HELP! I can't keep my PD tubes from tangling

[kickingandscreaming]

All was well until I tried to sort out which tubes were which coming from the cassette.  They all looked the same and as soon as I removed the tape pieces they descended into a jungle of confusion and tangledness.  I wasted 20 minutes trying to sort them out so I could run the drain line to the bathroom.  I nearly broke down crying, it was so frustrating.  There must be a way that I am missing here.  Otherwise everyone using the cycler would be locked up in a mental institution by now.  I know that's where I'm heading if I can't sort out this major snafu.

Tricks, techniques, please.

[Charlie B53]

My first whole year using the Cycler I connected lines in the order they were placed in the caddy.  Until one night things went wrong.   Middle of the night the alarm goes off.  I look and the Ico bag is already enpty but the second bag is still half full.   This ain't right.   I ended up calling Baxter only to learn what clamp colors mean.   And felt stupid.

Red, White, and Blue.   Just like the colors of the Flag.

Red is the Heater line.

White is for the second bag.

Blue is for the Last bag for those of us that use Ico.

The Drain hose has that Y that we have to clamp off so it doesn't leak on the floor anywhere.

The only long line left is the Patient line.

Once you learn this it doesn't matter if all the hoses fall off the caddy.     

[kickingandscreaming]

My problem isn't with the clamp. I know the colors and I know the order to hook them up.  My problem is that the moment I remove the little pieces of tape holding the tubes in the package, they fall down into a mass of tangles.  It took me 20 minute to sort out and straighten out the drain line so I could walk it to my sink.  That's 20 minutes of added stress and reduced living time. I have never done well with tangled things: string, wires, yarn.  Drives me nuts.  So I need a way to keep things organized and that's what i'm missing.

[kickingandscreaming]

I understand the clamp colors and which lines they signal.  I have no issue with the red and white clamps that go to the 2 fluid bags that I use (no final fill as I do dry days). The problem is once I remove the tape that the tubes are held in place with, the tubes become very unruly and resemble a tangle of yarn. So it takes me a long time to unravel the drain line so I can run it into the bath.  I can find the end of it but when I try to straighten it out to take it next door, I have to unweave the whole line from all that it's twisted with. And if I use a patient line extension (which I sometimes do), that's another line that I have to find in the tangled mess. 

[Fabkiwi06]

Mine has this little plastic piece they all click on to that keeps them sort of organized. I have a Liberty machine though, so it must be different for the Baxter. I also hook up my drain line first - after I plug in the cassette but before I unwrap all the additional cords. It helps keep them sort of separate.

[kickingandscreaming]

All the tubes are integrated in one cassette and it's hard to know what you're looking at.  I use a Baxter, so it is different. It also has an "Organizer, but that's just for the hook up end which is quite easy to find.  It's all the remaining 20 odd feet of tubing for the Patient and Drain lines where I run into trouble.  They just explode in a mass of unruly spaghetti and it drives me nuts.  Especially since i'm brand new to the cycler and I'm scared to death that I'm going to make a mistake so it's much easier to make mistakes and not be able to sort out the tubing. Not sure why I seem to be the only person on earth with this problem.

[Charlie B53]

I understand completely.     First thing, do NOT take off any of the 'white' tabs until you are ready to unroll that particular line.

The cassette bagging has a perforation down the one side making it easier to tear open. Being right handed I use my left hand to reach in and grab all the hosesso the cassette itself is nearest my body.   Now I only remove the 'blue' band.  Push the start button so the machine tells me to 'Load the Cassette'.   Carefully press the cassette into position and close the door.   Now I still have all the coils of hose in my left hand and the caddy is hanging nearest my body.  I take the topmost coil which is the Patient line, unhook the hose from the caddy and pass the whole coil under all the other hoses and set it on the counterspace immediately to the right of the Cycler.  Leave it there for a little bit.

The next coil of hose is the Drain line, disconnect it from the caddy and hold it while you hang the caddy with the red, white, and blue lines remaining.

Now you can remove the white tape from the Drain line and roll the coil so that the hose uncoils cleanly onto the floor.  You can be headed to the bathroom while you unroll it.   Rolling the whole coil works better as the hose comes off nice and straight, leaving no loops or coils to knot up.  Once finisihed securing the Drain line come back and pretty much do the same for the Patient line.  Roll the whole coil to uncoil the wraps.  Marks a nice sort of mess on the floor but it easily pulls out straight now.

Those two were your main problem.  The bag hoses seem a lot easier being so much shorter.


