Kidney Patient Guide

Hi, thanks you guys. Amanda, you were right. Randy went to clinic today, they didn't seem too concerned. Of course when he did an exchange there it was clear. They just said to keep an eye on it and let them know next month when he goes back. He apparantly has a bit of the flu and that must be the c...

hello everyone, it's been awhile since i've posted. randy is doing pd, at night on the cycler and one exchange during the day. the last couple days the day exchange has a pinkish color in the drainage. (blood??) the cycler drain is the normal color, i don't know if that is because it is 5 exchanges ...

Hi. Randy has been on the cycler for a couple months now. He has gained 10 lbs since his clinic visit last month. they told him to take off more fluid by using a stronger percentage of solution. now he will use the 4.5 solution every other night and the 2.5 every other night. hopefully that will hel...

hi, i think bruce means the drain bags which would be hard to check for leaks until fluid was drained into them. we had the same problem with the bag leaking (twice!) so now we always use a plastic dish tub to put the bag into. and of course it hasn't happened since! better safe than sorry!! anne

hi, randy doesn't heat the bags at all. he did at first, but quit and didn't have any problems. he uses a cycler at night so that heats the bags for him, but when he does a manual exchange he doesn't heat them. have fun camping!!! anne

hi, i am working on getting randy to do it himself, though it may take awhile! thanks alot for everyones thoughts. i think i am getting a little better at giving the shots, but still would not make it as a nurse! will ask baxter about the short needles when i place the next order. thanks again every...

Really sorry to hear that, Richard. Hopefully you aren't feeling too bad and will be back on track soon. Keep us posted on your progress, Take care. anne

hi, thanks for all the info. i have checked out both sites (epo pen and the numbing creme). i usually give randy his shot in his upper arm in the back "fatty" part. i'm not sure what kind of epo, i'll look when i get home tonight, but it's supposed to not burn as much as some. hopefully ra...

Hello, I give my fiance his shots twice a week and am not that great at it. sometimes poking him twice (yikes! does not make him very happy with me, but when he pulls away it makes me pull away too!) any advice on how to make this as painless as possible for him. (besides don't poke him twice!) than...

Hi Bruno, I'm not sure about the coast thing, but some states wait is much shorter than others. We live in Michigan and the wait is about 5 years. It was suggested to us to go to Ohio or Wisconsin as the wait there is only about a year. The reason we heard, was that Michigan has a helmet law and the...

hi. does anyone know if you can be allergic to the solution used for pd? when randy had his tube put in a week ago they did one exchange to make sure it was working properly. the next day he was so sick and threw up for the next 30 hours or so. well, yesterday he went for a recheck and they did an e...

Hi Richard, glad to hear so far so good!! are you feeling better now? i think randy will need to start as soon as they feel the tube has healed enough. he keeps getting sick, and then stays in bed all day and is very tired. how long did you have your tube before you started dialysis? have a great da...

hi, thanks for all the great ideas! you guys are quite creative! i like the tube top idea, we just might try that. randy is a big guy, but we should be able to find one with lots of stretch! last night we fought with the tape and bandages again. have been using "goo be gone" on all the tap...

Hi everyone, now that the procedure is over I want to get Randy a belt to hold his tube in place. Julie, you sent me a website for the belt your husband uses, I thought I saved it but i can't find it. Can you send it to me again, or anyone else who uses one of these? Randy is SO HAIRY!! The tape is ...

Hi, thanks for the wishes. Randy was really really sick for about 30 hours, throwing up and headache. Now he is finally feeling better. The hospital made a follow up call and I told them how Randy felt regarding the sedation and getting no pain meds. Maybe that will help someone down the road. Thank...