Sending and taking should be practiced alternately; put them on the breath

The blood-cleansing process is complex, expensive, and time-consuming.
It usually requires long rides to a clinic
on a set schedule.

During in-clinic dialysis,
loved ones' involvement is limited
to seeing them off
and then again four hours later.

They don't really know
what their loved one has been through
in the interim.

Care partners likely see the patient
exhausted, cramping, lightheaded, or nauseous.
Having been excluded from kept outside
the actual treatment,
loved ones often feel disconnected and distant.

They worry about what's happening
during treatment
and whether the side effects are normal.

Care partners can feel helpless.

But the care partner joins,
enabling the patient to help with training —
an integral part of the process
a body learning another body's thresholds.

The machine runs on tap water. Someone has to be awake to hear it.