DIY Dialysis

[BobN]

It seems that whenever a DIY dialysis patient comes along, the people who normally carry out the treatment become a little unnerved.

To set some context, I recently moved out-of-state, an experience that I'm sure will be the subject of many posts in the future.

As you may know, I normally do home dialysis, with my wife and I carrying out my treatments with no intervention from any medical professionals, a scary concept in its own right.

While I was moving, however, my home dialysis machine was in transit somewhere between Dallas, TX and Hampton, NH, an expanse of approximately 1,800 miles.  So, I had to have in-center dialysis treatments while waiting for my machine to arrive.

Now, when you do home dialysis you inevitably end up taking care of much of the stuff normally done by the in-center nurses and attendants. 

It's like, no medical training whatsoever?  No problem. <Gasp>

Anyway, when we got to our new home, I went trucking off to a nearby dialysis center for my treatment.  This center didn't have a home program so most of the people weren't familiar with the process.

The male nurse who was going to look over my session seemed like a real solid guy with great experience.

So, I was all prepped, but when he came over to get started, I said, "Oh, by the way, I'm going to put my own needles in."

His reaction was what you would have expected if I had said that I thought he was secretly Abe Lincoln travelling incognito.

He was just staring at me in stunned silence.  When he found his voice, he stammered, "Wh...what do you mean?"

I said, "Don't worry.  I put my own needles in.  I do this five times a week, so it's really not a problem."

He didn't look convinced, but watched in amazement as I "self-cannulated," as we call it in the dialysis world.

"Wow," he said.  "That's the first time I've seen a patient do that."

A few hours later, when my session was over and my needles pulled, he was off tending to another patient, so I lifted my gauze to see if the bleeding had stopped and when I saw that it had, I put my own bandages on and got up to leave.

"See ya, thanks for your help today," I hollered over to him.

He came running over as if I had said the place was on fire.

"What?  What happened?  What's wrong?" he said with a total look of panic.

"Nothing," I said.  "Everything's fine.  I put my bandages on and I'm ready to go."

I got the "I'm the first earthling seeing a space alien" look one more time.

"Wow," he said again.  "That's the first time I've seen a patient do that too."

I just laughed.  "Thanks again for all your help today," I said.

"I don't know what you’re thanking me for," he said.  "I didn't hardly do anything."

I laughed again and went on my way.

So, it seems even dialysis professionals can be amazed at patients doing their own treatments.

[cdwbrooklyn]

Of course, you will be surprised how many nurses and technicians don't know anything about NxStage or button holes.   I know you felt good to show who's really in control.  Good for you!!!

[obsidianom]

Welcome to the East coast. I used to live and work near Hampton NH. before I went off to medical school. I grew up in Boston. I love the NH seacoast. Now I live up north of you in Maine. WE use home dialysis too with Nxstage . Hope you can find a unit with home therapy available.
When my wife was hospitalized in April she needed dialysis a couple of times. The first nurse wouldnt let me cannulize my wife. I think she felt threatened. The next time another nurse was great and let me take over . As often is the case it depends on the staff and their comfort.
I found no one here in my area (of the nurses) who had ever done buttonholes. i had to find my own way. I read a lot and Stuart motts site helped. I still find some of the nephrologists here are anti buttonhole . They are afraid of infections.

[Adam_W]

I'm visiting family in Indianapolis and going to a dialysis centre here for the week. When I first went there, I told the tech that I do self care and asked if I could do it there. She kind of stammered "Well, I i i s s suppose y y you can" She then watched as I put my needles in and put myself on the machine with no assistance and she was amazed! So was the patient next to me. She asked if she could learn self care as well. At the end of my treatment, my tech called to the other techs who weren't doing anything, "Hey, come and watch our guest take himself off the machine, it's amazing!"

[Simon Dog]

I recently had a similar experience in the Exeter NH FMC clinic.  Great staff, very nice medical director (he was doing rounds when I was getting my treatment, so I got the visit from him).    Clinic did not have blunts (I just happened to have some with me just in case).   All the clinic staff took a break from their duties to watch me self-puncture as they had never seen it done before.

[obsidianom]

I used to live in Epping NH near Exeter. Is the Starving chef restaurant still open in Exeter?
I left there 30 years ago.

[Rerun]

Good Job Bob.  Next time pretend to faint!  LOL

[Simon Dog]

I used to live in Epping NH near Exeter. Is the Starving chef restaurant still open in Exeter?
I left there 30 years ago.

I don't know - I was only up there for a few days - visiting Epping, NH actually.

I never did figure out why the MD at the clinic I was visiting ordered labs for a patient visiting for one treatment.    I never bothered to get the results since I had monthly labs scheduled the day I got back from my trip.