Crap

After about fifteen days of no cycler alarms since the operation to move my catheter to a more lucrative position, alarms are back with a vengeance. The past couple of nights, I have experienced drain alarms on the first drain cycle, continuing through the third. I didn’t get up soon enough Saturday morning and had an alarm on the fourth and last drain cycle.

Let me explain for those not on PD in a little more detail. The Cycler is a computer-controlled machine that interfaces with patients via a cassette. The cassette is made of plastic and has numerous plastic tubes with quick disconnects that interface with the fluid bags used to contain special fluids that are pumped into the peritoneal encased stomach region, allowed to dwell there, and pumped back out on a regular schedule during the night. One plastic tube interfaces with the catheter in my stomach.

For me, 2 liters are pumped in, dwell in my stomach for two hours, and then are pumped back out (drain.) For me, this is accomplished four times during a night’s treatment. If, for some reason, the fill or drain is being accomplished slower than the parameters baked into the Cycler’s setup, the Cycler sounds a gut-wrenching alarm. The patient has to get out of bed, go to the cycler, and press the OK button for the Cycler to continue the alarm cycle.

Alarms are NOT a problem unique to me. They are widely reported wherever there are open discussions about peritoneal dialysis and are surmised to be caused by faulty Liberty Cycler design by Fresenius. Why else would their PR brag that the new, forthcoming cycler replacement has fewer alarms?

It would appear that the position within my stomach of the drain end of my catheter has changed since my surgery to reposition it properly. Now I’m back, at least for the past several nights, at experiencing what my dialysis team refers to as “positional” problems. That is, the cycler throws alarms depending upon your posture in bed or other such considerations. Once again, sitting erect on the side of the bed after an alarm or standing up alleviates the situation, and the drain cycler is successfully completed.

This portends to be a MAJOR setback! Stand by for more data as it evolves!