Already a problem..help!

[angela515]

Well, I am jealous you going on a cruise! I hope you have tons of fun hun

[thegrammalady]

i'm taking a cruise someday....even if it's in the bath tub   

[Joanniebop]

Thanks Angela.
It took us many years of very hard work to be in the position to take a few  vacations.
Unfortunately, Chuck is not in the best physical health, but we are not going to let that stop us.
Kind of ironic, because when Chuck was well, we didn't have the time or means to travel.
Life is too short.

[angela515]

Your right... can't let lifes road bumps stop you from enjoying it.

[kitkatz]

You gotta grab the disease by the tail and twirl it around a few times and enjoy the life you have left! Enjoy your cruise!

[KT0930]

You gotta grab the disease by the tail and twirl it around a few times and enjoy the life you have left! Enjoy your cruise!

Now there's the Kit we know and love!! And I couldn't agree more!

[melshell]

Hi! Hubby and I are planning a cruise for sometime next year and I just assumed that I would be allowed to take my cycler along...are cycler's not permitted on all cruise lines? Is it the cruise line, or Freesnius? You also mentioned that they delivered the machine and supplies for your trip to Colorado... Did they fly it out to you? I've packed the cycler along on a few driving trips, and now that I've seen that it can be done, I'm ready to take a REAL vacation: fly somewhere, or take a cruise...I wonder how knowledgeable a travel agent would be considering the circumstances??

[Joanniebop]

Melshell..no cycler on board (the ship that is ) is a Fresenius rule.  I checked with them twice, thus the need to learn manual. They will deliver the manual solution  to the ship. We must bring our own pole.

They sent me the cycler and all the supplies that we needed on a land based vacation in Colorado. I had to keep the box in the room and pack it  back up and make arrangements for the machine to go back to Fresenius before we left the hotel.

I don't think that most  TA's would know . It is really up to you to research and of course place the order for your needs. I think that they want the order 30 days in advance of your travel date.
More than likely the ship will require a note from your Dr. saying that your Hubby is able to travel and they must have a list of the supplies that you expect to be delivered to the ship.
We go next Tuesday for the manual training and as soon as I get home, I am going to call Fresenius and place our order for the cruise.

Hope this helps and that you are able to cruise.

Joannie

[Joanniebop]

The saga continues..

Wanting manual training for our upcoming cruise.
 So, went to the center today since Chuck had kinetic modeling done ( not sure of the correct spelling or wording but it's the testing that is done every four months to  make sure that he is dialysing enough for the toxins to be taken from his body) so the nurse had to perform a manual drain at which time she went over the process. She gave me an organizer, a booklet of instructions a little scale thingy and said that we should make arrangements to come back  a few days before the cruise for proper training.
In the meantime I ordered a few bags of solution for manual and might give it a try when we receive our next delivery. I am very anxious to try it at home.

QUESTION: for those of you that do manuals at home, do you use an IV pole and if so did you have to purchase it yourself?
I am thinking about buying a pole that attaches to his wheelchair this way when we are on the cruise I won't have to worry about borrowing an IV pole from the cruise line ( That is what I was told to do) or have to just hang it from a door.

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks

Joannie

[goofynina]

Hi Joanniebop, great seeing you here again    When i started PD, they supplied an IV pole,  have you asked if there is one you can borrow since you wont be needing it once you return?  or maybe it will be better to invest in one that attaches to his wheelchair so that way if you ever want to go on a cruise again he will have it there for him.  You can also maybe hang it on a hanger or something inside the cabin, maybe a coat hook if you cant get an IV pole 

[KT0930]

My clinic supplied two for me, since I was doing two treatments a day at work. That way I could simply keep one in the closet at work, too. On our first weekend trip, though, we discovered that packing a regular IV pole in the car was pretty difficult, so I went online and ordered a collapsible one. It's made from aluminum, so it's very lightweight and collapses down to about 24" tall, much easier to deal with! I would suggest that you go ahead and order one that attaches to the chair for several reasons: 1) you can put the brakes on the chair so it won't roll anywhere, in case you get rough seas (never been on a cruise myself, don't know if this is an issue or not) 2) from what I understand, cabins on cruise ships can be pretty tight quarters, and if you're already going to have the chair, then you probably don't want to take up any more of your limited floor space with even more medical stuff, specially since you'll have those boxes of solution, as well; 3) this way you'll have it and you won't have to bother borrowing one everytime you want to travel.

Hope this helps. When is your cruise, anyway?

[Joanniebop]

Thanks Goofynina and KT for your quick reply.

I think that the way to go is to purchase the pole for the wheelchair and maybe try and find a used IV pole to have at home. The PD center would not OK a pole from Fresenius so I'll try to find one on line.

KT, that's what I was thinking that the cabin won't be that big and with all the supplies, I don't need to take up any more room and also could not find a collapsible one that was easy to travel with.

The cruise is Nov.15th and we'll have to fly to Florida the day before. That will be an adventure in itself.  Never did it alone before always had my daughters with us  to help with Chuck.  Luggage, Chuck in wheelchair, etc.

Anyhow, I have been reading this board pretty regularly, just not posting too much.

Thanks again,
Joannie

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Hi Joannie, sorry for the late reply,  i do have a question though,  were you trained to use gloves?  My PD nurse told me that gloves carry germs too and we had to use the Hand wash method at all times, they also give us hand sanitizer to keep by our machine at all times.  Am i the only one they told that to?  ( i wouldnt be surprised)    Does he give himself Epo injections?  i see they didnt send you any syringes.   Is the patient tubing you mentioned more of an extension for the cassette to give him extra tubing to move further?   Other than that, it all looks good, hope your still having alarmless nights and i hope  Chuck is doing well with his new meds for his anxiety.  Godspeed my friends 

I must have missed this thread but have just noticed your post goofynina. I use gloves beacause the spirit hand rub irritates the skin on my hands. You do the handwash with the gloves on, dry them off with paper towels and use alcohol spirt handrub in just the same way.

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Joannie

When hubby takes a shower he uses Saran Wrap on his cath. It seems to work for him. We was never train to use gloves, his pd nurse told us that they have germs and its best to wash hands real well. Hubby does manual, 4 times a day. (CAPD) It would seem to me, that they would want to train you to do manual as you said, just encase of power outage or if there is ever a time your hubby needs to do a exchange during the day. I was like you, what do we do if we have a power outage, how will I heat the bags up. As you get more comfortable with the routine, pd will be second nature to you, or it is to me anyways. There will be new things that might throw you for a loop. Never be concern about calling the pd nurse, thats what they are there for. Sounds like to me, you are doing a great job!!

When you ask about dressing do you mean for his exit site? If so, my hubby doesn't have to put a dressing on his anymore. His exit site has healed. But, thats what works for him. He does keep the cath taped.

Kat

I was told to only change the dressing on the exit site once every two days because the it's better for the exit site if it can 'rest' for a day. I take a shower with the dressing on but do not cover the catheter, after all it must be watertight if it doesn't leak during fills and drains. After showering I do an antiseptic handwash and remove the old dressing and holding tape. Bathe the exit site with Betadine using gauze topper swabs, wipe down till dry and dab the exit site with bactroban cream using a cotton bud stick. Secure the tubing to the skin using micropore tape about 3 inches down the tube from the exit. Fold one topper swab in half and place it centrally under the tubing so that it come to rest at the underside of the tube covering the exit. Place another topper swab over the whole exit sight and over the tube. Cover the whole dressing with a 5 inch strip of Mefix tape  which comes on a 75mm roll. I finish by looping the catheter up and round slightly and taping it just before the tap onto my torso.