Dialyzing in CANADA

[jg]

 
I noticed some other kidney patients on the website from Canada.
So I thought I would start a discussion for us.

My intro:
My name is Jeff and I now live in Calgary. After a long time with kidney disease,
I ended up in emergency with kidney failure in Kelowna B.C. in June 2006.
I was on in centre hemo for 6 months.
After that I was on pd  with Baxter Home Choice for 3.5 years.
Now I am on home nocturnal hemo  6 nights x 8 hours  with Bellco Formula machine.
I have been on the transplant list for 4 years and live 15 minutes from
the transplant centre at Foothills Hospital.

Today is a holiday called Heritage Day In Alberta.
So Happy Holiday to other Canadians.   
jg

[KICKSTART]

Sorry we dont do exclusives , we all like to join in !     

[monrein]

I spent the long weekend holiday at the cottage on Lake Simcoe, Ontario.

[okarol]

I've never been to Canada, but some of my favorite folks live there! 

[Zach]

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

 

[Razman]

  Hi , from another Canadian.  I work for a US company and they don't care about any holidays!  It may have been a long weekend but I still had to work and prepare financial reports to meet the corporate deadlines ! 

[del]

Hi from another Canadian!!!  I am on the east coast in Newfoundland!!!  My husband does nocturnal home hemo with a fresenius machine. He has been on dialysis for 13 years and on nocturnal hemo for the past 4!!!  I really appreciate Canada's MCP.  I shiver when I think about not having it!!

Everyone is welcome, Kickstart!!

[Phraxis]

Another Canadian here. I have had the "pleasure" of dializing in Vancouver and Calgary. Though in Sept I was fortunate enough to receive a transplant (gift from my sister). I am here in Calgary while she and her husband enjoy their 10th anniversary in Vegas.

[natnnnat]

I'm not sure, but I don't think Zach is Canadian.  Although he sounds Canadian in this thread...  Just sayin. 

[Zach]

I'm not sure, but I don't think Zach is Canadian.  Although he sounds Canadian in this thread...  Just sayin. 

You are correct, I'm not Canadian.
But I like their national anthem!
 

[natnnnat]

 

[monrein]

I posted this elsewhere on IHD (a thread about Canada Day I think it was), but here is a new "anthem" of sorts.  Now it's nothing at all about dialyzing in Canada so it's off topic and it's supposed to be tongue in cheek cute so please don't take it too seriously anyone.  Canada is my chosen adopted home (10th generation Jamaican born with a U.S passport) where I feel very comfortable indeed and where dialysis and medical care in general have been very kind to me also.  When I immigrated here at 15 (my family went to Miami) I naively though that it was my patriotic duty to learn French since it's our second official language...wasn't in fact necessary but love the language and the Quebecois and teaching French was my first career.  I digress, yet again...here's a catchy little ditty for your amusement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQf13B8epw

[jg]

I am not well enough to work right now, so a holiday feels like just another day.
One of the best parts of the Canadian medical system for me is the occasional quick service.
I was at the hemo clinic for blood work on Wednesday, and the nurse didn't  like the spasms on my access arm.
So she got me an appointment THE NEXT DAy at the kidney access clinic.
(They said everything is okay).

How do other people find the Canadian system?

Monrein:  My family has had a summer cottage on Lake Simcoe since the 1950s. It is near Jackson's Point and Sutton about an hour from Toronto.
I used to spend summers there when I wasn't at summer camp.

Del: I use the Bellco machine for home hemo. I hate it! It is cumbersome and complicated to use. But my kidney doctor says it is the best for 8 hours of dialysis.
Do you have an opinion of your husband's machine.

Phraxis: What was your experience of dialyzing?  My training has been at the new Chumir Building, just south of downtown Calgary.

Do people have a favourite centre for dailysis?

Thanks for responding,  Jeff           

[del]

We find the fresenius machine very user friendly. In 4 years we have had very little trouble with the machine.  They are very reliable machines.  Hubby does 7 hours a night but most people who are on it do 8 hours. Hubby's labs are always excellent - except for his PTH being up to 1300 now!!  I have never heard of the Bellco machine.

[monrein]

jg I know Sutton and Jackson's point very very well.  Our family cottage is at Duclos Point, where my husband's family has been going since 1947.  We look across at Georgina Island.

I liked dialyzing at the self-care clinic I went to...it was a satellite program of the Toronto General and a couple of other Toronto hospitals.  Subway was in the basement of the building so very convenient.   I've been with my neph since 1985 and am very fond of my team and have great confidence in them overall.

[woodsman]

ah YES SIMCOE I ice fish there every year, perrerlaw, beverton,

[carson]

Hey!!! I, too, am Canadian - I live just outside of Collingwood, Ontario. What a great place to live and play, and of course dialyze!
I do nocturnal home hemo using the "formula" machine, 8 hours 6 or 7 nights/week (my choice - I have trouble sleeping without the white noise!)
 

[mogee]

I'm a native (non aboriginal) Torontonian.  Everyone in Ontario who has ESRD can enjoy a week at Lion's Camp Dorset.  They have on site dialysis.  I just returned with my daughter.  Anyone else at TGH nocturnal home hemo?

[carson]

yes Mogee, I am!!

[takamore]

i am TGH.. not home, im in centre at tgh, and i too just  returned from camp dorset .. my first time and it was absolutely wonderfull!!!
i understand the only other dialysis camp in canada is a children-only one in BC... its such a great experience, there should be more of them... do they have such camps in US or overseas?

[monrein]

I was in center at TGH when I first started back on D in May of 2008...I think I did three weeks there then switched to the self-care unit at the Sheppard centre.
Camp Dorset is a terrific program and we're very lucky to have it for families to be able to get away together in spite of dialysis.

[jg]

I noticed thread on the website where people mention in center nocturnal hemo.
I have never heard of this in Canada.
Does anyone know if this is available in Canada?

Also, I like some other posters use the Bellco Formula Home Care for home nocturnal hemo.
I find it time consuming and not user friendly.
It there a better machine for nocturnal?
What about the nxstage machine?
From a youtube video, it looks easier to set up, compact  and maybe you don't
a household water hook up.

Jeff                       

[Riki]

I'm in Canada too!  PEI doesn't have the holiday in August, so... yeah.. *L*

I was in Ottawa last weekend.  I had dialysis Friday at the Riverside Hospital.  I was surprised that they used gauze and tape instead of bandaids there.  In Manhattan, they had sure seals, but you had to pay for them.  At this place, they didn't have anything. I had a couple of savons (great big white bandages with the foam in them) so I used those.  There was no way I was going to have just gauze and tape.  At least they had blankets at this place, even if they weren't heated.  I think we might be a bit spoiled in Charlottetown.

[del]

nxstage is not available in Canada jg. Wish it was!!!  Our fresenius machine that we use is user friendly and not time consuming. Takes maybe an hour to set up but you can go do other things while it is setting up. We are getting a new fresenius machine next week.

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

nxstage is not available in Canada jg. Wish it was!!!  Our fresenius machine that we use is user friendly and not time consuming. Takes maybe an hour to set up but you can go do other things while it is setting up. We are getting a new fresenius machine next week.

Late to the convo. Another Canuck here! I'm in Saint john, New Brunswick.

del, I'll be using the Fresenius machine for home hemo also. I start my training as soon as they have space for me in the Dialysis Teaching unit.