If you are thinking of flying with the NxStage the first step is to print at least one copy of the article Dori wrote : “Leaving on a Jet Plane: Flying with a PD Cycler or NxStage System One” which is available on the main HDC site. The article quotes from the Air Carrier Access Act of 1990 and quotes rules under 14 CFR Part 382, these rules cover our rights when traveling with a System One - which is in the language of the Act an Assistive Device.
In the article a Department of Transportation spokesman is quoted too and his quote seemed to carry weight with the Baltimore gate agents for US Airways. I have a 4:45 flight and though it is a beautiful day I arrived at the airport about 2. It took a forty five minutes and four layers of management for the US Airways staff to allow the System One and four boxes (one more than on the way here because I’m taking the three unused cartridges with me and I filled the half full cartridge box with saline and other disposables). All together not counting my personal bag, the stuff weighs over 150LB.
Only with Dori’s article could I have talked them into letting me fly (unless I paid a big surcharge) with all the extra stuff . Without the article it would have been like talking to a brick wall but when something is typed I’m not the one saying it the article says it, I’m just following the rules. Thank you Dori.
I’m typing this to post later (no wi-fi at the Baltimore airport - lame) about an hour before my flight to Orlando through Charlotte. I just got off the phone with my friend John and he received 17 boxes today so as long as US Airways comes through I’ll be dialyzing tomorrow afternoon. My plan is to spend my afternoons dialyzing by John’s pool, leaving the evenings free to try to keep up with him and then sleep in each morning. That’s the plan, I’ll post the reality.
I suppose by the time I am able to post this I will know if I the NxStage made it, unless there is wi-fi in Charlotte where I have an hour layover. It is fun to be traveling - this morning I did some work in my room and then had a couple hours to walk around Baltimore’s beautiful harbor, spending an hour in their amazing Aquarium. It is a lovely, 70+ degree day here, bright blue sky with just a hint of a breeze. But I am glad I gave myself plenty of time to check in even though it would have been great to eat outside by the water instead of here at the airport. And I would have had free wi-fi in my hotel’s lobby but still this trip would have been tough without the System One.
If I was forced to arrange treatments incenter I would have had to dialyze Thursday morning at home and then taken a three day weekend before dialyzing this morning at some Baltimore area unit (unless like Seattle some units here are open on Sunday but today I would have needed a morning run). Assuming I went the Monday morning run route I would have had more sleep at the KDEC but I would not have been able to enjoy a liberal diet and the quantities of coffee, water and wine that I was able to enjoy.
If I had to I guess I could have tried for a Saturday night run but anything during the day would have meant that I would have missed some of the conference and Dori would have had to carryon on without me. Then I would have had to set up dialysis in Florida near my friend’s house which has been hard in the past and even then it is a sub-optimal unit. Or I would have had to set up dialysis 45 minutes to an hour away.
Or I would have dialyzed Thursday morning (after dialyzing in the morning all week) and flown home on Sunday night to dialyze at home - what I use to do to attend these conferences before being allowed to travel with a System One. This would mean that another year would have passed without visiting a friend I’ve had for over 35 years.
So yes a dialyzor flying with a System One has more inconvenience but it allows things that were never before available for people on hemodialysis. My take away messages: give yourself extra time and definitely print and bring with you Dori’s article.
I’ve made it to my friends house, all supplies and equipment are here, US Airways accommodated all of supplies, the System One made the plane change in Charlotte and was amongst the first things out on the conveyor belt. I even have video of the supplies being loaded on the plane in Baltimore - well handled by US Airways staff.
Off to bed. The plan is to dialyze by the pool tomorrow about 11. Just in time to participate in a conference call about how to promote optimal CKD5 care.