Time Management

Now that I am four months post-transplant surgery, I have almost forgotten how much time dialysis take up.

My first hemodialysis (HD) experience started with 3.5 hours twice a week. It eventually changed to three time a week. My scheduled time was from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. This was before COVID so I drove to work Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and worked from home Tuesday/Thursday mornings. I would bring my laptop and cell phone, and managed to do some work with the help of my analyst in the office. For weeks where I was too tired to work in the mornings, I took a PTO day to cover.

When I switched to peritoneal dialysis (PD), I started going into the office daily, but that meant zero free time during the week. I could watch TV or use my computer after connecting to the cycler, but would have a 20 foot tube attached to me. I found out later that during dwell times between cycles, I could disconnect the tube, and reconnect before the next cycle. This however, increased the risk of infection each time I disconnected, but I could move around the house for an hour or so.

After the bypass surgery and returning to HD, my schedule was now T/T/S from 5:30 am to 10:00 am. This was fine while I was out on medical leave, but not so good once I returned to work. I ended up doing the same thing as before: going into work 3 days and working from home for 2 days, except in the afternoon. After COVID hit in March 2020, I started working at home full-time. I still took a vacation day here and there to cover for missing hours, but that got tedious too. Finally, I switched to a part-time schedule (30 hours/week) that allowed me to keep my health insurance, but with a 25% pay cut.

Post-transplant, I took about 9 weeks of medical leave, and returned to work full-time starting April 2021. Since I am taking anti-rejection medications, I am working from home every day. I have got used to not seeing people from work, but it is difficult. I think I work better if I can talk to people in person, but realized that society has changed, perhaps permanently, due to COVID. Most of my staff were working from home this past year (all computer related), and will likely work a few days from home each week after things return to “normal.:” For me, after 3.5 years of dialysis, it is still hard to think about the next treatment session. Some days, I lose track of what day of the week it is, and try to join conference calls that are scheduled for another day. In addition, as California is opening up in a few weeks, I do not know what my work expects from office workers that do not need to be there physically. Since I do not know if my Moderna vaccine shots are effective, I will likely stay home for a few months more.