The "Training is Over! I'm Dialyzing at Home!", edition.

Home dialysis. That's what I'm doing. This changes everything!  Well not everything. I still need to dialyze. But my routine...our routine has changed. And it happened so quickly. Wow. January 2, I was greeted at my center with the news I start home hemo training (HHD) on January 5. The last info I had was I'd start on January 9. Anyway. On Monday the fifth of January Brian and I trekked across town..and I do mean across town to the training center. Well I should back track a little. On January 2 as we were leaving the clini c I get a call. The HHD training people wanted to drop by the apartment for an assessment. The got there about an hour after we arrived back home. I recall being beat and tired because it was, after all, a dialysis day and I'd just finished treatment. Two people showed up and did a walk through of the apartment. I could barely stand while they did the assessment. They were satisfied and told us they'd see us Monday at the center at 9:00 AM. 

The center was near Smoke Ranch Road and Tenaya Road.  Lol. I had no clue where that was. I recall seeing Smoke Ranch but I had no clue where. Glad I have Google Maps. lol. 13 miles. Ah. I've been near there though. There's a DSW store nearby lol. Of course I'd find the DSW in Vegas !  The clinic was a different from the others I'd been to. It was pretty snazzy...for a dialysis clinic. The in center clinic was on one side of the building, the training area was on another side. In addition the clinic offer nocturnal hemodialysis. I'll tell you about that one day. 

We go in and see our our nurse trainer ms he leads us to a room that would be "our" room for the duration of the training. I was accustomed to being in and out of dialysis by 8:30 - 9:00 AM. Now we were starting at 9:00. We had to adjust. But what this mean was our days were just off kilter. We'd get out of training around 1:00 PM. Anyway. The first day, the nurse introduced us to the cycler (the HHD machine) and pretty much did everything. Day 2 everything changed!!  She started making us do stuff. Including having me stick myself. That in itself was a non event. Imagine that. 

As the weeks went on, we got more proficient...or rather I should say Brian got more proficient. So much so they were ready to send us home after 3 weeks. Yeah, so saying that made me and Brian look like deer caught in headlights!  Just as well. I had an drop in blood pressure episode just before the end of the 3rd week. Brian had never seen that happen. The good news is I feel it coming on. The nurse gave me saline fluid and showed Brian and me how to do give the fluid. She also pointed out that we could anticipate the blood pressure drop and avoid the crashing. I take my BP every 1/2 hour and it was dropping. At that point Brian can decrease the flow before I bottom out. 

There's so much to go over but I'll leave you with this. During those 4 weeks of training, I dialyzed 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Because of daily fluid removal, my blood pressure has stabilized. I no longer take blood pressure medication.  Unless I want to pass out. And I don't. The nephrologist told me that the phosphourus level should drop I'll no longer need to take the phosphourus binders. I really like that. The cost of those meds are listed as $2000 out of pocket. !!!!!!!!!! :-(   I mean I never have to pay that, but the Medicare Part D doughnut isn't pleasant at all. 

I need to figure out my music on dialysis since I'm at home. I have so much more to occupy me as opposed to the clinic mans I'm not on as long.  We'll figure it out. Well I need to go. Brian is setting up the cycler and I need to weigh and set up my station. Oh. And sorry about all that snow in Detroit. Going up to 70 here. I'd say neener neener, but I'm not that mean!  Love Ya!  ;-D

Photos of me on cycler and photo of in center dialysis machine.