...

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Nurses and their patients often build strong bonds.

However, nurses of chronically ill patients have additional time to develop those bonds and the opportunity to make them even stronger.

For people needing dialysis — a type of renal replacement therapy — nurses can make all the difference.

"When kidneys aren't functioning properly, patients need dialysis," said Tammie Robinson, a registered nurse and family nurse practitioner for the Shannon Dialysis Center.

"Those patients come every other day," she said. "There is not just a professional nursing knowledge of them, they become extended family — we get to know their families, their kids and their caretakers."

The approximately 15 nurses on staff at the center work to make sure patients' treatments go smoothly.

Dialysis serves as an artificial kidney to filter the poisons and fluids the body can no longer purify on its own, Robinson said.

Typically, unless a patient gets a kidney transplant, treatments are lifelong.

Nurses at the Shannon Dialysis Center usually work long hours, Robinson said, because of the length and need for continuity of treatment.

"You can't just hand off a patient at the end of your shift," she said. "We have to wait until the procedure is finished."

Because of the all-inclusive, total body medical care received at the center, Robinson said their patients get better nursing care than most any other patient.

Patients on dialysis have constant reviews of their heart, lungs and gastrointestinal system.

"In one setting, we can monitor the patient's entire health care — who else gets that kind of care three times a week?" she said.

One of three outpatient dialysis centers in San Angelo, the center at Shannon sees approximately 130 patients each week.

The number of patients requiring renal care is part of the reason Robinson became a family nurse practitioner.

Working with Dr. Anthony DeMory, Robinson said she hopes to keep patients from needing the services of the Dialysis Center in the future.

"It's better to manage them early on in the disease process," she said, "to help prevent further deterioration."

"Dr. DeMory always says that dialysis patients are the sickest patients outside of the hospital," said Ed Harris, program director of Shannon's Dialysis Services. "They are constantly teetering on the possibility of their kidneys shutting down."

"Without the nurses, we couldn't do what we do," Harris said. "The physicians and nurses are there on a daily basis. The nurses are the backbone of the center. The level of care and compassion that you see there, is beyond reproach.

"I have an extra soft spot in my heart for the folks down there," he said.

...

Philippa Stone had almost given up hope when a life-changing double kidney transplant failed to function.

But in an astonishing recovery that has confounded the 67-year-old’s doctors, one of the donated organs suddenly started working a full year later, after she was admitted to hospital with a fractured hip.

Miss Stone told MediaWales of her medical “miracle”, which means she no longer needs dialysis, as she urged others not to lose hope.

“I want to give hope to other people on kidney dialysis or who are going through the same experience I had,” she said.

“I want to let them know that good things like this can happen. At the time I was devastated the new transplanted kidneys didn’t work, I had pinned my hopes on living a normal life again.

“I think it’s a miracle.”

Miss Stone’s kidneys began to fail in 2006 after she had twice been treated for bowel cancer. She is convinced the cancer treatment affected her kidneys.

The former insurance clerk, who lives in Swansea, started a gruelling regime of haemodialysis, involving long visits to the renal unit at Morriston Hospital, in Swansea, three times a week, in 2007.

The call she’d been waiting for so long for telling her a donated kidney was available came in November 2010. In what she describes as a “buy one get one free deal” she had a dual kidney transplant.

But when both failed to work, Miss Stone had to go back on dialysis to keep her alive and on the transplant waiting list, in the hope another suitable donor could be found.

Although the kidneys didn’t work, her body hadn’t rejected them.

“I was gutted but I took it in my stride,” she said. “My life was then getting up at 5.30am to go to hospital three times a week for haemodialysis.

“Because it was three days a week you couldn’t do anything really – it was hard work, almost like having a part-time job but with no pay at the end.”

Her life changed in November 2011 when she was admitted to hospital for surgery on a hairline fracture in her right femur.

While recovering from the operation, she began to pass water – a sign that one of the transplanted kidneys was working after 12 months of lying inactive. Within three weeks her name was taken off the transplant list.

“I’d been back on dialysis for almost a year so, when I started to pass urine, I couldn’t believe it. The doctors couldn’t believe it and they said I could go home.”

Miss Stone, who has thanked the support she received from Morriston Hospital, was told she no longer needed dialysis at the start of the year as one kidney appeared to be working properly.

But she said she remains anxious about her future.

“No one can say if it’s going to stop or if it’s going to continue working,” she said.

“I live every day as a bonus and I’m very positive but I don’t look down that road.”

Two of Miss Stone’s nurses, both called Paula Davies, said they were delighted she no longer needs dialysis.

In a joint statement, they said: “During the time Philippa required dialysis treatment she encountered a number of challenges. Her personality, her courage and faith in the medical and nursing profession helped her deal with these.

“She remained positive throughout and saw the team as an extended family due to the nature of her treatment. She became a familiar face and well-known character to the staff at the renal unit, radiology department and the vascular laboratory.

“Despite the ongoing challenges she is an exemplary role model for others with chronic illness.”

Argiris Asderakis, a consultant transplant surgeon and director of the transplant unit at the University Hospital Wales, in Cardiff, said: “One explanation could be that the kidney was compromised by the presence of the main anti-rejection drug and when the dose was lowered, one of the kidneys woke up.

“It is very, very rare to see this kind of thing happening nine to 10 months down the line; I have seen kidneys wake up after two to three months but not this.”

...

By Elliot Ferguson/The Whig-Standard

Posted 2 hours ago

A patient at Kingston General Hospital is upset that free parking spaces reserved for those undergoing dialysis and cancer treatment have been converted to pay and display

Elle Zelicz, 24, has to go to KGH three times a week for dialysis.

A motor vehicle collision three years ago damaged her liver and left Zelicz paralysed.

Since then, Zelicz has relied on her family to drive her to dialysis appointments on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays of each week.

“It almost makes me worry about my future,” she said.

“I'm already paying so much for my medical expenses.”

Until now, Zelicz has been able to park in a 26-space parking lot off George Street.

In addition to her medical costs, Zelicz relies on her family to drive her to appointments from the family's home in Toledo, about an hour's drive north-east of Kingston.

Zelicz said the drives costs about $100. The parking fee would add another $60 to her monthly costs.

“I get the feeling it's not in the best interests of the patients,” she said.

“Not all patients need to be at the hospital three times a week for the rest of their lives.

“I guess I'm going to have to go over my budget. I don't have a choice.

“It's life or death.”

KGH spokesperson Helen Simeon said the hospital recently changed its parking policy to make all spots pay and display.

Simeon said the George Street parking lot will continue to be reserved for dialysis and cancer patients. Those patients will need to register for a permit that gives them preference to that parking lot, she said.

“Parking is a major problem for our patients, visitors and staff,” she said.

Simeon said the change was made after the hospital looked at policies at other major medical facilities.

Simeon said the hospital has about 200 parking spaces available for the 4,000 people on average who come to the facility each day.

Parking in the George Street lot is $1 per hour up to a daily maximum of $5.

Government money is available to help hospitals maintain buildings, but parking lots are not included in that funding, Simeon said.

Simeon said revenue from parking around the hospital is used to maintain parking facilities and any money left over is put toward patient services.

Simeon said she did not know how much money was raised from parking around the hospital.

For patients who need help paying for parking or transportation costs, Simeon said there is assistance available.

Late last year, an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal called for patient parking fees to be abolished.

Dr. Rajendra Kale, the journal’s interim editor-in-chief, wrote that “parking-centred health care” was interfering with patient care and violating the objectives of the Canada Health Act.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advertisement

...