Remote Monitoring Enables Lucy to Work and has Benefited her Lifestyle While Keeping her Reassured
Lucy from Gloucestershire was diagnosed with kidney disease 10 years ago. Struggling with her diagnosis, Lucy failed to take her oral medication and eventually her illness became more serious.
I then got my act together and started looking after myself”, she recalls, “but it was too late and along came dialysis.
Lucy, who runs a livery yard with her husband Mark, began on in-centre haemodialysis, travelling from her remote location three times a week. The treatment initially made her feel better, but she struggled with balancing the time spent in hospital with running her business and looking after her young daughter, Amelia
Having to be in hospital three days a week just didn’t suit me at all… It’s quite a depressing thing and it’s not just going in for four hours, it’s a whole day. It just wasn’t for me,” she explained.
Lucy was offered the chance to undergo treatment with peritoneal dialysis (PD) with remote monitoring, which meant that she could be treated at home. Following training to ensure that she could administer the dialysis correctly, Lucy began treatment with nocturnal PD with remote monitoring and was able to carry on with daily life.
I’m able to be there for [Amelia]. I pick her up from school, I tuck her in at night, I’m there for her.
Having remote monitoring as part of her treatment means Lucy now only has to travel to the clinic once every three months to ensure that the treatment is working correctly and to check her general health. “I personally think that’s better” she explains, “but the renal team are always close to hand. They know what’s going on at every point and I can speak to them whenever I need to, to answer any questions. It’s like having your own personal doctor, 24/7.”
Lucy believes that remote monitoring has benefited her lifestyle while keeping her reassured.
She explains:
I like the fact that they know what’s going on and they phone me if there’s a problem, otherwise I can just carry on with life. You need to think about how you can make dialysis work with you, rather than you working with it. I think remote monitoring works very well in that respect.