I just can't win

Back in the first half of '94 when I was 11 I still enjoyed having baths, I would gather my Hot-Wheels and have races and wars all around the side of the bath tub. When April came along and I had to go on Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) I was told that I couldn't get the PD catheter wet. The way PD works is there is a permanent catheter is inserted into your abdomen and a fluid is then drained into you. I'm not sure what the fluid is, but through the magic of osmosis will use your own peritoneum membrane to filter all the stuff that your kidneys would normally filter out. In the morning all that stuff comes out when the fluid is drained in the morning.

I was told before starting PD that I would have to keep the area away from being submerged in water, and told that I would be able to shower. At the time I wasn't all that happy about that, I didn't want to shower, I liked baths, but it's what I had to do. I may not have always been that careful, I remember playing near the lake near my house and almost falling in, I didn't though so everything was good. Before starting Hemo Dialysis this time around I wasn't told much, and being the know-it-all that I am I assumed that the same rules applied, no baths, but I could still shower.

It was only after I had the line put in that I learned that, nope I now couldn't shower, I would have to sponge bathe, I was pissed. If I had been told prior I may have made a different decision as to what type of Dialysis I would be doing, because now unlike when I was 11 I would prefer to have showers over baths. My sponge bathing time is hopefully coming to and end soon with the use of the fistula in my arm. Once that starts being used the tube in my chest will be removed and I will be able to shower again. Until then I'm stuck sponge bathing myself, I don't even have the benefit of a sexy nurse.

Owen