Surgery is over, now what

Yesterday was my husband's surgery to have the catheter put in and I'm so thankful it is over and he is home with us.  At every hospital, at every dialysis clinic, things are going to be different, so my story is just that.... my experience and it may be nothing like yours, but I'm sharing it because I know when Hubby was first diagnosed I looked and looked, but couldn't find anyone that told how it was for them, so I'm hoping this will help someone.

After surgery, while he was in recovery, the dialysis nurse came to speak with us.  She was very organized and gave us a shopping list, a sheet of appointments for the next two weeks, and a binder of information.  She brought the actual machine to show us and gave me a spec sheet so I could buy a cart.

Let's start with the shopping list.  These are things that we need when doing PD.

Cart (this is to hold the machine and a discharge bucket so you can move around your home)
Bucket (at least 5 gallon)
Generator (big enough to run your dialysis machine when the power goes out)
Paper towels and wall mounting paper towel holder
Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Antibacterial soap in pump dispenser
Sanitizer wipes
Bleach

There are items that we need that aren't included on this list, but where we go for dialysis, they supply the masks and other items.  The dialysis supply company supplies all the solutions, tubing, and equipment.

The cart is a little tricky to find.  I received a lot of suggestions, even from the hospital, but I wasn't able to easily find one.  I finally settled on one I found online.  The cart I ordered is - Choice Knocked Down Stainless Steel 2 Shelf Utility Cart - 33 3/4" x 21" x 37"  I won't know for sure if we will really like it or not until it arrives, so I will do an updated post when we actually start using the cart.  


Tomorrow the dialysis nurse is stopping by to make sure our home is ready for storing all the supplies and having the machine in a safe place.  In preparation I'm moving furniture to make room for the cart to easily move around and to make space to store all the supplies.  The large supplies are being stored in the living room and the smaller items are going in our bedroom on a small shelving unit.  Friends of ours were generous to stop by today and drop of these items.

The black crate next to the shelving unit is a file box that holds all the dialysis information files that aren't in the binders.  Behind the files is where I will be storing the binders when I'm not using them.


Remember all centers and hospitals are different, these may not be items that you need.  Ask your provider for their suggestions too.