As an independent PD patient, I need to have plenty of supplies at home to keep the dialysis going. I get a delivery once a month of all the supplies I need, plus a few extra in case of emergency.
Whether it's manual exchanges or using the cycler, PD requires bags of dialysis solutions. I store a month's worth of solution in my home, along with all the other necessary supplies.
30+ boxes of solution are wedged into a bedroom closet. I have a few large boxes of the cassettes that the cycler uses and a couple of boxes of drain bags. (Some cycler users drain their solution right into a tub or toilet, some use a drain bag to collect it and then dump it out.) The boxes of cassettes and drain bags are stacked in the corner of the same bedroom. There are a few boxes of manual exchange solutions tucked into a hall closet. I keep them on hand in case of a power outage or emergency where I would have to do manual exchanges instead of cycler exchanges.
Then there are all the smaller supplies. I have a three-drawer rolling cart that is filled with gauze, tape, plastic clamps, minicaps for my catheter, flexicaps for temporary disconnects from the cycler, syringes for adding medication to the solution bags if necessary, paperwork for keeping records of my exchanges, hand sanitizer, and any other items I might need.
Staying organized helps me track what I need to order each month. And makes things feel less cluttered. It's an unavoidable issue, finding room for all this stuff. At first it can seem a little overwhelming. But as each month progresses, the supplies dwindle and a couple weeks before the next delivery you will be counting up what you have to restock it all again. If you can find room for all of the supplies, you will be just fine. It's important for me, living in a very hot part of the US, to make sure I have a temperature-controlled storage area. I have found that one average-sized bedroom closet works very well for me.
The company that delivers the boxes of solution and supplies (Baxter) sends a delivery person to stack the supplies wherever you would like them. Often they will offer to rotate the boxes so the solutions that expire sooner are more easily reached - to use them first. The delivery of supplies takes about 20 to 30 minutes. A very large truck backs into my driveway and the delivery person uses a dolly to bring several boxes at a time into my home.
When I went to one of my first training sessions to learn about PD, it sounded so much more complicated than it really is. The clinic director made it seem like I would need an entire room for supplies and that I practically needed to make it a "clean room" with full sterilization and no pets. I got the feeling that they were trying to scare me. In fact, after one of the first information sessions about PD, I was pretty much ready to NOT do PD. It seemed too intimidating and seemed like it would really interrupt my regular style of living. This was not the case.
Finding room for all the stuff associated with PD wasn't really a challenge. It mostly fit into a closet and I didn't have to change my lifestyle or my methods of housekeeping. Just tuck them away wherever they fit and where you can easily access them. You get used to having a lot of boxes and stuff in the house because it's worth the trade-off of not going to a hemodialysis clinic. Everything you need is at home and ready for you to use on your schedule.
Yes, a month's worth of PD supplies at a time can seem like a lot of "stuff" in your home. But making sure I have room for it keeps me on my toes for finding ways to eliminate clutter and stay organized. Which is a good thing. Take a look around and see if you have a room or a closet or a few areas where boxes and supplies can be stored. Preparing for all the "stuff" is a good way to clean house of unwanted or unnecessary things!
- Rachael M.
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