Have you chosen a modality?

[JustDee]

Thanks Moose Mom, I'll do that!!!!
I think maybe my current Lifestyle is Whinning.....to see if anyone with listen

[MooseMom]

No no no no no...I'm the major whiner around here!  You shall not usurp my position!  (and yes, plenty of people will listen!  That's what's so great about this place...no one judges you harshly for whining!  It's great!)

[brandywine]

LOL Moose Mom. Just an update. I've been doing CAPD for about 2 weeks or so. Things are going well.

THE PROCESS:I have really bad pain when I'm done draining, so I keep my hand on the clamp and press down immediately when I feel the catheter sucking out my insides. Sometimes I have discomfort upon filling, but usually that goes well. I seem to drain REALLY quickly and fill pretty quickly as well.
HOW I FEEL: I am feeling much better. Still tired and a little foggy, but able to do things I was having trouble with before. Just a warning, it takes a while to get used to the extra weight you are carrying around. I got sooooo winded at first just walking to my car because of the extra weight.
THE SUPPLIES:
The supplies take up a LOT of space in your home. Maybe it will take up less once I'm on the cycler.

I am on the transplant list. My brother is getting tested first, although, I don't think he has the same sense of urgency that I do, since he's had the lab order for over a week and hasn't got it done yet.

My husband has been incredibly supportive. He even drains my bags for me. It's amazing how much trash you can accumulate in a short amount of time.  Since I'm still a newlywed, I was worried about all this "cramping my style", but we haven't skipped a beat. I'm very lucky.

[Bruno]

My neph sent me to PD first off but it was not to be (I have a hernia) so then I was encouraged to go to Home Training (not to the 3 days x 5 hours weekly satellite centre) and during this traing time I did 20 hours weekly and was encouraged to choose my likely program on the basis that longer was better. So I chose 3 x 7 hour sessions (21 hours weekly) because that would give me 4 days a week off ...I was fixated at the time on getting my life back. But in fact I never did that plan.
Reason: you can't take 2 successive days off on dialysis.
So instead I started one day on and one day off 6 hour sessions on the basis that it eliminated 2 successive days off dialysis and was a shorter session than the 3 x 7 hour program. But what I soon found was that day on/day off x 6 hours only gave 21 hours a week and were a real bastard to plan your life around.
So then I switched to 4 sessions a week of 6 hours (24 hours weekly), I dialyse Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. It is onerous but it works well. But you haven't got a life.
And then I discovered IHD and realised the only way to go on dialysis was 'do it yourself'...by this I mean self cannulation and getting out of the satellite centre...and doing it at night. You just can't have a life and do the necessary long hours during the day.
It has taken me some time to get to this point, I started dialysing at home on November 2nd 2010 but I think that process was necessary. My senior nurse told me it was but I didn't believe her, but she was right, you need a month or so at home before you are completely confident with what you are doing.
You would not believe the silly mistakes I made at home, things I was doing perfectly during training.
It was December 2010, before I started to think about what I was doing and now in January I'm confident enough to say to my hospital and neph next Tuesday, let's start Nocturnal. The modality is quite different to day dialysis and nocturnal dialysis in a centre. We are talking lower UF rates, lower blood pump speeds, no day on/day off sessions, but rather 5 or 6 nights a week...even altering the dialysate flow rate to say nothing about a complete review of all meds as a preliminary to possible cessation' and this is nothing compared to the benefits it will bring to your heart. And you get your life back, your work too, if you want it.
You will need good blood work to monitor progress and constant access to your support group. (which I have now, of course, on home dialysis)
Everyone says you can't do it without a partner, but I have a neph who says try for independence in the sense that you must be absolutely confident in your own ability and control first. I think that is the right path. And I do have the best girl in the world to encourage me. So be confident you can handle it alone first.
Considering that I started November 2nd and it's now early January, it hasn't really been a long time but absolutely essential to the evolution of my thinking.
Wish me luck.
 

[MooseMom]

Bruno, what a brilliant post!  I'm going to reread it in the future anytime I feel my confidence waning.

It's all well and good to have a plan before you start D.  If everything goes just as you envisioned, that's great.  But sometimes things don't quite go as you wish, and you have to be patient and flexible and experiment until you find what works for you.  You are right...your thinking has to evolve, and it WILL evolve as you learn more about how your body responds to D.  So, well done you!!  I'm really excited for you!  Home nocturnal gives great clinical results, and you get your daylight hours back.  Let us know how things are going, OK!  Thank you so much for your very encouraging words!