By Bill Peckham
DSEN has taken a turn, hasn't it? It went by fast these last three years ... someday I'll have to tell you about it. But for me, for now, I have been given the opportunity to go back to work and I welcome the chance.
My immediate goal is to work 330 hours by April 1. If I do that, I earn three months of health insurance (including dental) starting May 1; 330 paid hours in a three month period is just the first step but everything else depends on it. I work through the carpenter's union as a tradeshow specialist, something I've been doing for 16 years. The union's health insurance is very good, it reimburses for charges not covered by Medicare, for instance dialysis abroad.
Work = Insurance, Insurance = Travel, thus Work = Travel ... I figured out that little equasion about 6 hours into my first union shift in January 1995. It was the Seattle Boat Show, which was going in at the old Kingdome, former home of the Seahawks and Mariners. A college friend worked for GES, a big national tradeshow company that was setting it up, and they needed bodies to fill out the install crew. The union had an open call.
This being the days before Facebook, I think K called me to get access to some of my lay about friends. Since my transplant had failed in 1990 I had been using dialysis and mostly not worked, but K and I had been to Burning Man the previous Labor Day Weekend so maybe she thought I would be willing to do it. It was an overnight shift carpeting the 100 Level of the Kingdome for the show opening the next day.
We had to kick out rolls of 9' wide carpet and tape them down. The 100 Level had to have been half a mile around; the crew I was on carpeted it, one roll of carpet at a time, all night. Some of the rolls were 100 footers and it took three guys mule kicking it in sync to get it to roll out, others were shorter and could be handled alone or with one other guy. Once the carpet was kicked out it had to be taped down on all four sides. There were rolls and rolls of 2" double stick tape. This went on through the night, we had a 30 minute lunch dinner food break about 2 in the morning, plus the 15 minute union break every two hours.
It was about as bad a first shift as it sounds, but it was also fun and exhilarating. To just work, to be working. The physicality of it, the camaraderie, the bitching. I was so physically tired, my muscles so sore but as physically tiring as it was, mentally it was energizing. It was like waking up. Maybe this experience is why FixDialysis with its focus on Re/habilitation speaks so strongly to me, I know it can be done and there was a time when I didn't think it was possible. But after that first shift I took another, and then another. I would dialyze incenter three days a week and take shifts that fit. By 2001 I had switched companies, jobs and dialysis modalities. At work I spent a lot more time at a computer than I did on my feet and at home I dialyzed, first on the B Braun then on the Aksys PHD. These were good years. Years of work, travel and volunteering.
By the time I started DSEN over Christmas 2007 I had increased my commitment to volunteer activities at the cost of deemphasizing work, and for the next three years volunteering was a priority. These too were good years, I'll take the good and the bad. I feel like I made good use of my time away from work, immersed in CKD advocacy and the provision of dialysis, but now I need to get back on the clock. It is time for me to reemphasize work, regain health insurance and start visiting new countries. Work still equals Travel.
The tradeshow business follows a business cycle, the season starts about now and goes to the weeks before Thanksgiving with a slow period usually in the summer (August conventions? Not popular). Today was my first shift of the new year. I'm back on my feet, working in the graphics department as production lead, which should keep me busy if I can keep up.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I last worked on my feet, week after week, month after month. For now DSEN will mostly be reporting from this journey to 330, however, I can't help but keep an eye on industry news and trends, in advocacy, reimbursement, politics and the provision of dialysis. But for now, certainly for the next three months, DSEN will be about me, work, and thoughts on what it means to be rehabilitated. I'll tell the tale of combining dialysis, volunteering and work, with the emphasis on work ... and if the plan comes together dialysis, volunteering, work and travel. (Spoiler alert: To me rehabilitation means being able to do all four).
I had 7 hours and forty five minutes clocked today; my feet are tired; my back hurts; I need a shower.
Climb the Hill...... this is what life is all about.... Bill you have climbed many hills...with many to go... enjoy....
