Flint - It's come as you are, and some patients come in their pajamas.
 

A new nocturnal hemodialysis program at FMC Flint takes twice as long as typical dialysis and goes at a slower pace but - and here's the good news - it works overnight while a patient is sleeping.  The overnight therapy allows Jessie Smith to gain 10 to 15 daytime hours a week because he does dialysis while he sleeps.
"It's the best thing going," Smith said. "A person my size needs more dialysis. With the extra time, more fluid can be removed at a gentle pace, without causing my legs to cramp."  FMC Flint, located at 2222 S. Linden Road in Flint Township, will host an open house at 5-7 p.m. Thursday for those interested in learning how the nighttime dialysis program works. It's the only Flint dialysis center to offer it.  Most of the dozen patients first chosen last August to try it have been obese or have trouble sticking to a strict low-potassium, low-fluid diet, said Becky Hogan, the center's head renal nurse.  Traditional hemodialysis, lasting four hours three days a week, wasn't long enough to clear their bodies of toxins, she said.  Dialysis cleans body toxins in a way kidneys no longer can, but many people end up sacrificing their lifestyle for better health.  Patients are increasingly looking for ways to maintain normal routines in spite of frequent dialysis.  Northwestern High School football coach Arthur Gipson said overnight dialysis has "given me back my life." He was able to cut back from four to only three dialysis treatments per week, always at night, allowing him to work during the day.  "This is a major part of their lives," Hogan said. "We have a 90-year-old who likes to get her dialysis done first thing in the morning so she can get to her volunteer job."  Rena White transferred to FMC Flint specifically to participate in the overnight therapy program. White starts her treatment around 8 p.m. and usually is asleep soon after.  "I have so much more energy and free time since I started dialyzing while I sleep," White said. "The eight hours of treatment at night feels like less time on the machine than when I was on during the day for four and a half."  A Canadian study published in last year's Journal of the American Society of Nephrology showed patients who underwent nighttime dialysis got rid of more of the amino acids that contribute to heart disease.
For now, FMC Flint is the only one of its 22 Michigan outlets to offer nocturnal dialysis at the center, but it can be done with machines set up in a person's bedroom. FMC will soon begin offering in-center overnight dialysis in Livonia, Saginaw and Ann Arbor, an FMC spokesman said.  Hurley Medical Center is considering offering in-center overnight dialysis to its patients.  Dialysis continues to be in demand among Genesee residents where kidney failure is rising.  The number of people on dialysis went up from 630 people in 1999 to 664 in 2000, said Maurie Ferriter of the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan Inc.  The superior "clearing" performed by nocturnal dialysis has allowed patients to cut back on medications that helped get rid of toxins and fluids that traditional dialysis couldn't do alone, he said.  "Medical outcomes have been superior," said Ferriter, who's received a kidney transplant. "It's a big time commitment, but the tradeoff is that patients say they feel so much better."

Shantell M. Kirkendoll covers health. She can be reached at (810) 766-6366.
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