Can I set up machine early?

[happyonhemo]

Hi everyone!I haven't logged in for a while but I visit often and I think I've learned almost as much here as I did in training. I started at home with NxStage last October with my husband as my partner and its going pretty well.We're learning from our mistakes and we've come a long way in the last 6 months but we still haven't really found our best time slot.At first we thought we'd do it early in the morning and get it out of the way right away while we were bright eyed and then I'd have the rest of the day to do whatever but that didn't work out because so many appts were scheduled in the a.m. that we would end up starting late in the day on those days and it was impossible to keep any consistency to treatment times.Then we tried early evening and it wasn't too bad but we ended up getting to bed way too late and I felt it cut short my day too much-having to just stop whatever I was doing at 5 or 6 and start setting up-which brings me to now.We're going to try mornings again and I want to start as early as possible.Is there any reason why I couldn't set up my machine the night before,including spiking the saline bag so I can get up and just hit start to get it priming?

[del]

Hubby does nocturnal home hemo on a full sized machine.  We were told to not set anything up early.  You need to check with your unit to see what they say.

[Meinuk]

I used to do my whole set up in the morning before I went to work.  Then I would get home, make some dinner, and hop on the machine. 8 hours in between set up and treatment - no problems.

[suzyq73176]

I am not on the same machine as you but if I understand correctly you are on PD.  I was in the hospital for an extended period of time last year.  Because the nurses on the floor where I was were unfamiliar with my cycler my PD nurse came daily and set up my cycler.   Including Sat and Sunday mornings.  So it regurlay sat for 10.  He pretested and left it so  you just had to press start for the prime.  So I would assume it isnt an issue.

[jbeany]

NxStage is a home hemodialysis machine, suzy, not PD.

Do a test run some afternoon - I seem to remember starting prime, turning it off, and coming back to later and turning it back on.  It would pick back up in prime cycle if you pressed enough buttons in the right order.

I usually ran early evenings - between 7 and 9.  It was normal for me to have it entirely set and in prime before I cooked dinner.  I just let it run in prime for a couple of hours.  The longer it primes, the fewer bubbles there are in the lines to snap and tap out.

I never worried about a consistent start time, though.  I'd do 9 pm one day and noon the next if we had evening plans.  It was never a problem, and I still felt good when I did it.

[happyonhemo]

Thanx,jbeany! That's a great idea! The test run I mean.I'll try starting the prime,turning it off,and then coming back later and turning it on again.I don't really want to let it run in prime all night though-seems like it would be wasting electricity and putting extra wear and tear on the machine.My main concern is that sterility not be compromised as I have had endocarditis twice in the past 8 months and obviously I want to avoid getting that again.

[tyefly]

I do my time at around 5 or 6 and I set up my machine including spiking some time during the day ,,, sometimes in the mornng....   it only takes a few minutes to set up .....and when the machine is primed I just let it sit there untill I make time to do the snap and tap stuff....and then often let the machine sit some more and some time later in the day... I get on.... I have never had any problems....   

[M3Riddler]

Hi everyone!I haven't logged in for a while but I visit often and I think I've learned almost as much here as I did in training. I started at home with NxStage last October with my husband as my partner and its going pretty well.We're learning from our mistakes and we've come a long way in the last 6 months but we still haven't really found our best time slot.At first we thought we'd do it early in the morning and get it out of the way right away while we were bright eyed and then I'd have the rest of the day to do whatever but that didn't work out because so many appts were scheduled in the a.m. that we would end up starting late in the day on those days and it was impossible to keep any consistency to treatment times.Then we tried early evening and it wasn't too bad but we ended up getting to bed way too late and I felt it cut short my day too much-having to just stop whatever I was doing at 5 or 6 and start setting up-which brings me to now.We're going to try mornings again and I want to start as early as possible.Is there any reason why I couldn't set up my machine the night before,including spiking the saline bag so I can get up and just hit start to get it priming?

HappyonHemo,

Yes you can set the NxStage Machine Up early. When ready, turn the machine on and it will prime for 2 additional minutes and then you continue with setup. You can view a video here:
 Turning NxStage System Off at 23 along with a few other How-To Videos by Dialysis Dan.

///M3R

[dialysismomma]

I was told by my fiances nurse that the nx stage cartridges are good to be set up for 4 hours before use but I would not try any further than that because it can mess up the dialyzer and stuff.

[JohnJ]

Wow. I called tech support about this exact thing and they told me no more that TWO HOURS between loading the cartridge and starting dialysis. I wonder why we all got different answers?

[Meinuk]

I was on NxStage from 10/07 - 11/08 my guess is that they have been fine tuning their policies and procedures since then.  I don't understand how a closed sterile circuit could be compromised, but maybe there is something with the membrane of the artificial kidney. I'd be curious to know what they base their current policy on.  Was there a study done? Have there been issues?  I was getting great clearances back in the day.

I think that there should always be procedures that optimize optimal dialysis. If changing the setup makes a difference, then so be it.  I'm just curious why the change.