A step by step PD experience!!!

[mcclane]

I hope eveything goes well and can stay on pd. I also hate hate hate hemo did I mention
HATE.

I think I may hate it more than you, just saying    
and I really hate it when people that are on it, try to convince me that I should love it like they do!!! I just wanna scream at them, then beat them over the head 

then start beating me over the head ! 

j/k !  In all seriousness, try and stay on pd as long as you can.  hemo is not fun, i can say that from personal experience.  I hate it like the plague.

[tbarrett2533]

Good news (I hope)

my Am drain in 15 minutes was 2700!!! (I put in 2000ml)

I am praying that it keeps going like this!!


Heparin is going in my next exchange!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you all so much!!!!!!!!!

[mcclane]

best wishes !! 

[drgirlfriend]

That's good news! Hang in there, woman!!

[tbarrett2533]

9-26-11 Update:

OK I am hoping that I am not jumping the gun here, but things APPEAR to be back to "normal" whatever the hell normal is 

The pain that I was feeling in both my drains and fills slowly went away over a 3 day period so that was good 
After reading on here I decided to do a fill with some heparin (1ML) and instead of doing all greens I mixed it up with some Yellows and what would you know, I started (slowly) to get fluid off and in record time (yesterday I did an entire exchange start to finish in 21 minutes and drained a total of 2700ml) 

so the past 3 days went a little like this:

UF total's

2000ML
1900ML
1800ML

and the most random thing of all my overnight dwells that I always absorbed like crazy....well i am pulling off an additional 400-600 ML!!! Its so crazy  but I am loving it!!

I am praying and hoping things still keep going like this!!!   

Today we were in a Antique bottle show and sale about 2 hours away from our house and for the first time I did two exchanges in my car......now this was very hard (I have a very small compact car)  but very doable.  I made sure that I sanitized everything down, closed up the windows and made my BF mask up.........   

I began to complain while doing one and my BF speaks up and says, "Would you rather that we not be in this show and I can take you back to the center and you can get poked with the needles and sit there for 4 hours?" 
ummm hell no!!!!!!!!!!!!

so far I have took my PD to my moms, my boyfriends mom's and this show and so far so good...... I am just really really really careful and I make sure everything is as clean as it can be!!!!
this is the freedom that I was talking about right here!!! I love knowing (especially now that I actually went far away from home and did exchanges) that I can go anywhere and do anything that I want and still "do dialysis"
PD almost makes me feel normal again minus my 12 inch power cord (that's what my BF calls it  )  and the 50 boxes of medical supplies and the careful math calculations to ensure that I have enough of everything that I need
In all seriousness, PD is not that bad and I really like it compared to the dreaded awful in-center Hemo 

my labs were alll perfect!!! Phos 4.2 potassium 4, calcium (lil high) 9.5, albumin 4.4, BUN 31, PTH, 225
To be honest, I was just a little bit worried about my labs going from Hemo to PD, b/c while I was on Hemo my labs were PERFECT!!! but the last 2 months PERFECT PD labs so that makes me happy!!! 

I feel as if I am missing something here  rest assured that if I think of it, I will be back 

until next time

 

[drgirlfriend]

That is all such good news!! I'm so glad!
Rock on!

[pitagory]

Yes I am so happy for you hope it stays that way for a long time until you get your transplant.

[tbarrett2533]

10-16-11 UPDATE!!

Well let me see here.... I do think it has been some time since I posted my update... pardon if I leave anything out 

I turned 32  on October 11, 2011!!!!  booo 
on a super positive note..... today marks one full year with not even a single puff of a cigarette!! (that is the one thing positive that came from have kidney failure... I had to quit smoking in order to get "on the list")

my BF took me to casino Niagara and to Niagara Falls for 2 days and yep you guessed it I had the trunk of the car packed full of all my PD supplies..... shoot I did exchanges in the car, in the hotel and we even stopped at his Grandma's house in Buffalo and I did an exchange there..... I love the flexibility PD offers me.... my BF and I were just talking about how if I was on Hemo I would have never been able to even go on that trip at all!!! soooo life is good!! 
Oh one small problem while I was so worried that I was going to forget something that I need to do my PD I ended up forgetting my entire bag that was full of my hair products and makeup  so my poor BF had to go buy me EVERYTHING new or I was not leaving the hotel room 
I had to go to the center and do my annual care plan that is always a good time 
I had the very last step in the transplant evaluation just last week (image of my kidneys)
so guess what ladies and gents?? I am FIANLLY on the list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
here is to life on the list..... just like I do with PD..... I am not going to watch the clock I am going to continue to live my life without wonder and worry!!!! (well worry that is not possible  )

things appear to be going very well and I am LOVING PD!!!
Now when I go to that stinky center I preach not only about diet..... I preach that everyone who can, should be on PD!!!

until next time
The PD princess   
 

[tbarrett2533]

this update was from 10-5-11 so its just a little backwords 

I had my first PET test Thursday and today I met with my Neph to go over the results and this is what he said:

1.  Creatinine and Urea are being removed!!!!   
2.  I do not absorb
3.  I can continue to fill with 2000ml, 4 exchanges (CAPD) with the last exchange of the day being green, but I can choose whatever I want(yellow's Green's) for the remainder of the day just to keep my weight & BP in check.

He then looks over my labs which are PREFECT   has Mandy check my BP, Pulse, Weight, listens to my lungs, checks my ankles then says, "Well I can't seem to find anything wrong with you."       

Next clinic visit is 10-19-11!!!!!!!!!!!

