Hello from Modesto!

Discussions for Patients, Family, and Friends HD For Patients
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WellBound just opened a new clinic here and are going to offer the Aksys system and may be the first person in Modesto training to use it!

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Hi Gus,

Thanks so much for telling us this! We’ll follow up with WellBound (one of our sponsors) and make sure to include their new clinic in our database.

As we get going, I hope other folks who are using home hemo will write in and tell you what it’s like, and answer your questions.

In the meantime, good for you for giving home treatment a shot! :smiley:

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Your welcomed Dori!

I believe Bill Peckham who is registered on this forum is a long time user of Aksys system and have been reading his outcomes on other forums…

Also, I did do conventional home dialysis a few years back whom my sister assisted and have to say liked it alot but eventually she married and was left on my own without update training with the people I stayed with…conventional home dialysis was kinda stressing for the routine testes and setups and also convenient because I was at home. Now with all the new dialysis tech available I think those routine breakdowns and setups will be a thing of the past!

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I’m sitting in an Internet Cafe in Amsterdam waiting for my friend to get ready to go out and about, so I thought I’d say hi. Gus I’m a big fan of the Aksys PHD, I was the first person to use the machine once it received FDA aproval. In mid August it will be two years dialyzing by myself - doing every aspect of my treatment.

I’m over here having fun in Europe for two weeks then I’m stopping in Chicago on my way home to be the best-man at my older brother’s wedding but in the week before the wedding I’m planning to tour the Aksys facility outside Chicago. I’ll post a report on this web site.

I like this site Dori, is there an option to post pictures? I don’t want to come off sounding like an Aksys spokeman but I do like the product and I like the way I feel, dialyzing every night when I’m at home. Really six nights a week, for three hours each treatment.

Gus do you self-needle? I’m also a big fan of the buttonhole method of cannulation.

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Would like info on the buttonhole technique. What reports prove it’s safe? Is there a video and articles?

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Hi y’all,

Bill, I’ll ask our web guy about posting photos in the message boards and let you know what he says. Hope Amsterdam is terrific! I’m interested to hear what you think of the Aksys plant, too.

Jill, there hasn’t been one big study of the buttonhole technique; just individual people using it here and there–although for long periods of time. It would be a great idea to start a new thread on the buttonhole technique so people who know about it could tell you what they think.

Yes, there is a buttonhole video! You can order one for $15 from:

Judy McDowell
Division of Nephrology
University of Missouri
1 Hospital Drive
Columbia, MO 65212
Phone: 573.882.7991
Fax: 573.884.4820
e-mail: mcdowellju@health.missouri.edu

We also have a resource on this site that you can download with steps for creating buttonholes: http://www.homedialysis.org/v1/resources/#VascularAccess (it’s the first link).

I’ve been talking with someone at Medionics (maker of buttonhole needles) about posting some of their very helpful info, but no luck so far. Will keep trying…

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We’re always looking for stories to post of patients that are doing home hemodialysis. Let staff and current and potential home hemo patients know how home dialysis is working for you, how you feel (physically and emotionally), activities you can do on home hemodiaysis, etc. Send along a picture and we can post that with your story. There’s a form you can use to do this under Patient Stories (Tell Us Your Story) on the Home Dialysis Central home page (www.homedialysis.org). The more patients we hear from, the better we like it!

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Greets from Wellbound in Modesto! :smiley:

This pic below is from my 4th day of training…special thanks to the whole team at WellBound Modesto!

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Gus, I just love that picture. Thanks for posting it. I have printed a copy and am going to send it to our center. Please do keep us posted on the good and bad of the NxStage. How long are your runs and do you run 6 or 7 times per week?. How long is it taking to set up the machine?

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Nice picture, Gus. As they say, “a picture is worth a 1000 words”. You look very comfy and in charge of your tx. Looks like a clean, pleasant environment, too. Earlier in the thread, you said you were going on the aksys, but I take it this is the NxStage. Give us more details please. If the machine delivers, looks like the type of dialyzing situation many more would be interested in, in the comfort, privacy and security of home.

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Great pic Gus. How big is the room you are in? Are other people there training at the same time?

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Hi Gus - How did you post your Picture so that it was just the picture? I posted a few pictures but each time I get a border and extra, unneeded info.

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If the picture is located on another web host then you would do something like this



[img] http://www.pichost.com/mypic.jpg[/img]

[b] If your uploading the pic using the File Attachment feature of the board then be sure the pic is either of the following formats…gif jpeg jpg png tga tif

If you need to convert the pic to the right format, you can get http://irfanview.com/ …this will help manage and convert pics to many formats…gonna test an image upload myself…just to be sure it’s working…[/b]

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I’m finally home!..training started on November 2 and ended on November 23…what can I say, it was fun, exciting, and challenging!..I would like to thank Wellbound of Modesto for the support and goodness…particularly Maureen Holland and Sherri Piccinini who have done a magnificent job on training both me and my assistant…below I attached a picture of my first day at home using NxStage…Sherri made a nice visit to see how things were going and as you can see this is just the beginning…so far the treatment went smooth without any problems…also wan to say “Happy Holidays!”… :smiley: