily after caregivers leave for the day. When DH was here this morning, I got apple juice and when JP was here, I got cranberry raspberry juice for the afternoon.

When JP first arrived between 11:30 AM and 12:00 PM, she did a few things, then went to Menards to get a new humidifier for the winter, dry months of winter, and then came back to set the humidifier up, make sure I was all set for the rest of the afternoon and evening, get ready to go home and give Magic Kitty his kitty bowl, and get home to do her necessary work done at home. Now I am home and relaxing on the bed watching Midsomer Murders and reading my next book written by James Patterson. I like him.

I got some sleep but woke up several times during the night crying out I want Togo home and I am already home in bed. I must have been having a bad dream or something. My muscles feel achy and sore, not because I am sick with something. They are stiff and sore from being in one position for too long I imagine. I just want to run to the bathroom and get back to bed for the day. I am not in the mood to transfer to my recliner today. That is okay, right? I have to go to dialysis tomorrow at 11:05 AM anyway. I do not have my two day weekend this weekend. Phooey! There goes my routine as it is being changed slightly this week. This coming week I will be going to dialysis on Sunday (tomorrow) and Tuesday, and Friday. The clinic wants their patients to be dialyzed three times a week. I get it, as well as understand, that everyone needs a holiday, a day off to celebrate the holiday with family, too. The change in my routine throws me off balance physically and mentally though. I do not like immediate change. I prefer giving time to deal with the change, but that does not always happen or can be avoided. I am one person who dislikes, hates with a passion, miss appointments if they are important, and dialysis is important to have three times a week. Well, anyway, DH was here for a couple of hours this morning making sure I got to the bathroom, changed my underwear, and changed my pajamas, and get me back to bed. She made me an egg sandwich, bread and butter pickles, and made me another fried egg with toast with cream cheese. JP got here between 11:30 AM and 12:00 PM to get some things done. She went to Menards to get me a new humidifier since my old one has seen better days in the last five years. She will be back in a few minutes.

The Rest of my Day

Although I threw in my treatment into my 12 PM slot a while back, getting home and ready for the evening hours at home really ends my day and night. Now, when it comes to my evenings in my home—an apartment I think is okay for this home body, but this building has its own major problems I have already explained what they are. I personally think the company who manages Garden Court do not really care about what type of people coming into this building from the outside because they are homeless. Management expects tenants to respect other tenants, but some do not. Even the ambulance services come often because tenants are sick or need a doctor to care for them. Even I have the ambulance come for five times since I have lived here for 3 years. 1 had legitimate illnesses during those times. Well, anyway, JP and I got dinner when I got in. Ate dinner of Mac and cheese and an angus burger sandwich. It was all good and fulfilling for me. Then I got into bed and got into my pajamas. I watched TV on Roku TV Live. I have been watching Midsomer Murder channel 522. John Nettles plays Tom Barnaby for the first thirteen seasons; the Neil Dudgeon plays Tom Barnaby’s cousin John Barnaby in the show’s seasons 14 on to 2023. Both Tom and John are CID’s in the police department in a town named Causton. These shows are made in near London, England. The English countries have what is considered BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). I have been reading a library book from Hoopla or Libby, and today, just moments ago, I finished reading Watching the Bodies by Graham Smith. It kept me hooked to the end of the story, but how it ended was a cliff hanger. It was ok, but how it ended disappointing me enough not to continue with Graham Smith’s books right now. I will look into it after reading a James Patterson book titled Cross the Line: The World’s Detective, an Alex Cross Thriller. I have read James Patterson before and love his books a lot. I have read several of his books in recent years. There are times I cannot put a book down. Books I cannot put down are books worth reading. I have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in one sitting, in three hours one evening when sleep was unheard of. Even sitting and reading the Twilight Saga series was way too hard to put down once I started reading them. Reading a book is so much more fun than the movie because the book details more than a movie. Although Harry Potter movies were good and okay, but the books give better descriptions of the story the movie could not share due to copyright laws. The neat thing about the movies is that J.K. Rowling was with the producers of the movies meeting the actors and actresses portraying the characters throughout the stories she wrote. Reading is and always been a passion for me. Back to reading. Later, peeps.

I finally got weighed and hooked up to my machine at Chair #18. The tech SAM (female) adjusted my time to get off by 2.30 p.m. and out the door between 2:45 and 3 p.m. I called You Buy We Fly to give them a rundown when I got unhooked, weighed going out, and downstairs between 2:45 p.m. and 3 p.m. then went on my way as speedy as I could after treatment for the day. Unfortunately, I have to return Sunday morning because of the Thanksgiving holiday. My days and patients on T, Thursday, and Saturday do a switch-a-roo during the holidays. I have to go Sunday, November 20, 2023, Tuesday, November 22, 2023, and Friday November 24, 2023. Such a messed-up week for the holiday so everyone working can have a Thanksgiving with family—a day off. I get it, but playing with different days with all the patients is not the greatest idea when there is a routine set in place. The doctors at dialysis want their patients to have three days of dialysis without complications. I get it. I understand it. I know what it feels like to miss a day and have only two days of dialysis. Winter weather is coming to Wisconsin soon enough. Thursday is Thanksgiving Day already. I wonder what my brother and his wife are doing for that day. Time for me to go