Dialysis unit: Saving lives

Dialysis unit: Saving lives

By Carrie Haderlie
Boomerang Staff Writer
11/11/2007

The room is filled with life, electricity and enthusiasm. Frank and Donna Hinds, who will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary in January, beam and laugh, talking about their grandchildren, their travels and Frank’s career before retirement as a professor of animal sciences at the University of Wyoming.

The two just happen to be in the dialysis unit at Ivinson Memorial Hospital. Two and a half years ago, Frank says he was feeling lethargic, swollen and all-around awful. His white blood cells had started to attack his kidneys, triggered by an autoimmune reaction, and he experienced acute kidney failure.

Today, Frank is very much alive, and in no small part because of the dialysis treatment he receives during three four-hour weekly sessions at IMH.

“If it weren’t for this unit, these people in here right now,” Frank says, clearly moved as he looks at the nurses in the room, “ … the alternative is a transplant, and some of us are just too old for that.”

With a smile, Frank says he is 76 years old. He’ll turn 77 at the end of the month, Donna adds.

“That doesn’t seem very old,” Leslie Comly, director of dialysis services at IMH, jokes.

“That’s the way I feel about it,” Frank responds. “The thing that happens is … you don’t think about getting older …”

“… You just can’t do certain things like before,” Donna finishes for her husband.

Treatment

Basically, Comly said, dialysis therapy replaces kidney function in the body. A normal kidney filters waste products from the blood and gets rid of excess fluids. When the kidney fails to do its job, dialysis treatment fills its place.

“We pull blood out, filter it and return it,” Comly said. “That is a pretty basic explanation, but a lot happens, a lot of exchanging. Frank’s whole blood volume is changing multiple times during treatment.”

High blood pressure and diabetes are the two leading causes for kidney failure, she said.

The dialysis unit at IMH opened in 1998 with funds from the IMH Foundation. In 1998, there were about 10 Laramie patients traveling to Fort Collins, Colo., three times a week for dialysis treatment, so the center at IMH was a godsend, Comly said.

The unit at IMH is open six days a week, staffed with four nurses and two dialysis techs who treat 14 patients during three- to four-hour sessions. There are five dialysis stations in the unit and within the month, all the machines will be replaced with newer ones.

“Just like everything else, this equipment wears out,” Comly said. “These machines have been great for us, but we are just going to upgrade to the newest technology.”

The Foundation funded the new machines, she said.

There are about 400,000 Americans on dialysis treatments, Comly said. One in every nine patients has chronic kidney disease before dialysis treatment.

“It is a growing health problem, and there are a lot of people that need to be taken care of,” Comly said.

The staff and 14 patients in the room, Comly said, create a very unique community.

“I get emotional thinking about them,” Comly said. “They are more than patients that we see three times a week. We know each other, we talk about our families, we are family … a lot of them would die if we didn’t have this service here.”

A family affair

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Frank drives to Laramie from his home in Centennial for treatment. Before going to IMH, he visits the Rec Center for a workout. Donna comes with him now only on Wednesdays, but in the beginning, she came to every session.

“Now he can drive again,” Donna explained.

“She comes in on Wednesdays to shop,” Frank said with a smile.

But Donna sits at Frank’s side during the entire four-hour treatment, often bringing a packed lunch from home for the two to share.

“Having dialysis is a family affair. It is not something you can do by yourself. It affects the whole family unit,” Donna said. And family is clearly important to them.

“When our family came out to visit, even our grandchildren, I made them all come here to see exactly what was going on,” Donna said. “Many people don’t understand dialysis and what’s involved with it. You hear about it, but you don’t know.”

Because of arrangements made through the IMH dialysis unit, the couple has even been able to travel while Frank continues treatment. The two plan to attend a granddaughter’s high school graduation in the spring and will stop at pre-arranged dialysis units along the way. A couple of years ago, the two went on a “dialysis cruise.” The cruise was just like one anyone else would take, but it offered 12 patients treatment on the ship.

“If we didn’t have a group here to coordinate all of this, provide all of this help, we wouldn’t be able to do anything,” Donna said.

Comly said the unit’s needs are expanding beyond its current capability.

“My hope is that we get some remodeling eventually and have an eight-station unit,” Comly said. “We are very crowded, and we’ve outgrown this unit.”

With eight stations, the unit could treat 16 patients per day, she added.

Eight stations or five, the treatment has “got to be pretty powerful stuff,” Frank says.

“Frank is not sick,” Comly says as Frank gives a deep belly laugh. “Frank is very healthy. We are glad we can do this for our patients.”

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