holiday dialysis

[chessnut]

i finally took the plunge, and set up some holiday dialysis. i have been hesitant before: as a home dialysis patient i like to do things myself. Also, my strength has only recently improved to the point where i don't feel the need to sit every ten minutes.

i visited Amsterdam, and set up dialysus with Dianet. I went on alternate days, 3.5 hours a time, which worked out all right. I recommend the place, if you are thinking of travelling there. A very calm centre, every patient in their own little section. the staff were very helpful, speaking excellent english. most things are the same, of course, with a few small differences in equipment and procedure. they let me 'do my own thing', in doing my needles etc, just helping where needed. a novelty is that they bring around food and drink during treatment, which my unit here recommended against.

I also made a pilgrimage to Leiden, the home town of Kolff, the inventor of dialysis. The Boerhaave museum has one of the old machines, from 1946. it is the drum shaped machine shown in this article: http://www.kidneydialysis.org.uk/invent ... alysis.htm it worked by taking blood under a cellophane sheet, which was then rotated by the drum through a saline bath, to extract the toxins. From there to the fresenius 5008 in 70 years - it is hard to imagine.

interestingly, due to the heat, i had no problems with fluid levels. renting an apartment with a kitchen made salt-free meals easy to manage, and the place was walking distance to the hospital, which helped. i had to regulate my activities, due to energy levels, but it was good to get away and visit some new places.

[Dibs]

Hi. Glad that you managed to get a good break. One thing that puts me off holidays now is the thorny subject of insurance. Did you find a reasonably priced option?

[chessnut]

Hi. Glad that you managed to get a good break. One thing that puts me off holidays now is the thorny subject of insurance. Did you find a reasonably priced option?

I must admit, i did not take any insurance. Being from UK, I had my EHIC card to cover the dialysis, and I wasn't that far away from home... so I took the risk.