Wednesday, 06 July 2011 17:44

NxStage hiccup!

Written by  Steve Bone
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All been good so far, and been dialysing without major incident. Had a few new alarms to deal with on the cycler (the dialysis machine itself) but they were easily solved as the guides are very thorough for troubleshooting. Then, yesterday, a new Opta filter and pump were fitted behind the machine. Not the neatest installation for the home, but no big issue. All was well, nice and quiet – until I went to make a batch of dialysate – then the noise of the pressure gauges and other associated machinery kicked in – quite distracting when I am working. Then, the PureFlow (the bit that makes and holds the dialysate) started to alarm as the pressure was low. Alarmed several times now, so making  a batch tonight could be an issue. I understand from the guys at Kimal that there are a couple of possible causes (and remedies), and I suspect this is all part of the settling in and ‘fine tuning’ for the new installation. Just a bit surprised the engineer who installed the filter did not check the pressure.

Anyway, we’ll see how things pan out tonight, although I was planning on sleeping – but if  the system keeps alarming, sleep may be disturbed. The Opta kit is essential hardware as the water quality is poor here and very hard, and it’s essential to pre-filter to ensure the PAK in the PureFlow (the purifier) does not exhaust too fast.

There goes that damned noise again – about every 3 minutes! Hmmmm! My youngest son sleeps directly above my office where the machine is – hope he’s a heavy sleeper!

By the way, if you are new to NxStage – there is a range of new terminology which I’ll clarify as I go along (assuming I understand it correctly!! )

By the way, I have come to the conclusion that the guys at NxStage are all poets! PAK and SAK, Snap and Tap, Line and Prime (almost), Shake and vac……. (made that one up from an old TV advert from the 70s and 80s)

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... http://mydialysis.co.uk/blog/2011/07/06/nxstage-hiccup/

Steve Bone

Steve Bone

Hi, I'm Steve and have been a dialysis patient on some form of self-care or other since 1990. I've dialysed at home, abroad, in hospital, oh and had a transplant for 7 years. I work in the insurance industry for a City based business, but am very fortunate to be able to work from home 4 days a week. I hope, with my experiences, I can help others on dialysis or those facing dialysis in the future! It ain't so bad! Steve

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