People with kidney problems depend on dialysis to stay healthy, but traveling to clinics multiple times a week can cut into time that could be spent working or with family and friends. Now there's a new option for patients- a machine that lets them dialyze in the convenience of their own home.
For many people with kidney problems, dialysis is a big part of their lives.
Vanessa Evans, does dialysis at home
"Basically my kidneys don't function, I have scarring of the kidneys. So I do dialysis in order to clean my blood and take out the toxins that otherwise your kidneys would do."
Vanessa Evans of Marblehead says getting to a dialysis clinic three times a week started to get overwhelming.
Vanessa Evans, does dialysis at home
"It doesn't matter if it's raining snowing, you're sick, you don't feel well, you have an appointment, whatever. You have a set schedule, set time, and you go."
That all changed when Vanessa heard about an at-home dialysis machine called Nxstage.
Jeanelle Taylor, RN
"You can set it up in the morning, you can go to work for the day, go do errands whatever, come back later on in the afternoon, the evening, put yourself on, you're on for about 2 hours to 2.5 hours."
Vanessa now uses the dialysis machine five nights a week.
Vanessa Evans, does dialysis at home
"The wonderful thing about it is that it functions more like your kidneys would function, more normally so there's not these highs and lows, you're kind of more on an even keel, and the best thing about it for me was really that i get to do my own schedule."
And that means more time with her family.
Vanessa Evans, does dialysis at home
"It just feels great to be able to have your own health and your own schedule in your hands instead of in somebody else's.
Patients are trained in a doctor's office for three weeks before they take it home with them. The home dialysis machine is covered by most insurance providers and Medicare.
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