About 12 hours after I wrote the post "Best Not to Travel Alone" (Sept. 13), I did. Yes, that was the day after I had had a paramedic visit. I needed to see a client near Sacramento, and a last-minute flight on Jet Blue was something like $300, so I opted to drive. I headed up the coast with Rasputin. We overnighted at the campground at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
Because I had no electricity, I had to perform four manual exchanges of dialysis solution every day. This was quite a chore. At approximately an hour apiece, this consumed a good chunk of my time. I sat inside the truck and placed the empty dialysis bag on the floor, then let the solution that had been inside my tummy drain out into the bag. I attached the dialysis solution bag to the clip on the sun visor so that the solution could drain into me. I maintained the hygience standards that I do at home, cleaning beforehand with Lysol, scrubbing my hands with bacterial soap and antiseptic lotion, and wearing a surgical mask. What's remarkable to me is that I was always able to have some privacy.
The second day I gave a call to Sharon, the first friend I made when moving to So Cal in 1981. Decades ago Sharon moved to Northern California, and when I was making the 600-and-some-mile commute from Huntington Harbor to Point Arena (1996-2000), I would often spend the night at Sharon's in Mountain View. She has since married, moved to Santa Cruz, and had a baby, who is now 7 years old. I haven't seen Sharon for about a decade, but I gave her a call anyway, on the off chance that she might be free for coffee.
Really wonderful to see Sharon again. We were so comfortable, as if we had been in touch throughout this decade. I don't think there are very many people with whom I could just pick up again like that. Sharon, Peter, and Chloe will be visiting family for a week in So Cal around Thanksgiving. Sure hope to see them then.
