Taping down for nocturnal dialysis

[Desert Dancer]

*MODERATORS: If you feel this should be moved to nocturnal, my apologies. It just seems most of the nocturnal/home threads involve PD and I thought it might be of general interest. Thanks!*

I got an email from one of our newer members asking for pictures of how I tape down my lines for nocturnal. I've responded via Gmail and here and haven't gotten a response, thus I'm thinking my emails/messages may not be getting through (though I could just be impatient - it's not out of the realm of possibility  ). So I've decided to just post them here for your perusal.

First, the arterial:

[Desert Dancer]

Next, the venous:

[Desert Dancer]

Finally, the patient lines:

[MooseMom]

This is so cool!  What do you mean by "patient lines"?  I've not heard that phrase before.

Do you do all the taping yourself, or does Andy give you a hand?  Do you cut and lay out all of your tape before you begin?

The pad underneath your arm...does it have moisture detection sensors?

I know you are a pro at this, but how long does all of this sticking and taping take?

Wow, just wow!  Thanks so much for posting these pics.

[Desert Dancer]

This is so cool!  What do you mean by "patient lines"?  I've not heard that phrase before.

I had to call them something! Arterial is arterial, venous is venous, and patient lines are the whole shebang after connecting.

Do you do all the taping yourself, or does Andy give you a hand?  Do you cut and lay out all of your tape before you begin?

Depends. Andy usually does the taping but if he's already asleep I do everything myself. All the tape is laid out before I start cannulating and - if I'm doing it myself - I do Arterial #1 and Venous #1 before I cannulate, just 'cause I've found it's easier that way.

The pad underneath your arm...does it have moisture detection sensors?

Nope. That's just a plain old waterproof pad to catch any spills. The picture below is after I'm up and running. There's really no difference at all between dialysis nights and non-dialysis nights sleeping-wise, except for being aware of the lines and not rolling over on them.

I know you are a pro at this, but how long does all of this sticking and taping take?

If cannulation goes well and I get in on the first shot with both buttonholes, then the whole thing probably takes under two, three minutes, tops. Bing, bang, boom.

[MooseMom]

Wait...are you saying you tape down your arterial and venous lines before you cannulate?  I'm sorry to be so thick!  What do you mean by "arterial #1" and "venous #1"?  What exactly do you do before you cannulate?

Really fascinating stuff.  Thanks.

[Desert Dancer]

Wait...are you saying you tape down your arterial and venous lines before you cannulate?  I'm sorry to be so thick!  What do you mean by "arterial #1" and "venous #1"?  What exactly do you do before you cannulate?

The initial gauze pad that goes under the wings of the cannula (see pictures 'Arterial 1' and 'Venous 1') - I tape them in place and then proceed to cannulate. If Andy is helping me I cannulate first, then hold the line a little off my skin so Andy can slide the gauze under the wings.

[MooseMom]

OK...got it.  Thanks.  What's the purpose of the gauze under the wings?  Is it to give the needle a better angle into the blood vessel?

[Desert Dancer]

OK...got it.  Thanks.  What's the purpose of the gauze under the wings?  Is it to give the needle a better angle into the blood vessel?

Yep. I flip over the needle so the bevel points toward the bottom of the fistula, and use the gauze under the wings to keep the backeye from sucking up against the top of the fistula.

[cariad]

Wow! How completely awesome of you to post this so that others can see the nuts and bolts of what you're talking about.

Is the blood going through the venous that much paler in person, or is that just the lighting? (I used a tunneled cath for hemo and don't remember these details very well)

Thanks for going to all this work! I'm sure many will find this a wonderful resource.

[Desert Dancer]

Is the blood going through the venous that much paler in person, or is that just the lighting? (I used a tunneled cath for hemo and don't remember these details very well)

Oh, it's just lighter because those pictures were taken right after I started the machine. The return blood had just begun to reach me so it's still mixed with quite a bit of saline.

Thanks for going to all this work! I'm sure many will find this a wonderful resource.

I do hope so!

[boswife]

wow i LOVED this!!  I would love to see it ?thumbtacked? as a resource....  Im facinated by this stuff and really appreciate your doing this for us.  Nice to see ya too    ...  We sure have some amazing people here... I guess Dialysis is not for the weak huh...So proud of ya.. and another Thank You again 

[lmunchkin]

"BEAUTIFUL WORK" D.D.  You have it all down and secured!  Excellent Job!  Thanks for sharing this.  I have never seen lines taped back up the arm like that, but very unique in its function!

lmunchkin

 

[del]

We tape hubby's arm basically the same way. However in picture #3 where you see the little bit of tape over the first lot we have it long enough to cross over.  I'll take a pic one night soon and post.Also instead of using tape to keep the lines near the wrist we use one of those rubber braclets you can get.  They stretch like a rubber band and aren't tight on the wrist. Hubby finds it more comfortable than the tape.  He can't use the covering for the whole thing like you have in the last picture.  His arm sweats too much and he finds it too uncomfortable.  I will post pics to show exactly how we do it.  He has a way of taping the lines after he is all hooked up so that we rarely get alarms.

[boswife]

Please do Del...