Stacy and I have been in training with the Fresenius Baby K for the past 4 weeks.
It was through this very site that I gained the information needed to approach my doctor about doing home hemodialysis, so a much deserved thank you goes out to Dori and Beth, and all those behind the scenes on Home Dialysis Central for providing such a valuable site.
I am only the second patient they have trained to do home hemodialysis in the past 2 1/2 yrs; however, they do have a lot of PD patients.
When I started all of this many, many months ago, I inquired about using the buttonhole, and no one that I spoke to in-center even knew exactly what it was or the purpose/functionality of it. My new doctor, however, went to a conference and talked to someone there and is very much interested in letting me try it. He has received a video showing how to start a buttonhole, but would still like for someone from the Network to come in and show us exactly what to do; at least it is in the works.
He is also trying to set me up to dialyze 3 1/2 times per week (every other day), with the ultimate goal of obtaining clearance for me to dialyze 6 days a week, once he can find the appropriate way to obtain coverage for this. He knows he can get the 3 1/2 days covered through Medicare, but is unsure of how we can cover the more frequent treatment of 6 days a week. I do have a secondary insurance, which pays the 20% not covered by Medicare, so we do have full coverage for all treatments.
Stacy and I are now counting the days until we are done with training and are at home doing my dialysis. Thank you to everyone on this site for all of the insight you have provided over time.
Richard, you and Stacy are soooo welcome! We built this site to help people learn about and do home therapies, so it’s wonderful to know that it’s working. You made my day!
I’m thrilled that your clinic is so open to start a new home training program and that your doctor is open to the buttonhole technique. It’s possible that some nurses at other clinics know how to do it and can help your nurse know how to teach you to do it. As you’ve probably read on our site, it’s a good idea for you to be one to establish it and stick it. Perhaps you could ask to see the video yourself. You can also read about the buttonhole on our site under The 5 Types of Home Dialysis.
You said that you have secondary insurance that pays the 20%. If that’s a commercial plan through an employer, it might be possible for your clinic to get the extra days reimbursed through that plan.
Hi Richard and Stacy, welcome and congratulations for taking this step.
I know that my hubby Ralph and I did what you are doing 2.5 years ago and it has made the world of difference. We dialysed 6 nights a week-our center picked up the other 3 nights. They have found that after 15 nocturnal patients it than became a profitable situation. (Not that they were making that much?) But at one point we had 30 on Fresi nocturnal. Don’t quite know where that number stands because some have switch to Nxstage. All but 2 of us on Nxstage are short daily. The 2 of us are on nocturnal. The other person does not dialyise 6 nights but we do. “MORE IS BETTER” That surly has been proven in our case. Please look at my other posts for our journey.
By next week we will have numbers from labs that will tell all.
Once you learn the Buttonhole method you will see how easy it is.
Keep doing what you are doing. Putting a little pressure on centers will help get more home dialyisers.
Pat
Hi Rich,
Congratulations to you and Stacy. Doing training on a Freni can be fairly daunting and don’t have all the bells and wistles of the Nxstage but for those of us without access to the latest technology, you have gotta admit the do a darn good job and it is all worth the effort!
The only real beef I have with Freni and Nocturnal is the sound can sometimes drive you nuts! You need to make sure , if you are contemplating Nocturnal that the technician works on giving you a quiet RO and makes the machine as quiet as possible. After putting up with a noisy Freni for over a year that sounded like a piston engine going on and off we finally jacked up and they gave us a quiter one. Yay! What a difference, we are finally getting some sleep.Of course, if you are doing short runs, it doesn’t matter so much.
Keep up the pressure with the buttonholes and the best of luck.
Cheers
Dori, this site has been a God send and a wealth of information that I have used in approaching my doctor about getting on home hemodialysis. Until I came to this site, by accident, I knew nothing about home dialysis but, once I saw that what I was doing in-clinic could actually be done at home, I was interested. By using what is provided on this site, I was able to educate myself as a patient and thus let the doctor know that I was going to be an active participant in my care.
Beth, I started cannulating my own site several months before I started training because I would like for my fistula to last as long as possible, and I didn’t like different techs starting my needles every other day. Right now the training nurse is letting Stacy do it in case we get into a situation where I am unable to start my own, so she will know how to do it.
I don’t know who is more excited about learning the buttonhole, me or the doctor. He has really been great!
Pat, I have been watching yours and Ralph’s journey with the NxStage and really appreciate you sharing this information with us. It gives people like me, who are just now getting involved in home hemodialysis, a glimpse into the future of what things could be like for us. This is all very valuable information when we are making decisions about our healthcare.
Beachy, since they hadn’t trained anyone in home hemodialysis in the past 2 1/2 yrs, we had to wait on new machines to arrive before we could begin my training. We have a brand new RO machine and, although I have never heard one before, this ones seems extremely quiet, even the nurse said it was a lot quieter than any RO machine she has heard.