Posted by: kathy heffner | January 10, 2011 at 10:15 PM
Bill,
DSEN had me hooked as a reader from your first post three short years ago. (Figures that it was about travel!!) Three years later, and your initial CKD agenda is still in play! It has been an honor to read about every step along the way.
Thank you for sharing with us all of the ups and downs of the last three years. Good luck on this next chapter in the adventure. I am really looking forward to reading about it.
Posted by: Anna Bennett | January 11, 2011 at 12:53 AM
Bravo, Bill, on this next chapter of your life. You are an inspiration to all of us dialyzors out there to reach and work for a better quality of life. I'll be following your adventures on DSEN, as will so many others.
Have fun!
Posted by: Miriam Lippel Blum | January 11, 2011 at 08:41 AM
With Optimal Dialysis, you can do almost anything you wish.
Bully!
Posted by: Zach | January 11, 2011 at 09:19 AM
Great Bill! Looking forward to reading about your adventures at work!
Posted by: Kamal D Shah | January 11, 2011 at 10:43 PM
I'm at a point where I don't feel honorable to make commitments. I don't know when my kidneys will finally fail and I will start dialysis. I fear making commitments only to have to need to quit once I get sick. I volunteered for 2 years and had to quit because of something stupid that came up concerning my kidneys, and I felt like I let people down; I don't want to feel like that again. So I am stuck in limbo, waiting for the guillotine's blade to fall, just wasting my life, not knowing what to do that is worthwhile. It's hard to make plans with so much uncertainty in my life. It's all such a shame, such a waste. I'll be reading DSEN and enjoying watching you reclaim your life. Congratulations, Bill. I wish you all the very, very best.
Posted by: MooseMom | January 12, 2011 at 12:13 AM
Dear MooseMom, Bill would be the first to tell you that there is life after the start of dialysis. Hang in there, you are way ahead of the crowd. You might actually feel better than you do now.
And I wish Bill spent more time to do over time at work getting those golden hours you he needs and less time at IHD bashing us conservatives.
God bless Bill, our thoughts and prayers are always with you.
Posted by: Peter Laird, MD | January 12, 2011 at 12:50 PM
Bill, you are the original wanderlust...you lead the way for me to do what I do...so I guess if anyone wants to blame anyone for me - blame BillP!
The fact is, you've inspired many of us and it's great to see you living your life so you can do what we both love to do and that's travel. If you come off those white water rafting, living in tents and cabins type travel, I love to take a journey with you but keep in mind, I don't mountain climb, hike or expend much physical energy of any kind...golf cart riding is pretty cool!
Two things..take care of yourself and stay in touch!
Harvey - actually at home for once!
Posted by: Harvey Wells | January 13, 2011 at 10:11 AM
Bill, this IS fantastic. We will miss DSEN as many of us did a daily read, however, following your journey now will be exciting and I wish you the very, very best.
Roberta Mikles
Dialysis Patient Safety Advocate
www.qualitysafepatientcare.com
Posted by: roberta mikles | January 14, 2011 at 07:51 PM
@MM waiting to get sick enough to get a transplant (most of 1987 to July '88) and then to start dialysis (most of '90) was the worst. It seemed impossible to see, plan or think beyond the next transition point. I know exactly what you mean about feeling like the CKD can undercut you and leave you feeling like you let people down.
In 1987 I joined VISTA and was trained to train volunteers who would then teach adults to read. I was suppose to recruit and train the volunteers and recruit the adult nonreaders. These were the days before EPO and thinking about it now it was a job so big I don't think I could have done a very good job even if I was firing on all cylinders but as it was every day was a struggle before I threw in the towel in April or May of '88.
Thinking about it now I don't know that I really regret the experience. Probably the best use of my time would have been to exercise more in preparation for the eventual surgery. But I could probably say I should have been exercising more at every point in my life :) however it doesn't mean it is any less true just because it is always true.
Posted by: Bill Peckham | January 16, 2011 at 04:33 PM
journey to 330 sounds like a great name for a blog
Posted by: joel topf | January 26, 2011 at 01:34 PM