I hope my explanation makes sense.   I know exactly how frustrating it can be to just try to pull a coil of line straight.  Doesn't matter ifit is string, little hoses like these, garden hose, or air hoses in the shop.  They can be a pain until you learn how to coil them up special, once you learn that they will pull out straight every time.  Too bad they didn't learn this at Baxter when they put these cassettes together.I have yet to put anything on youtube, but a demonstration of dealing with these cassettes and hoses may be a good idea.  I will have to talk to my Son to see if he can come over some evening and record me.  Once you get the technique down it does seem easy.  Or at least so it seems to me.   But I ain't normal.  I'm one of 'those' Guys.

[kickingandscreaming]

Thank you so much, Charlie, for the very clear and detailed walk through.  I actually managed to do it myself tonight before reading your description.  The key is to release those tape loops one at a time and deal with the drain, the red, the white and then add the patient extension.  And I did walk the patient extension line out to straighten it out and relax it.  I think a YouTube video would be a good idea.  I'm a visual learner for things like this.  I was a lot more methodical about it tonight and not quite as nervous, so I had more of my wits about me.  Thanks again.

PS.  I've never been very good at coiling extension cords or garden hoses.

[Charlie B53]

Christmas lights scare me.   I don't know where she got them, maybe out of someone else's trash.  wadded and stuffed into garbage bags, shopping bags.  Enough to almost fill a couple of shopping carts easily.     She has been on to me for almost 20 years to straighten them out and put them all up on the house for the season.   She just wants the place all lit up like the neighbors across the street.  It ain't gonna happen.

I hate to admit it, but I am sort of glad they sold and moved.  Even though I will miss seeing their Christmas light displays.

[Fabkiwi06]

I was actually thinking about the need for a youtube video the other night - I've had friends and family curious about how all this stuff works and it's hard to describe it to them. I'm surprised the big dialysis companies haven't jumped on that...

[kickingandscreaming]

There is one decent YouTube video by someone who I think was once on this forum if I'm not mistaken.  It's a couple of years old (2009)and shows him setting up a Baxter cycler.  It doesn't get into the weeds of tangled tubing though or extensions for that matter. Sadly, in the comments it says that the creator of the video passed away while waiting for a kidney.
https://youtu.be/LriX7okbAqU

[Fabkiwi06]

Something I have found is that as long as there is not a hard kink in the line, the tubes can be twisted and coiled and things will still work fine. I don't have that far of a distance between my machine and the bathroom, so I've found that I can just pull the paper off, give it a shake, and secure it at both ends.

It does get easier as time goes on. My first week, I had a horrible time with alarms going off every hour and I couldn't figure it out. Turns out, I was forgetting to uncap the drain line over the sink. Derp.

[kickingandscreaming]

urns out, I was forgetting to uncap the drain line over the sink. Derp.

yup. I did the same stupid thing the first night (duh).   I looked carefully afterwards in the instruction manual and couldn't find any mention of the drain end cap. So I guess you and I are even dumber than the people they must have done machine usability tests on.  They should use me in their focus groups. If there's some dumb mistake someone could dream up with in relation to a machine, I'll find (make) it. 

I have definitely gotten a handle on the tubing issue. After having made every mistake in the book--and them some.

[Charlie B53]

LOL   I never noticed the end cover.  I use a 5 gal bucket that I drilled a 3 inch hole in the lid.  I cut off most of the drain hose so it isn't laying around taking up floor space, then tape it securely to the bucket.

Just DON'T FORGET to empty the bucket!   Like I did.   Three times.   That section  of carpet is by far the cleanest in the whole house!

I pretty much have a fool proof (almost) system worked out.  My test jar sits on top of the bucket.  Off to one side of the hole.  When I empty the bucket I set it covering the hole so I have to move it to put the drain hose in and tape it.    At a glance I can be reminded if I emptied it or not.

Only took me a year, and three carpet cleanings, to come up with this.

Every three months I have to use collection drain bags.  Lay them on the floor under the table, connect a special Y-connector to the drain hose then to both of the bags.   Next day take the full drain bags into my monthly Dialysis Clinic.

Also a 24 hr urine collection as I still produce just under a liter/day.    I haven't spilled that one.  Yet.

Urine collection makes me laugh.  Never thought about it.  It is easy for me, a 'Guy'.   LOL

Sort of funny to think about,  us 'Guys' that is.   We can easily P off the side of the boat fishing.  Maybe that's another reason she stays home?