Patient stories: Judith Mead
Judith Mead is a 61-year-old wife and mother of three from Willits, CA. She's very familiar with the side effects of kidney disease, having witnessed her father pass away from kidney failure when she was 24 years and her grandfather pass away when he was in his fifties. Unfortunately, Judith inherited the polycystic kidney disease that plagued her family. Judith's brother and one of her daughters also inherited the disease.
Judith started dialysis 4 years ago. She went to a clinic three times a week for treatments, spent one hour driving to and from the clinic, and had to wait until there was a free machine. Judith felt her treatment days were not her own, since she'd miss most of the day and get home just as her son arrived from school. She became increasingly dissatisfied with her lifestyle.
During one of her routine treatments, Judith noticed a bulletin posted in her clinic announcing that it would become a trial site for a new, portable dialysis machine. She enrolled in the study and started receiving dialysis treatments with the NxStage System One. After 8 weeks of training, Judith was allowed to take the machine home and do treatments herself with the help of her husband.
Today, Judith does her dialysis treatments 6 days a week for a little over 2 hours each time. She noticed the benefits of more frequent treatment immediately. "I have more energy now and I sleep better at night," Judith reports. She adds, "I enjoy not having to drive three times a week and I have the freedom to do the treatment anytime I want."
Judith is extremely happy with the freedom the NxStage therapy has given her. Judith and her husband live in a remote area of California which is not close to any dialysis clinic. "We feel really free and privileged to live where we want and not worry about my dialysis treatments," Judy says.