Taking Surveys

Every few days the mail brings a questionnaire. The Republicans take a survey. Then Democrats take another, and the two come up with entirely different results. This week the dialysis center asked me to complete a six-page questionnaire of “Your Health and Well-Being.”

“Did you have a lot of energy?” I have very little energy. What do you expect? I am 81 years old.

Questions 2 and 3 asked if my health limited me (2) from moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, playing golf, or (3) climbing several flights of stairs. I marked “no” on both these questions because I do not do any of these activities.

I can’t move furniture or push a vacuum cleaner because of the lymphoma in my right arm. In this retirement home a nice lady named Gloria does that for me.

I never bowled. I never played golf.

I never climb stairs. I use the elevator to get to my third floor apartment. When I traveled, I asked for elevators, even in places where most people are required to climb stairs. In Rome I avoided climbing the long marble stairs in front of St. Peter’s when a monk in a long cassock took me up to the church in a private elevator (perhaps the one used by the Pope).

“During the past four weeks have you felt calm and peaceful?” “True or false: My kidney disease interferes too much with my life.” “Do you feel washed out or drained?”

I’ve adjusted to going to dialysis three days a week. I feel utterly drained after each dialysis. I sit in my recliner and watch television. The next morning I feel fine and with enough energy to do whatever I want to do. In this retirement home I don’t have to cook or clean house.

I had a setback when my access became clogged in June. Dr. Cook put a new graft in my upper arm. It still is not healed. I feel good. As long as I am not in pain, I don’t worry. Soon I will be back on the regular routine. I “go with the flow.” I’m in better health than other people on dialysis. Better health than most people my age. I have excellent health insurance.

No complaints.

“How much does kidney disease bother you in your ability to travel?” I don’t get to the Dallas Art Museum or meet my friend at the Kimball in Fort Worth. That’s because on my “good days” I write my blog. It’s a choice, not because my health interferes.

I won’t take any more trips to Europe. Now I write about my travels on my blog, and tell stories to old ladies who have never been abroad.

I do think my kidney doctor should have let me go to India before going on dialysis.