Making lemonade out of lemons

[Tío Riñon]

Once again I was short on my Extraneal cycler solution due to order issues with Baxter.  I only needed one more bag until the next delivery, so I resigned myself to going through the cycler run and then switching to manual purple for the last fill since I did have some of those bags.  As I was setting up the cycler, I noticed that the tip on the manual bag is similar to the ones on cycler bags.  I decided to try and connect the cycler tubing the manual bag and lo and behold, it fit!  The only issue remaining was to avoid the fluid going into the manual drain bag.  I clamped it closed and crossed my fingers as the cycler primed.

Success!  I was able to complete the run and not have to switch between cycler and bag.   

[cassandra]

Fantastic!!! Always nice to read a positive story, thanx

   


Love and luck, Cas

[Charlie B53]

When I started using the Cycler I had just received my monthly delivery of manual supplies.  So I've had almost a whole month worth manual cases just sitting here taking up space and eventually getting very near their expiration dates.

The Ico was about to expire and my PD Nurse agreed that I could start using those manual bags instead of my new Cycler bags of Ico.  The Ico is much more expensive than the yelows and greens and I would hate to let them go to waste.   Once I used them up I reordered two new cases of manual Ico so to always have manuals available just in case power is out and I need to do manuals for a couple of days.

Pretty much doing the same with those yellow and green manual cases.  We figured the changes needed to my Cycler program to add a 2 liter bag and two more cycles plus another hour, and I had to get the 4 prong cassettes instead of my usual 3 prong so I could have another hose for the 4th bag.   I've got about two weeks left and all that manual cases will be used without having to dump any expired cases.

Since adding those additional 2 liters and the program settings changes my labs have improved even more, so next week Nurse will have Dr change my prescription from my current 5 liter bags of yellows and greens to 6 liters.  This way I will stay at the current Cycler program and my next order I call in will be for the 6's.

It is working out well, and I like the idea of NOT wasting expensive PD solution.

So keep an eye  of your left over manual cases expiration dates.  Unused we tend to ignore them and they grow old before we notice.