Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Dale Windsor holds wife eva’s hand as they prepare
for a home dialysis treatment
It’s three in the morning at Lamont, and Dale Windsor is holding Eva Windsor’s hand as he connects a pair of tubes from his wife’s upper arm to a machine that is emitting a series of clicks and whirrs.
Dale has become a de facto nurse since the couple received a machine that allows Eva to undergo dialysis treatments in the confines of their home.
The couple, who will celebrate their 49th anniversary in May, choose to do the dialysis treatment before daybreak so they have the rest of the day free.
“That’s the best time, because you don’t have anybody bothering you,” said Dale. “We finish up, then we eat breakfast and can get on with the rest of our day.”
They said that is the best part of treating her kidney disease at home – it allows them options and free time.
“It’s just about like having your own kidney,” said Eva.
Before receiving the home machine, the Windsors had to travel three times a week to Spokane for dialysis sessions.
Eva said the day-long treatment in Spokane left her feeling tired and drained.
“It was two hours to get there and back and six or eight hours in dialysis,” she said. “It was exhausting, and it basically took three days away from us.”
Now, with the machine set up in a converted pantry, the Windsors sit down six mornings a week for a three-hour session.
The home treatments, which process less of Eva’s blood than a clinical treatment, appear to be paying dividends.
“It’s a lot easier on me, because it’s not the huge amount they have to take off of you if you only go every three days,” said Eva.
After nine years primarily using a wheelchair, Eva can now walk around the house. Her condition has improved so much that Eva has been put on a kidney donor list. She explained that a person has to have a certain level of self-sufficiency before they can be put on the list to receive a kidney.
She will begin testing for a kidney transplant after Christmas.
“Eva and Dale have done remarkably well with this,” said Michelle McKee with Diversified Specialty Institutes in Spokane, a clinic that specializes in treating renal systems. “He took to it right away.”
She said the machines have become a lot more popular with dialysis patients, especially those that live far away from treatment centers. For Whitman County residents, the nearest dialysis centers are in Spokane and Moscow.
“It actually takes the place of their kidney. It really allows them a lot more freedom, and they can be more liberal with their diet,” said McKee.
McKee’s clinic currently has a lengthy waiting list for home dialysis machines.
McKee led the Windsors through a five-week training course to show them how to use the machine. Training typically takes about a month.
Both McKee and Dale Windsor stressed the home treatments require a great deal of patience and sacrifice for the home nurse.
“It’s not something you should get into if you’re not committed and willing to sacrifice for your wife or your parent or your brother or your loved one,” said Dale.
Making sure the dialysis treatment is run properly is a complex task of taking blood samples, checking temperature levels and recording the patient’s vital signs.
Samples and paperwork are sent to laboratories and doctors through the mail or by express courier.
Dale said that means they no longer have to worry about getting through the snow drifts that typically cover Highway 23 in the winter to get to the clinic for Eva’s treatments. Instead, a month’s supply of chemicals are brought to the Windsor’s front door by express courier.
Home machines are available through a number of dialysis centers, said McKee, and are paid for under most insurance plans. Cost can actually be less expensive than clinical dialysis, because the clinics do not have to pay the salary for someone to administer treatment.
Reader Comments(0)