the adventure has begun!

[chiawana]

So last Wednesday was our first at-home day. Our nurse, the plumber, and the guy delivering our machines all showed up about the same time. The plumber was able to run our water and drain lines down into the basement, so we don't have hoses in our living room. Nice! I am so pleased about that.

It's still a work in progress, but I think our set-up will work. We are in the living room because my husband wants to be able to watch TV. The only inconvenience is having to run into the kitchen or bathroom to wash my hands. It was nice having a sink right next to the machine when we were training 

Our nurse wasn't able to be here the first night, and she said we were the first ones she's ever had do their first at-home treatment without her. I started off by spiking the dialysate bag instead of the saline bag  but that wasn't a huge disaster. Then we realized we didn't have any of the dialysate bag connectors. Called our nurse, and my husband had to go to the center to her office to get some out of a drawer. Luckily we live close by. Well, that debacle totally messed me up, and I cannulated him before I'd set the parameters in the cycler. Ye gads. But, once we got him on and going, things went fine.

The second night, our nurse was here and everything went perfectly. I didn't think I would ever need her to come over again, I was feeling so confident. Ha! The next night was a complete mess. I had trouble cannulating his arterial access, but we worked with it and thought we had it. Got him hooked up, and got arterial pressure alarms. We moved the needle around trying to find the right position for it. Called our nurse and she tried to walk us through some fixes over the phone. Thought we had it fixed, but more alarms. My husband was getting mad and disgusted, so we just blew off treatment that night. I ended up in tears, feeling like a complete failure and thinking all this training and work was a waste, I was never going to be able to do this right.

So our nurse came over last night, and sure enough that damned arterial access gave us trouble again. I'm glad it did, because she was here and she helped me see that the how I'm cannulating at home is at a different angle than in-center, and I just need to find my "spot" to sit and face him, and once I get the feel for where the buttonhole is, I'll be fine. Once we got the needle repositioned, his treatment went fine.

Now we'll see what happens tonight. Gawd.  I do have to say that I LOVE the Pure Flow. I was thinking that it would be a real pain, but it's so much easier than lugging those bags upstairs, hanging them, connecting them, breaking all the frangibles . . . arrrgh. We have a new batch percolating right now, in fact. We drained last night after treatment, and it woke us up at 2:00am. We decided to go ahead and start the batch. So it'll be all ready to go tonight.

I'm sure it will get better, but it's been hard coordinating dinner with doing this. We had KFC chicken one night, and pizza one night, and last night I made a casserole and salad ahead of time. Right now I just don't see that I'll be able to actually cook something that needs to be attended to. Once we're running more smoothly, I hope to be able to do that. I think tonight will be another casserole or something in the crock pot . . .

[cattlekid]

I guarantee you can do both. I set up my machine and let it prime while I make dinner.  If it starts beeping, I either dash downstairs and hit the button or I ask my husband to do it. It's only five steps from my stove to my machine lol. Then I just let it sit at 23 until I am ready to make the connections and get started. I know we had a lot of pizza and fast food the first week, but it will smooth out over time.  Now, it's like second nature.  Also, if you have a crock pot it will become a good friend.   

[billybags]

chiawana, welcome to the site.         Sounds like you have had a busy few days, it also sounds like you are coping. My husband does APD so I don't know much about doing hemo at home.

[jbeany]

I promise, it becomes a routine that goes smoothly the majority of the time. 
Stick with the books for now, and use the checklists.  Eventually, you won't need them, but it's really helpful at the beginning.

You'll get your system and all your stuff organized too, and that will make things easier.

 

[chiawana]

It happened - yesterday's treatment went off perfectly! I was able to cook dinner on the stove and even get the dishes washed up. No alarms at all! If it will be like this most of the time, I'll be so happy 

[ESRD Survivor]

I really never thought it would go smoother.  I even posted a few times I was ready to give up.  I kept wondering when would this get easier?  Well we are 4 months home now and it is getting easier, routine down, but yes I do forget things still.  I have probably 4 or 5 times got hooked up and got I believe a yellow 6 or 14 not sure because I forgot to put in my parameters, or once I forgot to hook up the drain line.  I have learned just to take a deep breath and take care of it without panic, but it has taken a while.

Good luck, it really is a wonder to do hemo at home.

[chiawana]

I have no doubt that we will have bad days; after all, that was only our 4th time dialyzing at home. But, when a couple of days ago I was convinced I would never be able to do it right, I feel so much better. I'm still using the checklist, and will until I have it all committed to memory. Who knows how long that will be, but I don't care, lol.

[amanda100wilson]

This isn't really directed at you, but is my advice for anyone just starting out on NxStage;  Aside from needle issues, it is really important in the early days to follow the instruction book and either set up together or let the person who didn't set up, do the final check.  It's amazing how mistakes can be spotted together.  Always remember that you are in this together.  Unless the person receiving dialysis is not physically,capable, they should be involved in set-up etc. too and not just be a passive bystander.  Your home is not a dialysis unit and you as a care partner, aren't the nurse.  this is why the term care partner is used, not care giver.