New to site - First week home

[boclark54]

New to both site and Nxstage. My husband Charlie the one on dialysis and we finished Nxstage training and started at home this week. Been reading all the old posts since yesterday and sure make both of us  feel better and not so alone and learned a whole lot. Originally he started needling himself, went to hospital for one week (not dialysis related) and got out with hands shaking too much for now to needle, buttonholes weren't formed so things took a turn, they taught me to needle first with sharps, then start a buttonhole. Considering at age 60 always had a needle fear thing this still went good and am getting used to it fast, question is today is day 9 with buttonhole, tried dull needles and couldn't get them in, can anyone tell me if it took them longer how long? Is there some "I know when" time when you know to switch to dull? How long can we keep inserting sharps to try? Our training nurse is great but my husband is first Nxstage patient at Unit and she is learning buttonholes and machine with us. And please someone tell me you get more relaxed and less worried (today is day 4 home and each day is easier but still have the Grandmother urge to run to the bathroom everytime an alarm goes off) Thanks in advance for any answers I may get.
                                                                            Joan

[Black]

Hi, Joan, and 

My husband is also on the NxStage, so I know how you feel.  I also learned to get over my needle fears at age 60. 

Don't worry about the buttonholes.  Mike still has some pain and we've been using blunts for months.  Almost all patients do occasionally have to go back to the sharps.  Just keep trying the blunts periodically until they go in.  I have found that it does sometimes take a good bit of pressure to get into the buttonholes.  As long as you aren't missing the fistula or going through the back side, you're probably fine.

I can sympathize with the ignorance at your unit.  Our unit only has 5 patients on the NxStage, and we appear to know about the machine than anyone at the unit does.

If it weren't for this site we might not have gotten a NxStage so I understand about learning here.  We did too.

[cev]

Hi Joan,
Be sure it will get easier and the panic when an alarm goes off will go away.  We have been on NxStage 1 1/2 years and are still learning and still making silly mistakes.  Nine sticks is about time to try the blunts but everyone is different, are you going in the "exact" same way each time to establish the buttonhole?  It is a different feel then the sharp.  I would check with your training nurse and see if she can be with you or you can go to the training center one more time to stick with the buttonhole to get the feel.  Nothing like being home alone doing something you've never done before is there ?  This is a great site for information and support.  Stay in touch

[jbeany]

It does get to be pretty routine - I don't need a manual anymore to do anything but deal with occasional alarms and remind myself of the steps to follow for the monthly maintenence stuff.  Wtih only about 1000 people on the machine in the whole US, I think most of us know more than our training nurses - they simply haven't trained enough people to really know the ins and outs yet.

[Romona]

 

[angela515]