There’s no point in trying to tip toe around it. Dialysis stinks. It’s long and it’s irritating. It’s exhausting. And dialysis patients? Honestly? I loathe being around 90% of them. I don’t expect people with an illness or a disability to be smiling and happy all the time, but many of those people are miserable. I hate being around people who are miserable.
I posted something the other day about home hemodialysis. I definitely think it’s a good idea. But while it would save me time from having to go to and from the hospital, and also from wasting my days, it’s also time consuming.
Yesterday while perusing the internet, I found something very intriguing. One of the many sucky things about being on dialysis is going on vacation. I can never just go on a spur of the moment vacation. I have to plan ahead and make sure that there is an acceptable dialysis unit there for me. Aside from that, I have to pony up the money to pay for dialysis. Yes, OHIP will reimburse me up to $210 per dialysis treament, but the operative word here is “reimburse”. I have to come up with that money in the first place.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were some sort of portable dialysis machine that I could take with me on the road? Then I wouldn’t have to worry about paying for dialysis or finding a unit. I also wouldn’t have to worry about what time I’d have to go to dialysis. When you’re on vacation, going to dialysis right smack in the middle of the day is a total bummer. It writes off the entire day.
While surfing around on the net yesterday, I came across a dialysis machine that’s *gasp* small AND can be taken on vacation. It’s called the NxStage system one. It’s portable, it doesn’t require any special plumming modifications, all the fluids and bags and such are prepackaged, which makes things quick and easy, and it’s EASY to use. On average it takes 1-3 weeks to learn how to use it…i guess it all depends on how bright you are.
This new machine was approved by health Canada back in 2005, but surprise surprise: it’s not currently being marketed in Canada. It’s only being marketed in the United States. Kind of irritating. Why is Canada always one of the last people to get new and cool technology?
Well as soon as I saw this machine I emailed the company. I also emailed my childhood nephrologist @ Sick Kids Hospital Dr. Harvey. She’s good at finding stuff out. Man, next to an actual transplant, if I could get my hands on this thing…..well….let’s just say I’d be pleased.
Here’s the link to the NxStage One Dialysis machine: http://www.nxstage.com/chronic_renal_care/products/index.cfm
View Comments (4)
My wife uses the NxStage System One. It is great. NxStage will even send dialysate and supplies for the machine to where you are vacationing. the machine is a little heavy (75 pounds), but it fits in the trunk of just about any car. The best thing is the treatments are at home and not as rough (less ultrafiltration). I hope this is an option for you. Visit the NxStage forum at ihatedialysis.com sometime for more first hand user information.
I hope it will be an option for me here in Canada sometime in the future too, Kevin! Hopefully sooner than later! I'm getting a regular sized dialysis machine delivered to my house this week!
I hope your dialysis machine is working out for you at home. We just had a baby while using our home machine. My wife had our baby via c-section a week ago. We don't recommend getting pregnant while on dialysis, but if you do... you can't beat daily dialysis at home for a successful outcome in our opinion.
I can only imagine how many people could benefit if this was available in Canada. I was diagnosed 2 months ago and I will likely be starting some sort of dialysis in the next months I can only wish it would be through Nxstage. RIght now it seems like the only option for me but it is so far out of reach. I can't imagine doing PD or regular Hemo and limiting my travel plans.