My mother is a PD patient and would love to know if there is someone in our area to compare notes.
Hi, I too live in Iowa and am a relatively new PD patient, having begun in June of this year. I have just started using the Baxter HomeChoice at night. I love having the daytime freedom, but still have issues with the machine. For instance, it keeps trying to drain when I am empty, which is painful. I then bypass to stop the pain and begin the fill. I am on for 9 hours every night, with 4 cycles and a daily dwell. I like having the long patient line but by the time the solution reaches me, it is as cold as the air-conditioned air–Burr!! Do you have similar concerns?[color=indigo][/color]
Hi - I’m not from Iowa but a close neighbor in central MO. I’ve been doing PD for 5 months now & was previously on hemo. I was fortunate & had a break of 2 1/2 years between the hemo & the PD. I am dry during the day as well. What I found to be a solution for the long cord is I have a pole lamp at my bedside (I sleep in a recliner, can’t lie flat) which I allowed my husband to duct tape (his favorite tool) an over the door hook to. I now leave my line coiled up on this, and it’s still relatively warm. Before, when it ran across the floor it would get cold, but this has helped.
If you’re dry during the day & that first drain is very painful…you might ask about switching your drain to TIDAL mode. My clinical nurse helped me change mine over the phone, and while it’s still not perfect, it’s not near as bad.
I hope it helps you too. CJ
Thanks for the email, since I posted this email my Mom has been in and out of the hospital…she fights dehydration alot and very low blood pressure. Seems we are always taking one step back instead of finding the quality of life that the doctors promised us. She recently had a stroke also which has about taken all the strength she had left. Still looking for answers. Thanks, I will keep in touch,you hang in there too!
How long has your mom been on dialysis? on PD? What type of PD is your mom doing? What strength of PD solution is your mother using? How much fluid does she drink per day? How much does she urinate per day? Is her appetite better or worse than it was when they estimated her dry weight? I’m not a doctor, but her symptoms sound like the staff think her dry weight is lower than it really is and/or the solution that she’s using is taking off more fluid than she should. I can understand that if she’s dehydrated and was recently in the hospital, she’s probably feeling pretty weak.
If she’s had a recent stroke and she’s now on dialysis, I would expect her to be very depressed, to feel dependent and hopeless. The goal is to help give her hope and the ability to be more independent. I’d ask if he/she would refer her for evaluation for physical rehabilitation. Medicare will cover physical therapy at her home under home health (if she doesn’t leave the house much), at an outpatient rehabilitation clinic, or as an inpatient in a rehabilitation hospital or skilled nursing facility. My patients did the best following strokes when they got physical rehabilitation in a rehabilitation hospital, but all of them improved as long as they were willing to work at it no matter where they got therapy.