Yesterday in Dialysis I looked across the room to see a person who was coming into the unit for the first time. He looked scared by it all and was trying to assimilate everything going on around him. One of the nurses, who has been there for a long time, and who I know well, spent a great deal of time just talking with him. She is very special that way, assuring and comforting. He just looked so vulnerable. I was happy that she cared. It can be so frightening. You don't feel very well, you go to the doctor, they run tests, you are hospitalized, then told your kidneys don't work right anymore, and that you will need dialysis to stay alive. A catheter is put in and boom. Here you are.

I spoke to him briefly on the way out myself, letting him know it does get easier, and that I was glad to meet him, that he is not by himself. The truth is that it is scary for some, hard for some, harder for others, good and bad at the same time. Frustrating and confusing. Overwhelming and depressing. I told him about this blog if for nothing more than for him to know more about what he is going through is not the first time this has ever happened.

I am grateful.