First day of dialysis

Yesterday, I had my first dialysis after 27 years of being free from it. Here are some photos (below). It wasn't as big a deal as it seemed like; if things stay this way, it seems like a minor adjustment to one's life. So now I'm going to go three times a week, and be locked into this machine for four hours or so each time. A spiffy black mercedes comes to pick me up and bring me home; the only downside is the racist drivers. Already on the first day, the first one told me that I didn't look like a professor (perhaps a nice succinct summary of my German experience), and the second one going home told me all about the "little Taliban" (the Turkish population) that is ruining Germany. I frequently encounter this in Germany: first people are surprised I am not on welfare; then they tell me how great I am compared to these other brown-skinned people. (Once, I was standing outside a public toilet, waiting for my wife, and a man tried to give me 50 cents for managing the toilet as he went in.)