Pros and cons of NX stage

[kitkatz]

I am planning to ask my center to sign me up for NX stage training. I am sick to death of being tired and sickly from in center hemodialysis and want the leisure to travel at my own pace. Dammit!
So from all of you NX stage users please tell me the pros and cons that you have found in using the NX stage machine. I expect lots of information. Thanks to all of you!

[jbeany]

Lots of pros - your schedule, your house, your room temp, your cable.  No puking patients in the next chair, no waiting for your turn, no senile patients yelling, no driving to the center and home after feeling yucky.  You can eat more, drink more, have friends over to talk while you are on, have more energy, never have the 2-day weight gain and the painfully puffy feet and fingers to go with it.  You never have to wait for a nurse to mosey over to check your bp.  You can do it yourself the minute you feel bad.  If it hits you too fast, you can give yourself saline immediately without bothering to ask for it.  You can adjust your fluid pull at any time in any amount you feel like.  You can stop it completely for as long as you want, or restart it at the very end if you feel like it.  You can skip any day you want, do it early if you feel like it, or late if that's easier.  You are in charge.

There are cons, but for me the pros far outweigh them.  You have to have 3 straight weeks of time you can do the training, 5 days a week.  You have to have someone willing to learn with you, and wiling to make the commitment to be with you every time you hook up.  You have to do it 5 or 6 days a week instead of 3.  It takes up a lot of space in your house.  You need a spot for a chair, a big storage cupboard or shelving unit that is very heavy duty, a big trash bin, and some kind of drawer system for all the little stuff.  You have to arrange to be home for deliveries or have somewhere the drivers can leave stuff.  The machines are noisy - you may not want them in your bedroom if you have trouble sleeping with a varying hum.  You have to be on top of all things related to your care, including blood draws, lab results, machine maintenance, inventory, ordering, and daily run sheets.  As with regular dialysis, saying you have a run time of 2 and a half hours doesn't take into account all the other time involved.  For a full run, there's an 18 minute priming session, a time spent "snapping and tapping" the air bubbles out of the system and doing all the connections and things needed to get ready for the run (about half an hour), the run itself, and then, of course, holding your sites after, as well as clean up and wiping down the machine and work area.  I'm getting faster, but you can't speed up the priming, and there's only so much speed you can use to get all the air out properly.  Start to finish, it takes closer to 4 hours than 2-1/2.

As for traveling - start lifting weights now - the sucker is heavy!

[goofynina]

   Jbeany, you should be a car saleslady, i'd buy it    You had me at your schedule, your house and your room temp   Great post   

NEXT PLEASE   

[skyedogrocks]

Some other Pro's I have seen with Rob:  It doesn't take him as long to recover as he does from in-center.  He can bounce back pretty fast.  He was able to cut back on 2 of his blood pressure meds, as his BP is much better being on NxStage.  He is feeling sooo much better as his blood is being cleaned more often.

Cons:  At first it feels like NxStage takes up your whole life.  Since you work Kit Kat, I am curious to see if you will feel this way too.

[Adam_W]

For me the primary cons of NxStage are the quality control problems we've been having. However, I do trust that those will be resolved. NxStage is a good company, and although I've been frustrated with the 170s, things could be a lot worse. My main pros are ease of use, portability, and the fact that I'M the one in charge. Most of you probably remember all my rants from when I was in-centre because I always felt so helpless in there. Now, only me and sometimes my partner touch that machine when I'm on it, and like jbeany said, I don't have to ask for saline or to have my UF turned off if I'm getting too dry. Also I don't loose treatment time if I get on late, because I dialyze on MY time, not the centre's. I do miss a lot of the people I dialyzed with in-centre, however. All in all, NxStage has been well worth the effort. That's why I REALLY hope they get these 170 problems worked out, because I DO NOT want to give up this spiffy little machine.

Adam

[Black]

jbeany, I couldn't have said it as well.   

Kat, if you have a partner willing to do it, who has at least 3 hours to commit, and you can do the three weeks training, then try it!

[silverhead]

Have to agree with the others on the pro's and con's, one pro I have is that my gas bill is down probably at least 75%, only travel for personal use now instead of 6 round trips per week to the center (dropping Sharon off, and pick up 4 hours later) at todays gas prices that is significant for our tight budget, I know the "system" uses more electricity, but nowhere near what gas was costing me......

[jbeany]

Check with your power company, silverhead.  Mine sent me a form for my doc to fill out that I was on a life support system at home, and they will give me a discount rate for all the electricity I use at home now.  Lower electric bills - another pro!  And yes, the savings on gas for me is immense, since my center is an hour away from my house.  I've gained back a huge amount of time by not spending it all on the road.  I'm now working those extra hours, and making money instead of burning it up in the gas tank.  I also make crafts while I'm hooked up at home, and I'm able to sell them, so my time on dialysis now makes me money as well.

[Russ]

Ditto to everything jbeany said.  Another pro for me was that I was able to stop taking 3 different kinds of bp meds after just a few weeks on the NxStage.  It also enabled my family to go on vacation this summer for the first time in 3 years.  I feel so much better than now than when I was in-center.

I only wish I could somehow repay my wife for all her care and commitment (4 hours/day).