Recall from yesterday’s blog that Fresenius Tech Support recommended turning off alarms to solve my cycler throwing alarms consistently during most night’s cycler use. With alarms off, last night on drain one I received another alarm, this one with the Stop Button flashing and a warning not to stop the patient’s drain or something like that. I was 3/4 asleep on my feet. After pressing the OK button, and staying on my feet upright, the drain proceeded until about 1700 mL had been drained, at which point I got back in bed.
Referring to the screenshot at the blog top, fill times are pretty much right on the 10-minute spec. Dwell times, except the last one, are NOT on the 120-minute spec. Drain volumes are all over the place – disregard the Cycle 0 327 drain, that was left over from yesterday’s cycle. So we have drains of 1944, 1516, 1965, and 2217. Drain time of 36, 17, 25, and 20 where only the last meets spec of 20. Disregarding the 327 Cycle 0, we had UF (fluid left in gut) of -57, -485, -37, and + 292, for a net of -287mL. This is over a cup (236.6 mL) of fluid left. I expect when I hook up to the cycler tonight that drain 0, that is upon startup, there will be a drain of at least this amount.
Add to the above that my weight was up another pound to 154 this morning leads me to the conclusion that all is not right in my Fresenius-lead treatment at this point. I have passed this data on to my Team Nurse and we’ll have to see what falls out. The alarm panel is at the blog’s end.
CGM: Had a call this morning from my pharmacy ExpressScripts about another matter, and at the conversation close asked about the status of my Freestyle Libre 3 order. I was told that it had been approved and should ship somewhere around April 4, 2023. Until such time as I have firm shipping info, I’m not going to cancel my out-of-pocket order which is prudent given we ARE dealing with government resources!
VA: I happened to check the status of my request to the VA to up my kidney failure to 100% from 80% due to the fact that I am now on Dialysis. I saw that it had been approved and that the rating package with info on how they arrived at their decision was in the mail. I received the package and was informed that the monthly disability payment had been increased which I did not ask for or anticipate. Turns out that since with the new rating of 100% for being on Dialysis, and the fact that I have another non-related rating of at least 60% (actually have a triple-bypass at 60% plus a host of others), I now fall under Special Monthly Compensation tables which resulted in the unanticipated increase. Blind squirrels etc.
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