Otto's going to try Nxstage

[jbeany]

Hooray!   

[pelagia]

Goooo OTTO Go

[cherpep]

Congrats to both of you.  So glad things are going well.  It only gets easier.

[lola]

Today was a BAD day. Otto could not get his blunts in, so he skipped They are pissed and said if he can't get it tomorrow they are coming out. His trainer called me because she could tell how upset he was and didn't want to push him to hard, but explained that he can't go 4 days without D.

[pelagia]

Sometimes there are days when nothing seems to go right.  And then everything clicks.  I hope tomorrow is better for Otto and for you, Lola.   

[G-Ma]

Oh Lord...I hope it works tomorrow...I sometimes think I'm years away from blunts...my venous vein keeps rolling so never the same place twice although I'm getting it better than the arterial..I think too many bends down there.  Hang in there you guys along with me.
Ann

[silverhead]

After Sharon has a day off I automatically grab the sharp needles, it is very difficult to get blunts in, after that blunts work fine.......

[jbeany]

Didn't they give you sharps as well?  If they didn't think to do that, it's their own stupidity causing the problem!

[okarol]

Didn't they give you sharps as well?  If they didn't think to do that, it's their own stupidity causing the problem!

I was wondering the same thing. It makes sense to have sharps if needed.

[charee]

Didn't they give you sharps as well?  If they didn't think to do that, it's their own stupidity causing the problem!

I was wondering the same thing. It makes sense to have sharps if needed.

we were send home with no sharps, we sometimes have to use a couple of blunts but we finally get it in

[lola]

Yes he has sharps. He got the blunt in but no flash back, his arm is buzzing away so he will try again today and if he can't get it then they will come out. Otto thinks since he feels fine it's no big deal to miss

[lola]

He's on After trying with blunts he had to break down and use sharps

[Wallyz]

Yeah, after  a day off I have to use sharps sometimes.  Keep it up, the buttonholes get easier to use.

[cherpep]

My buttonholes never took, I tried for months, always in the same place.  The fistula didn't roll or anything, but I'd push & push & push, but the blunts just wouldn't break through.  The nurse also could not get them to work.  I always had to use sharps.

[lola]

Otto's been using blunts since the 1st week of training and this is the first time he had to use a sharp

[G-Ma]

Mine is not seeming to work either...we must be fast healers cherpep???    skin that is.

[lola]

We lost power last night as Otto was making a new batch, now he has to use the bags Thank God I made him order more "just" in case. I'm noticing his hair is REALLY thinning is this normal?

[lola]

Otto's first Dr appt since starting home-hemo went well. One thing they did was cut his cellcept in half and next month they may stop it all together, it's weird seeing drugs he's been on forever go away. They also upped his Foslow(sp?) They can't figure out why after all this time of his blunts working that now he has to go to sharps, and let me tell you Otto is one unhappy little boy about that. The rest of his labs still are looking good although they may also add IV iron even though his Hemoglobin is the highest it's been in 2 years(12. something else to do with it is to low. 

[lola]

I forgot to ask how often do you put bleach down your drain? I was told we'd know because of the smell, well last week went into do laundry(we have lines running down there) and about from the smell poured a whole bottle and smell went away, well just went to do laundry and again Otto is running now so does it just smell because he's on? or do we need to pore bleach more often?


EDITED: Fixed smiley error - okarol, admin

[G-Ma]

I was told to pour bleach once a week for sure just to keep the line clear.

[RobinM]

Are you guys talking about the waste/drain line or the kitchen/bath drain?  No one told me to pour bleach down anything.  We've never noticed a smell.  I'm using bags, though.  Would that make a difference?

[silverhead]

Sounds like your drain goes into an open "p-trap" (like your washing machine goes into), it will leave an amount of drain fluid in the trap open to the air, you can pour about a cup of water into the trap after treatment to help clear it.  What I did was install the NxStage provided clamp  to the drain pipe under Sharon's bathroom sink (it is below the P-Trap) clamp goes around the pipe, drill a hole through the opening in the clamp and insert the drain line, no more smells......

[funnygarcia]

Our center gave us used everything.. including that horrid black hose / drain line. Nurse told us we could use drainline extensions and the black hose only needs to be in drain when you are draining a sak.. WRONG 


When we make batch it oozes out a bit during conductivity phase .... we figured it out the hard way when I smelled this awful "something gone bad" stink behind the machine where the hose was curled up. It had leaked on the carpet.   

We used a big cup of bleach water and squished it into the control unit drain .. 30 cc at a time.. followed by water. Ran a bleach wipe all down the tubing when reeling it up again and on the end of the hose put a blue pad/chux before putting the whole works in a garbage bag.

No more stinkiness 

We live in an apt, water from bathroom sink (reel it up when done) and drain into tub.
The black hose diameter is too large to allow the bathroom door to close. We put up with it every two days to make a new sak only.

I wish the NxStage could have been slightly more house/personal use friendly.

[jbeany]

If you think about it - Otto's essentially peeing down that drain every time he uses it.  You might want to pour a half cup of bleach down it every time, or at least every other.  The fluid that drain reeks like rotten flesh - it's nasty!

[lola]

  Otto and Wall-E have not been playing nice all week, one code after another now Otto's making a batch and once again it's a new code every 5 minutes. Otto called Nxstage so he's starting from step one and said maybe Wall-e wants to retire early because he's thinking he wants to also.