I learnt to selfcare on hemo over 20 years ago, and have dialysed at home in two houses in the past. At present though I live in a rented property and I have never pursued the idea of home hemo again as the work involved in installing the RO and machine etc would never be agreed to by my landlord, or any other landlord faced with this prospect – and I don’t blame them either! (and my landlord is a GP and would be better placed to understand)
So, when it was recently suggested that the local renal unit could obtain a NxStage machine for me, I jumped at the chance. This will be far easier for the landlord to accept as the work is minimal, and the changes, if any, can be reversed quickly and easily.
And the real big plus is that I can now face the prospect of daily dialysis and all the benefits that brings, not least that I can work while dialysing so gain back some 16+ hours a week travelling and dialysing at the local unit in Peterborough.
So, in the new year, all systems go, and I can look forward to a positive change in my life thanks to innovative technology.
How things have changed since I started dialysing in 1990 – we even used to recycle dialysers back then! Ugh!
Update: Well, have to wait at least three month while the NxStage is 'tested' on one patient - and assuming that is ok, then I can out my hand up for one.
The interesting issue here is that other renal units are using the NxStage and have been for some time, yet we are 'testing'? One would think that this should be handled centrally rather than devolved to local decisions. Makes me think there would be some buying clout for centrally sourced supply of the machines? Fingers crossed, eh?
