By HOLLY WAGNER
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
A month ago, Lana Schmidt could barely walk across a room.
Today, she's got the energy to work out in her home gym.
"My life was on hold," she said. "But now I've got more energy. ... I would certainly recommend this machine to other kidney patients."
The machine that's made the difference in Schmidt's life is the Next Stage cycler nocturnal home hemodialysis machine. Schmidt's kidneys shut down about seven years ago while she was living in New Zealand. She's been in Quincy about 10 months, getting her dialysis through Quincy Medical Group.
She's the first patient QMG has put on the nocturnal hemodialysis machine.
It takes a certain patient to undergo night time hemodialysis, said registered nurse Tammy Hudson. It has to be someone healthy enough and with the right lifestyle and the right support. The nephrology team at QMG felt they'd found that patient in Schmidt.
Training a family of a home hemodialysis patient normally takes up to six weeks, but Schmidt and her family were good to go in three. It's been such a success that QMG is looking for other good candidates.
QMG has several dialysis patients who undergo peritoneal dialysis, removing the wastes through their peritoneum that their kidneys would normally take care of. Some elect to have it at night. Others have hemodialysis, cleaning their blood directly, either at home during the day or at QMG.
Without dialysis, these kidney patients would die.
Schmidt has done every kind of dialysis, and she's on a list awaiting for a kidney transplant. But after a month on nocturnal home hemodialysis, Schmidt's lab results confirmed what she already felt -- that the machine works for her almost as well as a normal kidney.
It's slower and takes longer than other hemodialysis, so it's gentler on the body, Hudson said. Doing it in her sleep, at night, frees Schmidt's days so she can live a more normal life.
"I feel like it cleans your blood so much better," Schmidt said.
While in New Zealand, Schmidt started a 5K walk to raise money for kidney disease. She wants to get something similar going here. She also released a CD called "Healing Waters" in which she recites the healing verses from the Bible that gave her comfort. The CD is for sale at the Mustard Seed in the Quincy Mall. Right now, the CD is be sold on a break-even basis, but Schmidt hopes eventually its sales will benefit the National Kidney Foundation.
"Laura's a very independent, self-help sort of person," said Carol Lewis, QMG's executive director of operations. "There's not a lot of resources out there for kidney patients, so she just made her own.
"I think that sort of personality is what makes her critical for nocturnal success. Because it isn't for everybody. She's just that kind of gal."
-- hwagner@whig.com/221-3374
