Something in-center patients need to be aware of...

[noahvale]

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[MooseMom]

Oh geez...yet one more thing we have to be aware of because someone is trying to screw us over.

Thanks very much for that info; I would never have known to look for this.  I'm going to have to make a list of all of your useful advice so that once I start D, I'll be as fully informed/educated as possible.  Things like this make me all the more certain I want to do home hemo, but in case that plan fails and I have to dialyze in-clinic, I'll have a broad knowledge of what's what.  So, again, thank you!!

[Ang]

good info to have for the newbies who are learning the ins and outs of this caper.

if the 2 clocks are not in sync,you lose 2.5 treatments for the year,fair call,so i suspect those 

who have cut treatments for any number of reasons or just not turned up for treatment,
are doing themselves no favours and probably lost more than 2.5 treatments per year.


PS: this little black duck never missed treatment, did cut treatment every now and then by 10 minutes here and there.
5 hours got monotonous , being 1ST in , then watching later patients come in and leave before me was &^%$*
my theory was some dialysis was better than no dialysis.

[jbeany]

my theory was some dialysis was better than no dialysis.

Well, yeah, but once you've set there for that long, what's another 10 minutes?  My center would drop time in 12 minute increments if your labs were good.  I always figured the few extra minutes weren't going to do a darn thing to help me accomplish anything else, but getting as much treatment as possible might.

The first time one of my nurses said my labs were so good she could suggest to my neph that he shorten my time, I floored her by refusing.  I wanted my full 4 hours, darn it!

[lmunchkin]

Exactly Jbeany!  Excellent post Noah. I know when we started Nxstage at home, there were times that his fluid goal to be taken off would be reached, unaware at the time, I thought heck he reached his goal, lets just end the treatment and there would be plenty dialysate left. So when we went to the monthly clinic for checkups, nurse had noticed this!  He asked why the treatment was stopped, and I told him he reached his goal so I ended the treatment.

He looked at me and hubby and said guys do not stop treatment when fluid removal is met. You are denying adequate dialysis when doing so. Well, me being me, asked him how he figured that when goal is met.  He said fluid is off, yes, but blood needs to be cleaned of toxins too.  Well dah!

Now when he was In-Center, looking back, sometimes they would have him off late and other times not so long!  I wonder if that was not the case, inadequate dialysis!

Very educational Noah, wish I had thought to post that, but I believe you said it alot better than I.     

lmunchkin       

Ever since then, I go the whole prescribed treatment.  Hubby seems better for it and really doesnt mind 3 to 4 hours on D. as long as he is in the comforts of our home.

[romanyscarlett]

I have treatment on a 2008K machine & all the patients at the clinic have an extra 5mins added onto their prescribed dialysis time to make up for all the internal checks that the machine makes. This means I do 4 hours & 5 minutes to make sure I get the full dose of dialysis.

That's assuming I don't get any alarms of course