I have been on PD using a night time Baxter cycler for nearly 1 year. I am on my 5th machine, having replaced 4 of them because of malfunctions, loud vibrations, and just breaking down. Is this usual?? Most of the replacements have occurred after traveling with the machine in the car. I use the suitcase it came with and am very careful with it. I have also struggled with finding the right kind of table or cart to set it on when traveling. I have finally settled on an adjustable suitcase table. I am convinced the height of the table in relation to the bed makes a big difference in the efficiency of the machine. Anybody out there with suggestions? Thanks
Hi AnthonyB,
My wife uses the baxter unit. On second machine. In our case we did not get new machines. We got machines from the hospital - maybe with alot of mileage. Now we have a new baxter. All sleek lines with an injected engine under the bonnet and furry dice thrown in ( just jokin’ )
One reason the machines can act up is if one ISNT patient and particularly forces the cassette door when not released properly. During the machine - I will call it - log out process, before turning it off, their is a short period before turning ot off and after closing the clamps that the cassette is released and the door opens easily. Any other time and one has to sort of force it. This can damage the integrity of the cassette bay and may impact on overall performance.
With respect to position - she has it on a metal two teer table beside the bed - the lower teer has the machine WHICH IS LOWER THAN THE BED. One bag ( Green ) on the machine, two yellow and a pink on the upper teer which is about waist high or higher. Apparently its best to have the machine “below” your horizontal body while in bed.
Hope this helps
Aidan
My husband had a time finding the right baxter cycler. In a year period, we went through seven machines. Only one malfunctioned that he overfilled by three pounds. We finally moved the machine to the hallway and were fine.
However, Baxter is far better than the other brand’s equivalent. We recently had to switch brands due to moving three hours away. I would take our worst experience with a baxter machine to our new freedom cycler any day. The tubing to the machine is shorter, the connecter to the body is not the same (longer, a clamp verses the white twisty thing) and I find that the new machine is louder. If the new machine fried, we could not get a new one the next day and would have to go pick up a newton machine from the center.