More Information

[sadsam]

Hi and good day to you all!

Before we are going to decide on home hemo or home PD we would like more info.

How much time you can be on PD?

Did the catheter produce infections? It must be change often?

Who is delivering the the supplies and how much space is needed?

How ( and if) can you travel?

What a re the dietary restrictions?

Thanks a lot

[system]

na

[sadsam]

@denof3

I am not sure anyone could give you an answer to your first question it’s hard to determine. You can be on Pd a long time maybe 20 years if you do not get peritonitis and ruin you pertonetium and if you don not use a lot of 4.25 bags or 2.5 bags. Which means you need to watch yourself a little which you should do in the first place so it’s really up to you? On the second question I have had an exit site infection which resulted in my losing the catheter and going on hemo for 4 months until the infection cleared. I think I had the infection right from the hospital and it was staph can you avoid them yes clean the site every day make sure you have nothing growing in your nose have it cultured and stay away from swimming or hot tubs keep a dressing on it all the time no matter what anyone tells you. (Some nurses will tell you that you don’t have to don’t listen to them you need to have a dressing on it with betadine everyday it only takes a few minutes.) As far as changing the catheter I am not sure you have that right you don’t have to have it taken out and changed ever you do have the end of it changed about every 6 months which only takes a few minutes. If you live in the U.S. then more likely it will be Baxter that will deliver the supplies once per month you order once a month and then they deliver it’s very easy. In your house you will need space for the supplies I usually have about 30 boxes on hand give or take towards the end of the month it’s less so if you have a garage that’s the spot I would say if you put them against a wall it’s about 5 feet long and five feet high give or take. In your house you will need a table and an IV pole which they give you and a shelf in your closet for the other things much less than if you were on home hemo. PD wins the travel question Hands down I travel most anywhere I want last two years have been a trips to Alaska (cruise) a trip to Lake Louise Canada a trip to New Orleans and also to Boston twice and once to Las Vegas I do all the activities that I can when I go some of the things I have done hang gliding, parachute jumping. ATV riding, dog sled driving, horse back riding so you get the idea. When you go you just call Baxter and give them address of where you will be and they send the supplies there I have never had a problem. I carry a bag that I carry on the plane with all my other stuff it’s very easy. I have very little diet restrictions and as a matter of fact I should eat more I would say that I do watch my fluid intake a little but not much. Of course I am very much pro Pd remember it’s easier on your system than hemo. Do the easier form of dialysis first hemo is much harder first the leaning curve is much longer and harder than pd what I did was go pd and then sign up to learn hemo so if the day comes I will be prepared. I do think that you are thinking right by doing home hemo you can do it more often and you will feel better than if you go to the clinic. I did that and it’s awful I won’t go into it but at all cost stay away from that if you can at least from my standpoint. Some say that home hemo is the gold standard for dialysis and I could see that being true but you must do it five times week at least for that to work so with that Pd becomes much easier. Just think if you do hemo at home for 3 hours and the setup time and cleanup time you are into somewhere around 4 to 5 hours per day. That’s a job!!! with pd it takes me about 15 minutes per exchange 4 times per day and a little time to cleanup so all in all maybe 1 and 15 minutes per day and some days I miss an exchange ( not often ) so it’s only three so it’s more like a break in the day instead of it being the DAY. You are doing the right thing by asking questions but in my book there is no comparison Pd is the best. I could on a lot more but read this and the ask more. How old is the person going on dialysis and how big that person male or female…Stephen Dennehy

First again a lot of thanks!!!

My husband is 64, about 195 lb, 5 ft 9 ( I am used to metric), he is diabetic and the deterioration of kidney function had occured extremly fast ( less than one year) from creatinine of 120 to 414 in January; he also has HBP and takes medication for this, colesterol and insulin for diabetis. He id taking now Eprex , and the hemoglobin went a bit up.

We live in an apartment building but have a locker room , that eventually will be dedicated to the supplies.

We do not know when he had to begin dialisysis but want to afind as much as possible in advance, also we will feel more in control.

We are going for sure for home dialysis, and it looks from the advice received that PD will be the first step.

How about the nocturnal cycler PD? What are the pro and cons?

It did not bother you the additional liquid in the body?

How the clothes fit ( this sounds a bit shallow ) but it just come to mind!

Sorry to be such a nuisance, but I read a lot , want to know from users point of view.

Again thanks we are really grateful for all of this,

[CJ1]

I use the nocturnal cycler for PD - & I love it! It takes me about 15-20 minutes to set up, but then when I’m ready for bed, I just connect & the machine does the rest. I have a 22 foot cord, that I can move about with - so if I need to get up during the night I can, without disconnecting. (there are also other caps that you can use to completely disconnect from the machine until your next drain/fill time if you want) When I get up in the morning - I jot down my numbers, disconnect & the rest of the day is MINE.

Your husband is not to overweight for PD, so you don’t need to worry there.

Something that I have found that works wonderful for me is I set my machine on a baby changing table. I then have storage space for my heparin, alcohol pads, betadine pads, 2X2’s & 4X2’s & tape, as well as my syringes, caps, etc., and it is all centrally located. Hope this helps some - Ask any questions you want - I’m sure someone will be able to help… CJ

[sadsam]

Here I go again!

1)What do you mean by not having anything growing in the nose?
2)Creatinine levels in Canada are the same just divide by 100
3)We are going this month to a multidisciplinary clinic ( ie our nephrologist, dietetian and we will see who else). The nurse from the home dialysis said that she think that it is yet in the future, the dr. said 6 months to a year.
4) how did you have the supplies on the cruise? we were looking at an Alaska cruise , maybe we will do it before the big D .

My husband is very tired and sleeps a lot, othewise he is fine.

Again thanks it is a real help both information and psyhological as encouragements

[sadsam]

I forgot, my husband is OK as appetite, he eats well, is getting Calcium for binding and also Eprex twice a week. The dietician was emphasizing phosphate control.
He is feeling better than in the summer, but then his sugar was out of control ( change of medication) and now is under insulin.