Update on my husband

[Tiki02]

I joined the forum when my husband was diagnosed with kidney failure following a mini stroke. We live in Crete, and found the results of tests very confusing as Greece uses a different scale to measure keratin etc. Following two years of seeing the kidney specialist every six weeks and then every two it was decided that he should start dialysis and is now attending a clinic in Chania our nearest town.

The clinic is state of the art regarding equipment and staff our only concerns are being away from the family should anything go wrong and not being able to visit them due to the dialysis schedule. My husband is 80 now and we are seriously considering going back to the uk, it is a difficult decision as I am sure treatment wouldn’t compare.

[Falkenhayn]

I'm not sure what the quality of dialysis on Crete may be, but I began dialysis in the U.K. in 1996 and the quality was positively medieval, with old, dented machines that left everyone nauseous after treatment, and the most inconvenient schedules imaginable, having been designed solely for the convenience of the staff and not the patients. We used to have to wait 45 minutes after our dialysis appointment for staff finally to get around to us, as though we were not already losing enough time because we were on dialysis. For entertainment, we had one tv bolted to the ceiling and blaring a station no one was watching in a room full of 20 people.

Now this may have changed by now, or other dialysis facilities in England may be better, so it is not clear what you would face now if you moved there. I would also think that the local law concerning how dialysis is funded would make a big difference in your decision.

[rabbit01]

I am not yet on dialysis but not far from it. Had a visit to our local dialysis centre recently and I have to say that it was pretty grim located in a very old building with no air conditioning. The polar opposite of "state of the art" As you know the NHS is so overstretched and I don't see that changing any time soon. I am only basing my response on my own limited experience and what you have told us about your situation but if you're getting good treatment in Crete then I think I would stay put.

[Tiki02 in reply to rabbit01]

Thank you Falkenhayn and rabbit01 for your replies, how you describe things are just what I am afraid of. My husbands first three sessions were in the local hospital and quite grim although they did have a good system for getting you in and out on time, he was then given the option of two specialist clinics in Chania as they said they only had spaces for emergencies. After seeing the first one we gasped and grabbed it quick, single row of beds (or chairs) on two levels, a tv over every bed and a nurse for every 2/3 patients with the lastest German machines.

BUT my husband is 80 now and the family is far away coupled with the difficulty of traveling it’s a hard decision. I have tried to get some feed back from the people in our home district of Glossop where the most likely clinic would be in Tameside hospital but to no avail, we are thinking of trying to book in for ‘holiday dialysis’ next year to see for ourselves, not sure if they do it at Tameside it’s like a secret society