PD training questions

[Phurball]

I have been pretty busy lately.  I have been talking to IU Med Center dialysis unit about PD training.  They suggested I go to my PCP and check for hernias. And of course I had to have an umbilical hernia.     So the surgery was scheduled and it was very successful.  Soooo now I am ready to move forward with my training.    The main question I have is ......... I have hemo 3 days a week in clinic, so how the heck do you do PD training and hemo at the same time    I am hoping IU Med Center will tell me they can do both right there.   Has anyone else had thie experience    If so please let me know.

Thanks in advance   

Phurball

[KT0930]

When you switch to PD training, that will be your dialysis. No more hemo. I trained for about 4 days on manuals, and by the end of the first day, I was ready to do my own exchanges at home. She sent me home with enough supplies for the week, but I came back each of the four days for more in-depth issues and training.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

[MiSSis]

Hi Phurball,

My PD training started while I was having my hemo treatments.  My PD catheter has been placed but wasn't ready for use yet.  The nurse in charge of training would come and sit by my chair and give my husband and I the book work type training; talking about how PD works, how the various levels of dialysate work, etc.  She also had what she called a "dummy tummy" which was a plastic torso with a catheter attached that she could use for demonstration.  As soon as my PD catheter was ready for use we moved to a private room where we started the hands-on training of loading the tubing on the machine, priming and finally hooking my up.  I'd actually do a couple of hours of PD while she provided more training.  Because I'd done PD previously (although it'd been over 15 years earlier) much of the process I remembered so I only did training for about two weeks.  After that, my supplies and machine were delivered to my home, my nurse came out for a home visit and to watch me set the machine up for the first night.  Since then we've been pretty much on our own.  

Good luck with your training and I hope you find PD works as well for you as it has for us.  

MiSSis