Just had my tunnel catheter put in.

[komomai]

Was posting on the home PD, home dialysis page, but since I'm doing my dialysis at the hospital, felt it should go here.

Well after 2 hours of shots, cuts and pushing and pulling, my tunnel catheter is in, procedure was done on a Monday and now it's Wednesday and I've completed a 4 hour 20 minute session.  Which is good, as I've never completed one before.  I would start to get leg cramps and tell them to shut the machine.  This time it was different because at the 3 hour mark, the signs of a leg cramp was starting up, I asked the technician to please crank the pressure back from 800 ml of water draw to 400 ml and that did the trick no signs of cramping.

The coolest part was the hook up so quick and no needles,  blood flow was good.

The other good news is that after 6 weeks of being in the hospital, I'm going home on Friday, and will try to be back at work on Monday.  2 infections are gone.

[Angiepkd]

Glad you got some good news!  I can't imagine how hard it would be to stay in the hospital that long!  Bet you can't wait to sleep in your own bed again!  Hope everything continues to go smoothly with the neck cath and D.  Sounds like you are on the right track and will be back to normal in no time!  Remember to rest when you can.  Six weeks in the hospital probably zapped some of your energy.  Keep us posted on your progress!   

[obsidianom]

Are you going to consider home hemo now? My wife uses her catheter at home on Nxstage now that her fistula is not working well. The catheter is quite easy to work with as you can see. Can you do Nxstage in Japan?  It is shorter treatments done more frequently. It tends to improve how you feel during and after dialysis.  If you want info on it or on home hemo, just ask. There are many of us here doing it.

[rocker]

There are definitely good aspects to having a catheter along with the bad.  It does make the hookup/detach of dialysis about a thousand times easier.

[komomai]

Mahalo for the words of encouragement.  On my 2nd session with the tunnel I was running a fever of 38.1 but the doctor said I was in good condition to do hemo, I did the same thing asking the technician to please dial down the amount water being taken out. 

I have asked about doing home dialysis and I would be the first one in Okinawa Japan to do so.  Also since it is Japan the machine would be like the ones they use in the hospital the brand name is Nippro, training would be provided by the hospital.  I think this would be an option to consider.

[rocker]

There is so much to recommend home dialysis. You can do the treatment when you want, no more being tied to the center's schedule. You can control your treatment, and do the things you would normally do at home.  If you feel you need a treatment sooner, or longer, you can do it.

I wish you very much luck in this.  It is a big responsibility, but there is so much more freedom.

[Sugarlump]

Interested to know what dialysis is like in Japan.
Do you have lots of dialysis units?
Is it easy to obtain dialysis?
Do you have a transplant list too?
 

[komomai]

Aloha Sugarlump, the hospital that I go to is one of the major ones for Okinawa, it's called Chubu Hospital.  They have 24 beds/dialysis stations.  They don't use chairs(boo), all the dialysis nurses speak Japanese, although a few understand a little English, enough so that I can tell them to dial back the amount of water to be taken off before I go into the cramp/shitty mode.

Yes, there a quite a few hospitals that will treat end stage renal failure and provide hemodialysis treatments.

Unfortunately since I'm not Japanese and I  don't have the Japanese national health insurance I can't go on their transplant list.  However my wonderful wife has said she will donate a kidney for me, hope to do the transplant within a year, just need to lose a little more weight.  Since starting hemodialysis and eating the bland hospital food for 40 days I've lost 15 kilos.  Also debating if we will do it here in Okinawa, Japan or get it done in Hawaii. 

[Sugarlump]

My closest major hospital (about 70 miles away) Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge actually uses japanese dialysis machines now!!!!
That's the fist time I have seen them in this country (or anywhere else actually!)