They (the D staff and Techs) when I was doing in-center hemo used to call me the "dialysis princess"  I think I will rename myself the Peritoneal Dialysis princess 
     
 

[rsudock]

we need a smiley face with a tiara on top of its head...this will have to do for now     glad to hear the labs were good!

xo,
R

[tbarrett2533]

11-20-11
Update:

OK I am going to try to remember to get everything in here b/c it’s been awhile since my last update…….
I had my clinic visit yesterday and my BP has been super super super low for ME (105/75) I was C/O dizzy spells so the Neph said that I need to eat more salt!!!  (First “they” don’t want you eating salt, now they do) go figure!
I don’t know if I had mentioned this or not, but I THOUGHT that I had found a correlation between low vit D level and high calcium levels, but anyway I was running at the higher end of normal for my calcium and I did not like that so to make a long story short I found that vit D if it is lower (in my case anyway) and you take a supplement your calcium will go down.  Which mine went from 9.3 to 8.7 and I have only been taking the vit D for 2 weeks, I can’t wait to see what my labs will be next month when I will have taken it for over a month.
The potassium was 3.3  and the first thing the neph said was “do you want a pill?” and my response was, “I am not a walking medi-set, I think this was just a fluke.”  Which I really think it was  b/c lord knows I eat enough bananas, tomatoes, & potatoes to actually kill 2 Hemo patients. All my other labs were SPOT on and I got 2 stars like I ALWAYS DO!!!
Now, onto the more important aspect of CAPD….. The freedom!!
I do EVERYTHING!! I go anywhere I want, I eat what I want…….. I am in complete CONTROL of how I feel!!! Dialysis does not control me any longer and this disease does not consume me half as much as I felt it did while I was on hemo.  The worries I had pre-PD were of body image and were of my Boyfriend not being accepting of my cath….. Well he does not even care about it……. I think the reason I was it took me so long to decide to do PD was b/c of the whole body image aspect and how I THOUGHT Joel (my BF) was going to react (I thought he was going to take one look at me, see my transfer set and 18 inch cord hanging off of my body and not find me attractive anymore then he was going to look around at all these boxes and say get the hell outta my life…… well that was my worst fear and that did not happen…… nothing has changed!!!     
It takes on average 17 minutes from start to finish for me to do an exchange and this includes gathering my supplies so that is less than 2 hours a day I spend doing treatments so while I am hooked up I pole and I do the following: cook, clean, text, get on the computer, make lists, do the dishes, do my hair, put my make-up on, get dressed, get un-dressed, do the laundry, fold the laundry, visit with Joel <3, or sometimes I just sit and sip on my coffee (this is usually in the morning when I am half asleep  )
I have no desire to do the cycler and actually take offense to others trying to push their view of it onto me, I have considered on my options and for starters I don’t sleep at night….. on a good night I will be lucky if I get 4 hours in and that’s on a good night, not to mention Joel and I like to go out to the casino late at night, & we like to go out to bars, we would not be able to do that b/c I would be on a schedule to get home to “hook up” Also, Joel is the sole provider for me and he works and he works very hard and he needs his sleep, he can’t be woke up by alarms in the night and he can’t be worrying if I am alright all night long…… I do not want any drain pain either!!! I do not want the machine (something else that I have to worry about)
I like how portable CAPD is, I like the flexibility that comes with it and since I don’t absorb (unless I use a yellow and have a dwell with a yellow over 4 hours) I don’t watch the clock!!! So I do what I want, pretty much when I want!!!!
I did find that if about once a week I give my membrane about a 4-6 hour break with no solution in at all that I have less cramps, bloated feeling, slow drains, pains and better overall UF’s.  now to achieve this I simply just make sure that I get up extra early that day do all my exchanges and then well lastly do not fill and give my membrane a break…… and Hey it really seems to work!!!
I officially am on the transplant list
No I have no family members or friends willing to be tested

Next month: new transfer set, & 24 urine again

Until next time


 

[wbdoug]

Quit beating around the bush and tell us what you really feel!!!!
I have enjoyed reading this thread and I am truly happy for you and your success with pd. I too am glad that I have pd as an option as it is working very well for me and I hope, the same as you do, that this will work for me untill I get that call. Here's to your continued success

Bill

[tbarrett2533]

Quit beating around the bush and tell us what you really feel!!!!
I have enjoyed reading this thread and I am truly happy for you and your success with pd. I too am glad that I have pd as an option as it is working very well for me and I hope, the same as you do, that this will work for me untill I get that call. Here's to your continued success

Bill

Waiting for the call....... its so daunting!!!!!!!!!!

[highway61]

For someone just coming into PD this is all very enlightening. Some of it is pretty scary. But I am not switching from HD to PD, I am starting fresh with dialysis and my wife and I feel that PD would fit better with our lifestyle. I hope it goes easier for me.

[Willis]

To me, the biggest downside to PD is so many boxes and all the trash! Fortunately, my town provides large rollout recycle bins that can hold 2 weeks worth of all the crap. But since I don't have a spare room downstairs, I have to store the boxes in my living room. It really doesn't bother me that much, but it's not very attractive for those who might care about such things. Setting up and tearing down after running the cycler is a pain but it beats dying. The actual PD itself is the least of it. But it does give me total freedom during the day.

 

[bleija]

For someone just coming into PD this is all very enlightening. Some of it is pretty scary. But I am not switching from HD to PD, I am starting fresh with dialysis and my wife and I feel that PD would fit better with our lifestyle. I hope it goes easier for me.

i started out 2 years ago strait on PD, never slowed me down and i did great, never had a bad lab... and i enjoyed being able to eat things other than cardboard again...

[JLM]

I, too, have to use the living room for my storage and the place to do exchanges.  But we seldom use it anyway.  We futon in it and when we have overnight guest, that is where they bed down.  Kind of cramped in there now, but we don't have that much company.  I star cycler training on December 19th