Way back when my dad first learned that he would need to be on dialysis, his medical team discussed two primary treatment options with him.
The first one was visits to a dialysis center three days a week for treatment with trained medical staff to administer the treatment and to take care of any issues that might pop up during the course of the visit.
The other was home dialysis, where all the necessary equipment and supplies would be sent to the house and where he would hook himself up to a machine for (I think) five nights a week and stay on it all night long.
At the time, my dad was in a bit of denial about what was going on. He was still very independent, could still drive, and still worked (at reduced hours), and, like many people, he did not like going to the doctor. He also did not want to consider a kidney transplant.
So he leaned towards doing the home treatments. During discussions with mom, though, she mentioned how if he did it at home, every time he went to the bedroom, he'd think about having to do dialysis and all the prep work involved with it. He'd have to see the equipment and supplies every day.
If he did dialysis at the center, it would only be three days a week for a few hours each day, and once he was done, he could come home and unwind in his "safe place," which was either his recliner or the bedroom, and not have constant reminders around him about dialysis.
After thinking about it some more, my dad decided against home dialysis. Not that it was a bad option, as many people have chosen this and it has worked well for them and their needs. But dad ended up agreeing with mom, needing that separation between the reality of dialysis and his safe place. He would later tell her that was one of the best pieces of advice she'd ever given him.
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More recently, I was watching a video on YouTube from a woman named Melanie who has been going through a rare form of stage 4 nasal cancer for two years now. She has been through a lot, including finding out about the cancer when she was seven months pregnant (they ended up inducing labor at 8 months and she started treatments shortly after that). She also lost her eye, and surgeries to repair the skin flap over her eye have ended up being unsuccessful due to the effects of radiation treatments on her skin.
Over the summer, she got news that her cancer had spread, and the best option for treatment was the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. She didn't want to uproot her family from their Florida home, but they had no choice but to do so. So she, her husband, and their baby girl had to move to an Airbnb for several weeks while she received care.
A couple of weeks ago, they were able to return home, and the look of pure joy on her face in the video where she talked about being back in Florida was beautiful to see. It was made better by the fact that she said her daughter, whom she was fearful wouldn't remember her home, did in fact remember and was just as excited as Melanie and her husband were to return to it and get settled back in.
I don't know Melanie beyond what I've seen on her channel, but I cried tears of joy for her, in part because I'm happy for her, but also because I remember how Mom and I felt every time she went in for her colon cancer treatments. We were grateful for the treatments and care, but we were so eager to get back home on those days to our safe place, where the world could be shut out and we could just focus on her health, well-being, and comfort.
In fact, we pretty much always have the home mindset, regardless of whether there are any doctor's office visits involved. When we visit family and friends, as much as we enjoy it, at a certain point, we are ready to get back home to relax and unwind, to put on our comfy clothes, to grab our favorite throw blankets, to crash on the couch or doze off in the recliner.
I thank God for the blessing of our home, and say a prayer each day for it, a place mom and dad bought nearly three decades ago in which to make lasting memories, a place we could be to feel cherished, loved, and protected in the midst of any of life's many storms. We have certainly done that, and then some.
There truly is no place like home.
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