I am not aat tthe dialysis stage yet but am educating myself. I live alone but would like to use CCPD. My nephrologist says I can do this. Is anyone on the forum doing it alone? Any qualms or problems? Your experience would be much appreciated.
thanks, Dale
Hi Dale,
Welcome! And good for you for educating yourself ahead of time. I wish more folks did that! Sorry we didn’t get to this question a bit quicker–Judy is on vacation right now. Since your question is really aimed at folks who do PD, rather than experts, too, you might try posting it to the PD patient board. LOTS of people do CCPD without a helper, though. So, in the meantime, you might want to check out our article about PD myths–it might help you see what other folks have done to succeed with PD, even with various impairments. http://www.homedialysis.org/resources/tom/200705/
[QUOTE=Dale Freundlich mydickens;20146]I am not aat tthe dialysis stage yet but am educating myself. I live alone but would like to use CCPD. My nephrologist says I can do this. Is anyone on the forum doing it alone? Any qualms or problems? Your experience would be much appreciated.
thanks, Dale[/QUOTE]
There are no requirements for a helper to be successful with CCPD at home. In fact, many people who live with others still prefer to be quite independent with the cycler. Your training nurse will be able to evaluate your individual skills and guide you about what you need to do at home. So let the nurse and your neprhologist be your guide. Good luck
Judy
You can absolutely do CCPD without a helper, however, as one who is the care-giver for my mom who has just started CCPD, my word of advice is to at least have someone else trained on the machine in case you ever do need help. Also, be sure that you alert your utility company (with a letter from your doctor) that you are on a machine; they will put you on the emergency list so that if electric goes out, you will be on the priority list to have it turned back on quickly. Just a thought.