Question about NxStage

[justjen321]

Seriously? Ugh I hate our home therapies nurse. She was all discouraging, she's been here for PD home visits and knows our set up and was saying they'd have to do all sorts of crap to make it acceptable for treatment.

They can have to, but it's not required. I had no plumber. My fill line is connected under my kitchen sink and run all stealthy like into the living room where we do treatment. The drain line is looooooong and you can get probably to your neighbors house, if'n ya wanted to.

I haven't finished the whole thread here, because I would never remember all the questions I wanted to answer, but the reality is, it sounds like you have a crap ass nurse and you need a new one.

[amanda100wilson]

Is there any possibility of looking for another dialysis  unit?  It sounds like you are going to have a tough journey if this nurse remains Tony'snurse and he chooses NxStage.  She sounds very negative to me?

[smcd23]

She is negative. I strongly dislike her. We've been talking about it. He may switch but he wants to get through the next few weeks before he makes any decisions.

[chiawana]

So it really is just a drain tube? Our bathroom is like 6 feet from our bedroom, and the living room is like ten feet maybe? Can you have the machine say in the bedroom and sit a few feet away in another room? I don't want to leave the machine in the living room, ya know?

You won't get much separation from the machine and him. I do not know of longer tubes. You can get a decent distance with the drain tube, but not from the machine itself. He'll be parked pretty close. (A foot or so?)

We have a little storage cart between my husband's recliner and the machine (that's where I set up all the supplies for the treatment), but that's about as far away from the machine as we can get. I wasn't thrilled about it being the centerpiece in our living room, but he didn't want to be stuck in the bedroom or anywhere else just sitting there being bored. In the living room we can be together, watch TV, and it's not far from the kitchen so I can make dinner, etc. This is our life now!

[lmunchkin]

Ours is a totally different layout than others on here.  We don't have a recliner, he dialysisis in bed.  We sit up watch TV, eat, play games or whatever.  Generally he sits with a pillow under his fistula, when he is through sitting, he lays down until I unhook him and he falls asleep where he lays.  He doesnt have to get up or anything. He collapses right in bed where he is.

The bathroom is right near his room, so it is not far to run water lines to pureflow & drain lines to toilet.  JusJenn is right, there is no more than 2 feet distance between him and the machine, but ample extenstion for the drain.  Sometimes, John and I will go out on deck and dialysis with hanging bags.  Plug cycler up and hang bags and drop drain in to the yard.  We love to D outside, but as of late, its too hot!

I second the nurse, talk with neph about getting a new one!  We 've gotten another new one (not our idea) and sometimes she just doesnt get it!  She'll send labels for labs on days he doesnt dialysis, so I just didn't send them.  If you do that enough times, she will finally get the message.  Now, I tell her when to order labs and send the lables.  You don't have to be rude or anything, just be all nice and say, well he is not dialysising that day, and eventually, she/he will get the message.  I miss our first nurse.  He was great.  Still text him from time to time.  Very good friend too!

Stay on top of it, it will get worked out in the end.

God Bless,
lmunchkin

[amanda100wilson]

My labels are dated.  I just do the lab work as soon as possible and change the dates.

[cattlekid]

Me too.  This month, my nurse wanted me to do my lab work on July 4th, which was not a treatment day for me.  She always told me that it was acceptable to cross out the dates on the lab slips and tubes and just write in the correct dates.

My labels are dated.  I just do the lab work as soon as possible and change the dates.

[shutterbug05]

When I do my labs I also just change the date to the date I do the draw and have had no problems doing this.  My nurse told me to do it that way when I was trained since she knew that the date she selected was probably not the day I would draw them.

[lmunchkin]

Ill try that next time I do labs.  If its not a day I dialysize him then I will change the date.  Thanks for the input.

lmunchkin

[chiawana]

Amanda, sorry it's taken me so long to get back on this topic. We started having some real issues cannulating (or I did), and I was concerned that I might ruin his buttonholes. So I watched a video about touch cannulation and decided to try it. As hard as it was to get his needles in, I was pretty sure that it wouldn't work. But you know what? It DID. It was amazing!! The needle just slides right in, I get flashback every time, and I'm not sitting there digging around in his arm. Our HHD nurse raves about him having the best buttonholes she's ever seen; I don't want to be the person to mess them up!!