This is what dialysis looks like. At least one corner of it. There are more than twenty such setups in one spacious room. The machines beep and warn and make other strange noises that drove me absolutely crazy the first two days, until I brought a more interesting book to read. Then it all sort of blended into reading time. There is an overall coordinator on the floor, nurses in blue and nurses aides in white. There is also a dietitian, a social worker, an independent nurse, a peritoneal dialysis nurse, a receptionist, and various doctors who come and go. All of them are extremely good at what they do. This is Carla and her friend Mariel sitting down to the right. They are on loan from Santa Maria, which is a long drive to the south, and if I laughed and giggled as much as they do in the space of one work day, I would be too exhausted to stand up. They make work fun and dialysis interesting. They smile and joke and carry on, and I think how dull the world would be without them.

You can see by the clock that it’s just after 5:15. At 5:30 my buzzer will go off and they will spring to action. It takes almost a half-hour to disconnect me and for me to pack and leave. My bus home is three and a half blocks from just outside the window and it leaves at 6:33. So this is just about the best time of the entire day. I leave with a spring in my step thinking about how horrible I thought this was going to be.