night from hell

[JohnJ]

Hey Noob. Wow! What a nite. And day..and nite..and...
I've been on home hemo for just about 2 years now and I still have bad treatments. I've learned that, as was stated earlier, it's usually not the machine. Let me put it this way..I've worked on computers for years and if you talked to someone who's been doing that for 20 years or so you'll hear about PEBKAC errors. We use that for 'stupid' users. What is means is that Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. But we all get stupid occasionally.
As far as your husband's problem, ya, it's a bitch. We were repeatedly warned about my helper (wife) having a burnout problem. We both understand it and either one can call a 'skip' day and there are no questions asked (Fortunately I'm on a 5 X week schedule so we have more flexibility than most). Keep in mind you are part of an elite group here..home hemo is an impressive procedure under the best circumstances and you have proven to be able to handle it. Give yourself a pat on the back once a week for being one of the Few, the Proud, the Home Hemos.(damn..that didn't come out sounding as impressive out load as it did in my head  )

Good luck and feel free to vent here. Trust me, we've all been there.

[The Noob]

  love this!

left today 6 am, get to pre-op 7:30, as we are getting ready, surgeon calls, is sick with flu. partner is out of town, other partner not proctored to do what dh needs yet. so they have rescheduled it to thursday. fistulagram and cath replaced. he has a great buzz in arm so i am going to ask for sonogram first. think might just need rested?

well rest of the day kind of same. pharmacy closed, cell place closed, hardware place out of a small common part we need. i laughed and said ok we know when to quit. we went to breakfast, that part was good.

tonight we had multiple alarms, other issues, ended up tearing down and starting over. then more alarms. took an hour to get it fixed. he is almost done with tx tonight, so far so good. we're using A in fistula and A as V in catheter, with saline and heparin flushes. flipped needle. i did the pre labs and will do the post soon. no issues there. thank God.

when we were at hospital all the staff had never heard of home hemo or nxstage, so wanted to know all the details. i mean how many times do you have a rapt audience wanting to know "all about it"..hehehe
one nurse said i would be good nurse and i said heck no. when this is over i'm going to work at taco bell or deliver pizza, much less stress!

hey thanks, you know my dream would be for anyone able to, to do home hemo, with a paid for at home nurse from insurance. the support group we started wants us to come in and talk about it.
i had a long friendly chat with nxstage lady today on phone. told her same.
  to you all