One definition of assidius stems from the Latin word assiduus meaning busy incessant continual or constant. In the past, that’s what my alarms on the drain cycle have been. Not so much anymore.
I have incorporated a different methodology into my peritoneal dialysis prep routine. Every other night I inject 16 mL of Heparin into my 5000 mL bag. Since doing this, in the last 20 nights, I have only had two drain alarms, both on the first drain. This maps to only 10% of evenings that I have experienced alarms, much much better than previously when it was always over 50%. This is more than a five times improvement.
The rule of thumb I was given by my dialysis nurse for the amount of Heparin to use is 2 mL per 2000 mL of fluid. For my previous prescription of four cycles of 2000 mL per cycle, or 8000 mL total, this maps to 2X8 or 16 mL of Heparin. Now that I am using 2500 mL per cycle or 10,000 mL total, my Heparin dosage should be 2×10 =20 mL, up four mL from the previous dosage. Whatever, what I’m doing is working. So we’ll keep on keepin’ on for now.
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