Home, sweet home (and my first serious problem)

[Adam_W]

I had my first treatment at home today, and except for one thing, it went GREAT. My machine and Pureflow both worked great, and the treatment itself had no problems. The trouble started when I started to rinse back my blood. Somehow air got into the arterial line, and I couldn't get it out. As I was trying to solve the air problem, my dialyzer clotted and I couldn't return any of my blood. So, I'm now short two cups of blood, but fortunately, I feel fine. I'll be OK as long as that doesn't happen too often. So, other than the blood issue, I was as happy today as one can be on dialysis. Thank you NxStage for giving me my life back.

Adam

[MyssAnne]

Adam I am glad it went well...except for the mishaps you mentioned!  My guess you can expect anything to happen in the next week or so. Machines being what they are. Congrats on your newfound freedom!!!

[skyedogrocks]

Yikes - Sorry to hear that!  We never had that problem, but the good thing is you can end it and just drink some extra fluid if you don't get your blood back.

Which alarm was it?  "10"?

I'm sure you are glad to be at home now.   It will get better! 

[Adam_W]

It was #11 (arterial air), and I think it was caused by a loose connection on the saline line, and air was drawn in when I started rinsing back. If it was that, it shows just how important it is to check EVERY connection before starting. I consider it as a lesson in double double checking everything to spot any problems while they can still be fixed.

Adam

[Don]

  Adam - glad to hear you are at home - beats the center huh ? Wait until it snows - it really beats the center. It's a learning curve - you will feel more at ease every day. Tech support is excellent -
Some things I have had happen - I got distracted setting up one morning - got on the machine - started getting alarms - I had run maybe 10 - 15 minutes - I had forgotten to move the (yellow) drain from the saline bag to the pureflow - the bag (saline) looked like it would explode - scared the crap out of me.

Recently it has been warm / hot here in Maryland so we have our AC on. The vent is close to the pureflow. I have the heater on in the pureflow -  I started getting "Fluid in the Tub" alarms. Sure enough there was a very small amont of water under the bag. I feel condensation was the cause -  I have made a few adjustments and no problems since......BUT that was after 7 hours to make a batch, 3 hours to drain, and another 7 for a new batch - ya learn pretty quick. You will do fine..........  keep the faith

Don




EDITED: Fixed  icon error - Sluff/ Admin

[Sluff]

Glad it wasn't too bad. Good luck in the future Adam.

[cev]

Hi Adam, Hi Don,
welcome to NxStage at home and all the joys and "things that happen"when you are home alone.  My Husband has been on NxStage just over a year and we have run into a number of interesting situations.

Adam, depending on how much air was in the line, if it was just enough to make the machine alarm and you can watch your lines, have your partner do a manual rinseback (I hope you were taught this in your training).  We try to practice this at least once a month, just so when we are in a panic situation we can do it.  

Don, we have also filled that saline bag to the point of almost exploding.  This is what we did to fix, assuming you have the same cassettes, Have your partner opened a new cassette and carefully removed the blood lines, keeping the "chicken foot" section cap the ends as you remove them to keep sterile and spike a new saline bag. (you will have just the 4 little lines and the spike)  you waste a cassette but at least you can do a saline bolus if necessary and rinse back.  We have asked NxStage for "chicken foot" lines and they said just open a new cassette.

[skyedogrocks]

Adam - glad to hear you are at home - beats the center huh ? Wait until it snows - it really beats the center. It's a learning curve - you will feel more at ease every day. Tech support is excellent -
Some things I have had happen - I got distracted setting up one morning - got on the machine - started getting alarms - I had run maybe 10 - 15 minutes - I had forgotten to move the (yellow) drain from the saline bag to the pureflow - the bag (saline) looked like it would explode - scared the crap out of me.

Recently it has been warm / hot here in Maryland so we have our AC on. The vent is close to the pureflow. I have the heater on in the pureflow -  I started getting "Fluid in the Tub" alarms. Sure enough there was a very small amont of water under the bag. I feel condensation was the cause -  I have made a few adjustments and no problems since......BUT that was after 7 hours to make a batch, 3 hours to drain, and another 7 for a new batch - ya learn pretty quick. You will do fine..........  keep the faith

Don




EDITED: Fixed  icon error - Sluff/ Admin

Don - I have forgot to unclamp the yellow line before too.  Bessy was blowing out the alarms left and right! 

Here's a good one, on Sunday we were getting some really strange alarms (forget what the number was) and it said check arterial pressure.  Well, nothing seemed wrong, so I called up Nx Stage.  They wanted me to re-attach the pod and they were going to walk me through it.  The tech said to clamp the red clamp that you connect to the machine.  I said hmmm, it's already clamped.  She says, unclamp it, that shouldn't be.  Sure enough, that was the problem.  I mistakenly clamped it during set up.     I totally felt like an idiot!

We are truly finding out some of the thrills of home dialysis 

[goofynina]

Awww, dont feel like an idiot, we learn through our mistakes, hang in there

[Don]

Been there done the "Yellow Clamp" Thing Too. Have clamped Green too. Just going too fast - Lucky for us the machine is smart and the documentation is great - Yup it is a learning process and each day can present something new..... The key here is to stay calm and take your time -

Don