Two hours into my three-hour dialysis treatment, I am not experiencing the profuse sweating and freezing that occur just about every time I am here. There have been a couple of exceptions, and there have been commonalities to these dialysis treatments that I have tolerated.

1. It’s not third-shift. Coming in earlier in the day, when I have come from having been sleeping at home as opposed to from having been at work, has seemed to make a big difference. Due to the holiday, I came in at 11 this morning.

2. I was stuck by S, who is rarely the tech who puts me on the machine but, when she is, it’s accompanied by a much smoother treatment. It’s difficult to imagine that she sets up the machine differently in such a way that NO ONE ELSE does that makes for a better treatment, or that she puts the needles in my access in such a dramatically different way.

3. I’m wearing a hat. Just a ball cap. I’m pretty sure I’ve worn one before, and it hasn’t made a difference. It may be more relevant that I didn’t shower before I came here. Maybe my there’s something about the soap or shampoo I use, and the dialysate reacts with them?

Now, if going in at 3:30 in the afternoon after a workday is resulting in bad treatment, just going in first shift is not as simple as it seems.

I don’t know if it will be more problematic work-wise to arrive late as opposed to leaving earlier.

I don’t know if I’ll feel well enough following an early-morning treatment to have a productive day at work.

It would certainly be nice if the nephrologists actually knew precisely why I feel better in these rare instances.