headed to hemo

[chiawana]

We are much happier doing home hemo than he was going in-center. He has what everyone says are the "best buttonholes" they've ever seen, and a "beautiful" fistula. So far, we've had no issues with them; everything has worked well other than me, the amateur, having occasional trouble sticking him and getting blood. We do it five days a week, 30 liter treatments, with NxStage. Sometimes we trade a day here and there, but I really don't like him going two days in a row without treatment. Our biggest blessing has been the most amazing, caring HHD nurse on the planet - she is just the best. We might not still be hanging in there if not for her. The NxStage training is pretty intense, we did at least five hours a day, six days a week for 4 weeks (the last week, we were setting up and doing the whole treatment ourselves).  It was exhausting but worth it. We're beginning to look at the treatments as part of our lives instead of an intrusion in our lives, and I think that's one of the biggest hurdles to get over.

[Home hemo]

Our biggest blessing has been the most amazing, caring HHD nurse on the planet - she is just the best. We might not still be hanging in there if not for her.

We went thru both PD training and home hemo training, and I do think the one-on-one direct nursing was one of the best places that my dh got his dialysis needs under control, and then at home we could continue tweaking for his needs.  But I sometimes forget how wonderful that training was, going from being one of the masses to getting someone totally devoted to just your patient every day and getting his treatment right.

Also, even after we were home, the monthly meetings for home dialysis were much more focused, compared to the in-center monthly meetings with all the distractions.  We brought lots of details to those monthly meetings and came up with lots of solutions.