Fast forward one year:

I am doing well on dialysis. I go three times a week. It has become a part of my life, which I am okay with overall, but sometimes it is frustrating because there are many things I have not been able to do or go to because of the time it takes. It is not all bad, though. I was complaining one time about how I have so much less family time because of dialysis, and my son said, “But we have family time Tuesdays and Thursdays!” My husband and kids come on those two days and we often play a game or two. They have become evenings my kids look forward to - so long as they can agree on the game we will play!

We have discovered there are quite a few different games we can play at dialysis. The nurses are really nice and allow me to have an extra table for my schoolwork or for my family. A lot of the people at dialysis watch TV, but I rarely ever do. I am usually on the computer, reading, or playing games with my family. One of the nurses commented that she had never seen a family with as many interesting games as we have. We are kind of geeky that way. Some of the games we currently have in our bag to bring to dialysis: Monopoly Deal, Munchkin, Bohnanza (although we have to get creative with the space), Ablaze!, Vizia, Flux, and Zombie Dice. We have also played Yahtzee, Settlers of Catan (the board barely fits on the table, so we only did it once or twice), Talisman (which we only did once. We had to put 3 tables together for that one, so didn’t do it again), and Savage Worlds (we each had our own little box for our dice and tokens, etc.). I imagine we could also play games like Trouble or Parcheesi, but haven’t tried those ones yet.

I am glad that my family has adjusted so well to the time I have to spend at dialysis. Because it takes so much time, there is the possibility that I will qualify for a disability benefit. Last year I received a form for income tax; however, the doctor marked off that my treatments take less than 14 hours per week. That is not true. I actually calculate on average I am spending about 15 hours per week at the clinic. While I am hooked up to the dialysis machine for 4 hours at a time (12 hours per week), it takes time to get me set up on the machine and then it also takes time after to take me off and stop the bleeding. Some people are lucky and stop bleeding fairly quickly. I am not one of those people. I hold my sites for at least 15 minutes afterward  because my bottom site has a tendency to leak if I don’t.  My understanding is that it is because I have an upper arm A/V Fistula which has more pressure.  This year I talked with the social worker and now have my form showing that my treatments take more the 14 hours per week.

School takes up most of the rest of my time. I am a 2L now. I have managed to pass all my semesters and maintain my passing average. I commented to one of my profs that every semester I wonder how I am going to get everything done, but every semester I manage to get through and pass. I have also been working on my Mary Kay business, so I will leave you with a dialysis picture of my reading Applause - the Mary Kay magazine for consultants.

Taking a Break - Settlers of Catan

I think I have said (or at least I believe) that to stay sane through law school I have to try to maintain balance in my whole life. So yesterday I spent the whole evening at home playing Settlers of Catan with my family. I was introduced to this game by one of my husband's cousins and I loved it right from the beginning. We bought it for ourselves and last night played one of the expansion pack games, The Fishermen of Catan. It is from the Traders & Barbarians set.

The goal of the game is to get to a certain number of points by building settlements, cities and gaining bonus cards like "Longest Road," "Largest Army," or "Harbourmaster." You roll the dice to see what resources you get and then use the resources to build things or trade with other players. It is quite simple and complex all at the same time. There is a board that you make up (which is a different configuration each time you play) that has hexes (tiles) for resources (wheat, ore, sheep, wood and brick). A number is put on each resource tile. When that number is rolled, the resources are handed out in accordance with who has settlements or cities built around that resource.

I finally figured out that I did not have a very good strategy. I would try to ensure that I had the possibility of a variety of resources regardless of the number on the resource. I realized this was not as good as making sure I was by numbers that get rolled more often. Even if I ended up with a lack of one resource, if I had other resource cards I could eventually gain the resources I was missing. But if I had bad numbers that never get rolled, I didn't have any resources to work with, and that was much harder.

While this means that I didn't get some of my reading done, or any CANS worked on, I did have an amazingly wonderful time sitting around enjoying some of the people I love the most. My daughter was out at a sleepover, so it was just my husband, my son and myself. But I really enjoyed seeing how much my son has grown up. He will be 12 in less than a month. And sometimes I see that he is still and kid, and sometimes I see him gaining in maturity. I often call my kids my blessings and treasures from heaven. And I am privileged to see the grown ups they are becoming.

Oh, don't get me wrong, all you parents who have or have gone through the teen years. I realize this brief reprise may not last long and soon I will be dealing with extreme moodiness and the belief that parents are stupid and teenagers are all-knowing. I am trying to be mentally prepared for it and hope we all come out the other end relatively unscathed.

But in the meantime I am going to tuck away an evening of laughing and playing with my family to a place where I can pull it out when I am completely stressed about exams or whatever law school has thrown at me. And I will remember that this, too, shall pass.