Stamina

It seems to us that one would have to have pretty good stamina to run their whole home tx. We’ve heard of patients in their 80’s who do it alone. But really, wouldn’t someone have to be in pretty good shape to do everything unassisted?

Ah, this is a chicken’n’egg scenario… :smiley:
I was about as low as one can go, when I started on Haemo at the Home Training center. They didn’t even make me do the set up for the first week or so. By the time I went home with the beast, for daytime sessions, in Nov’05, I was still quite run down & it was quite a big deal to do it all on my own…but it soon improved. ONce onto nocturnal, there was a marked improvement again. THere’s still a tedium to it all, of course :slight_smile: , but even bringing in all the supplies when the truck arrives (i,e, yesterday), is now not quite such a wipe-out experience as it was prior to nocturnal, even tho I’ve usually dialysed the night before & it is my’ low’ day.
I’m sure if you stay on in-center treatement, you’re never going to pick up from a fairly low energy level.
I wouldn’t say I have any real stamina - I won’t be entering any ‘fun runs’ (which I reckon is an oxymoron :smiley: ), but there’s plenty of people in worse shape out there!

People who deliver the NxStage supplies are paid to stack the boxes where you want them and mine have been very good. They come once a month with approx. 60 boxes and stack them neatly in the closet, rotating the old with the new.

Each box holds 10 liters (22 pounds). I usually hang these myself unless my husband does it first. Stamina improves almost immediately after starting NxStage.

Heather, I’ve been reading all of your questions and you’re very apprehensive about going to home hemo. I was too at first but it becomes so routine. The only thing you have to remember in an emergency situation is to stop the bleeding from you arm. The blood still in the machine is very small so if a needle comes out, and it has happened to me, apply pressure to the access until tthe bleeding stops and clamp you other line. Sure it was scary but I’ve seen the same thing happen in the unit too.

My training took 3 weeks and before I went home I had to go to a nearby hotel and do a successful transaction. I live 150 miles away from the training site. I had to pass a written test and do the transactions solo for a week. The nurse also set up the machine to alarm so I could trouble shoot.

I had a great training team! I wouldn’t trade NxStage in and I am not on the transplant list since I feel so good.

PMB,
Thanks for your post. Actually, I am not apprehensive at all. I am just being very thorough which is my style. The patient we know was not trained thoroughly like you were. Not all training programs are the same, and I would agree that good training is absolutely key. So, we are making sure we become very educated.

Also, it is good to hear that patients regain stamina with NxStage. The point of my question, however, is that not all patients have good stamina and may have other conditions that could make it hard for them to dialyze unassisted. Depending on the patient, a 20-40 yr old might be able to handle the txs unassisted better than a 50-80 yr old with other problems.

But again, I think it comes back to training- the better the training the better prepared the patient will be to cope with everything.

PMB,
Thanks for your post. Actually, I am not apprehensive at all. I am just being very thorough which is my style. The patient we know was not trained thoroughly like you were. Not all training programs are the same, and I would agree that good training is absolutely key. So, we are making sure we become very educated.

Also, it is good to hear that patients regain stamina with NxStage. The point of my question, however, is that not all patients have good stamina and may have other conditions that could make it more difficult for them to dialyze unassisted. Depending on the patient, a 20-40 yr old might be able to handle the txs unassisted better than a 50-80 yr old with other physical problems.

But again, I think it comes back to training- the better the training the better prepared the patient will be to cope with everything.

Heather, are you a partner of a dialysis patient? or a tech working in a center? or are you being trained to do home hemo?? I think many of your questions, but not all, could be best answered by medical staff/ your training nurse? Just a suggestion.

I not sure at the age of 51 I like being lumbered in as having the same stamina as a 80 year old :lol:
When I am out Sambering and drumming for 2 hours straight I feel like I have the stamina of a 20 year old and can still keep up with them too!