This was our first holiday since my wife has been on CAPD and I found the experience of organising the first trip most daunting:
Can I just say to anyone in the same position ‘GO FOR IT; the holiday was great!’
We stayed at the Hotel Riviera in Benalmadina, Spain. All the staff where so helpful, the 16 boxes of fluid were all stacked in our room on arrival and there was no problem at all with the maid removing the boxes and waste again at the end of our stay. The airport was also so understanding and a private room was available for us on our arrival to do a bag change.
The highlight of our holiday must be seeing the dolphins. One of my wife’s ambitions has always been to see dolphins swimming in the wild, so we booked a trip on one of the Dolphin Sight Seeing boats never thinking we could be so lucky as to see dolphins. We had spent about an hour motoring out to sea but saw nothing, however, we had just turned round heading for home when the shout went up ‘dolphins!’. This must be one of the best sights you could ever wish to see. The boat eased its way over to them and we had about 10 to 20 dolphins swimming with the boat. At one point, 5 were all swimming in a line and I don’t mind telling you the sight brought tears of joy to my wife; if it had cost £1000 it would have been worth every penny
Most days we spent the morning walking along the promenade and to the marina, stopping along the way for drinks (only soft drinks - it was the morning after all) and watching people of all shapes, sizes and nationalities having a relaxing time on holiday.
As you will know, we had to time everything so we could get back to the hotel for the dialysis exchanges. This did limit what we could do but, by gum, we made the most of everything else that we could do. We met some lovely people from all parts of the country and it was quite amazing how interested they were when they found out about the dialysis and they said how wonderful it was that we had been able to take this holiday.
All the planning and head scratching was well worth the effort, so I do hope that by writing this article it will help other dialysis patients make this step and take a well deserved holiday in the sun!
The National Kidney Federation cannot accept responsibility for information provided. The above is for guidance only.
Page created: 23 October 2005
Last updated: 10 April 2008
This website is intended for UK residents only.
If you have any comments about this site, please EMAIL the webmaster
