In his 29 years of life, Eric has already dealt with one major health diagnosis: AML leukemia at the age of 12. Now in remission for the past 8 years, Eric has kidney failure and is on home hemodialysis, stating, “If you want to get more out of life, home programs are the way to go.”

Diagnosis and treatment

In 2000, Eric went for a required physical to become a truck driver; tests showed he had protein in his urine and his blood pressure was high. “When I had cancer, my blood pressure was high—in fact, I went on blood pressure medication at 17,” recalls Eric. “I started seeing a nephrologist for a few years who watched my labs, helped me monitor my diet, and put me on prednisone.”

Eric remained stable for several years. Then, in mid-2007, his protein went up again and dialysis was needed. “They were pushing peritoneal dialysis, but the technician recommended against it due to the risk of infections,” says Eric. “So I started in-center hemodialysis in January 2008.” Eric found the center very depressing. “I’m 29 and there are so many old, sickly people in the center,” he says. “It’s not that I ever felt bad on in-center hemodialysis like some people do, it’s just that home dialysis is less depressing and more convenient.”

Switch to home dialysis

Jokingly, Eric began to ask the staff if he could “take one of these machines home with me!” As he soon learned through online research, he could! “I found the DaVita web site and did some research,” remembers Eric. “I spoke to my nurse Amanda, who looked into it and said she’d contact someone she knew did home dialysis in Hammond, IN.”

Six months after he started in-center hemodialysis, Eric and his wife began training for home dialysis. “It took 3 weeks,” he reports. “Lynn, the nurse, came to my house the first time to make sure it was going okay.” Eric now does home dialysis 6 days a week, for 2 hours and 22 minutes, plus set up and tear down—roughly 3 hours total. “I’m an independent person and my wife works full-time,” shares Eric. “Doing dialysis at home is so much easier because I can get on if she’s busy—she only has to help me if I’m feeling really bad because I like to do 100% of it on my own.”

Initially, Eric was afraid of needle infiltration, but overcame that with training. “It wasn’t a needle fear issue, I was just afraid of infiltrating,” he explains. “But the Buttonhole is like an earring track and it’s all about the right angle and practice.”

Freedoms and benefits

For Eric, the benefits of home dialysis are many. “I’m young, and married with two kids,” explains Eric. “In-center dialysis was too hard to schedule around my busy life. I work as a DJ in a night club, play baseball with my son, and like to ride my 4-wheeler.” Eric also finds that scheduling a weekend getaway or vacation with his family is also much easier. “It’s nice—they have premixed materials and I can do my dialysis in the hotel room instead of waiting to see if a local clinic can fit me in,” he explains. “If we’re gone for 4 or more days, DaVita will send the supplies to my destination.”

In Eric’s opinion there are only two negatives about home dialysis: “For one thing, you have to have willpower to do it, because sometimes you don’t feel like getting on the machine and you have to! Also, we have a small home and my wife’s not happy that I took over one closet with supplies!”

The future

Eric is currently applying to a 6-month community college program to become a patient care technician. “I really want to do it, but not to work in a clinic—I want to help promote home dialysis in centers,” he relays. “For anyone who is active or doesn’t want to quit their job, home dialysis is great. You can live life like a normal, healthy person.”