How Often?

[kimcanada]

I am asking this question to those of us that see a nephrologist.  I feel as though I don't see a Doctor near enough, and I wanted to see how much others are seeing their doctor.

[monrein]

We see our neph once a month at clinic which happens at the hospital.  If something comes up in between we can get other appointments as needed.

[okarol]

I didn't vote but I will tell you about doctor visits.
When Jenna was pre-dialysis it was once every 2 months. On dialysis she saw the in-center neph once a month, sometimes twice. In addition we were taking her to the hospital's nephrologist (not associated with the dialysis clinic) and that was every other month. Now,  2 years after her transplant she sees a nephrologist every 3 months. Her transplant hospital (the surgical team, not the nephrologist) wants to see her every six months.

[kitkatz]

Supposed to be every three to six months at Kaiser, but ends of being once every twelve months.  But then the neph at the center sees me weekly.

[Zach]

I try to see my nephrologist once a month.
During each hemodialysis treatment there is also a nephrologist who makes rounds.

[petey]

To stay on home hemo, Marvin is required to visit the clinic where we trained once a month.  Then, he sees the nephrologist, the dietician, the social worker, and the home hemo nurse all in one visit.

[MiSSis]

As a PD patient, I also see my PD nurse,nephrologist, dietitian and social worker once a month, although I wouldn't hesitate to call or make an appointment with the doctor more often if it were needed.  There is a neph available at each of our clinics every day and I think they make rounds nearly every visit. Of course, if you're asleep when he comes around, you might miss your chance to visit with him although you can always ask to talk to him if you have any concerns.  The docs at my clinic are very available to their patients.

[drinkboy]

my mom was a PD patient so she would go to the clinic once a month for tests and see her PD nurse and neph then. If something was wrong or needed urgency, she would make an appointment to see her doctor sooner.  Generally though, it was once a month.

[twirl]

every Monday for MWF patients
every Tuesday for TTS patients
unless the month has an extra Monday
so I can say we see one 4 times a month
three nep docs rotate duty so I see my own doctor every third time

[G-Ma]

My nephrologist is the director of the clinic and I see him once a month unless he feels the need to see me more and then I see his phys assis every week.  I feel very well taken care of.

[paul.karen]

every three months.
But from reading above posts it should go to every month once i start pd.

[twirl]

Kimmie
isn't buster brown -brown
or did you color his hair
and how often do you see a nep doc

[kellyt]

Before transplant in November I saw my nephrologist every six weeks.  I started at every six weeks in Sept of 2007 when I got my first fistula.  Before that it was every 3 months.

[kimcanada]

Kimmie
isn't buster brown -brown
or did you color his hair
and how often do you see a nep doc

Buster was black and white when he was a baby puppy, now he is light black??  but not gray, and white, he has some brown flecks in his face, and if you were on FACEBOOK you would be able to see man many pictures of him!!!          

OOPs, I see a doctor every three months, and I have nurses TRYING to play doctor with my dry weight

[Bajanne]

i wish my nurses would play doctor with  my dry weight. They make NO changes unless the doctor says.  So one time when he wasn't there for about 4 months and I was losing weight, I was coming in less than my dry weight, but they refused to change it until he came.

[kimcanada]

bajanne thats what happened to me, except that they were talking to him on the phone, and telling him that I could not have possibly gained any weight over Christmas, I was leaving so dry I was flaking out all over the place...  not fun

[kitkatz]

They will change my dry weight at my asking.  But then nothing is changing right now. Sigh!

The doctor came in last night and woke me up I think I grumbled at him. So he saw me asleep last night. How effective is that?

[Dan.Larrabee]

I see my Neph every two months
I see a Nurse practitioner who work in my Neph office, once a month during my home hemo clinic visit.

[paddbear0000]

Oh man, my reply is gone! It took me a long time to type it up too! Arrgghhh!! At least my vote stuck.  

Anyway, I chose other because I have yet to get s set schedule. My first neph (when I was diagnosed, at 22% function, about 3 1/2 years ago) wanted to see me every 3 months. But he would just hand me a lab request form and tell me to make another appointment in 3 months and get the labs drawn a week before! So I dumped him. Then I started seeing a neph at the hospital I was listing at. By this point, I was down to 18% function, yet he only wanted to see me once a year!!! WTF??!!!   So, I dumped him too. Now I'm seeing a neph at the other hospital I'm listing at. He's great! He wants me to have blood work drawn once a month and tentatively see me every 3 months, unless the blood work gets worse. Which it has. So within 3 weeks, I have seen him (my one and only time so far), gotten a vein mapping, met with the fistula surgeon and will be having my fistula surgery! He has also referred me to a local neph (the other one is an hour away) who will treat me during dialysis so I don't have to drive an hour to dialyze. I see him for the first time tomorrow. See why I chose 'Other'? I'm so complicated!  

[charee]

After i was stable on home hemo i saw my neph every 3 months but had her mobile phone number and could ring her when i wanted. Now that its been 3 months since my transplant i see one every week but that will change to monthly very soon. I also had a dialysis nurse come to the house every month when i was on the machine.

[RichardMEL]

I see my neph once every 3 months. Since he's a head of department AND head of university medicine it's almost impossible to see him any more frequently anyway as he's a very hard man to catch(when he's in the country!) however he does answer email and is very good with that so that makes more minor requests easy (like changing doses of stuff or whatever after monthly labs come in). Because I am in a hospital centre I can always get to see a registrar or someone if I need to be seen (I had what turned out to be a cyst last year and the unit just got someone to come and see me while I was in dialysis, it was quick and easy from my point of view). I am pretty happy with my situation in that regard.