Gus’s Buttonhole Cannulation

Hi Angie, good to see you again. Hope your kidney is doing well. Try meeting me on YAHOO IM ..we’ll sepak more there. Thanks

Gus, on KidneyKorner people are talking about Buttonhole and cannulation again and I mentioned you and looked for your video again. Would you like to come to KidneyKorner and post a little about Buttonhole and link to your blog? You are very informed in this area more than I am since I never got as far as self cannulating.

Will you be making any new vids on how to establish buttonholes in the first place at all? Advice? Thx.

G8 video thank you for your continued support in uploading these videos they are very educational for those of us whom do not understand it completely..God Bless…

Great video, I think its nice that patients have that option to do home dialysis.

Thanks for stopping by here, but did you know that 3x per week dialysis is too little to keep alive for many years? To be able to feel good and eat better dialysis patients need more than 3x per week dialysis… dialysis is painful and kinda like a lifetime torturebut what matters the most is that we feel better and hope government will allow wide-spread home dialysis.

Wow, I work in a buttonhole clinic, where like 50 of our 75 patients with fistulas have buttonholes. It’s kind of funny seeing that there are dialysis employees out there that have never heard of it.

When I first saw your video, I was really shocked to find that i can’t believe I do this stuff for a living. I’m a dialysis technician, and I take care of people like this every day, but watching this video at home, I have to say that I don’t think much about work when I get home. I’m glad I saw this video because it’s hard to really understand that patients go home and have real lives. I’m glad you put this video up for everyone to see, and I hope you’re doing well with home hemo.

I was actually 12 years old when I started doing self-sticks…the real reason was I got tired from staff doing bad sticks and worst the infiltrations, so I decided to take control doing it. In matter of fact its alot better cuz you can feel where the needle is going, so that will really save your fistula from failing, its your life-line! Thanks for the tape tip……you should be brave and record a video of yourself self cannulating, show all the world that you really can…

hey i,m a 14 year old boy who has been on dialysis for most of my life since i was 2 and i keep chikening out to stick my self what helped u first stik ur self.
and there is a much bettter medical tape u could use to hold ur needles down.
well thats it if u can reply plz replyto my account page up here on youtube thx. =)

Hi and welcome!

actually, I am doing 6x per week for about 2.5 hours daily. The needling method as stated in video is called “ButtonHole” so there is no scarring at all. On the contrary it saves the fistula, simply there’s no sharp needles used. In Google search Davita Buttonhole and you will find further information about it.

hello there I saw your video I am a LPN dialysis nurse from USA for 20 yrs. And I was reading from your comments that you do dialysis 5x week and was thinking wouldn’t all those needle insertions cause scar damage to access site,causing the skin to get thin, and noticed that you cannulate yourself in almost the same site, which is really not good for the life of your access. I also had a brother and grandmother on hemodialysis too. just wondering about your access care.

Thanks for sharing …Thanks

Buttonhole technique is quite impressive, hardly or no pain at all! Some incenter clinics are already using it or about to start offering it. For incetenter clinics already offering it I applaud them, it really is a BIG step on preparing patients on how to self-cannulate without pain and from there they’d be more willing to do home dialysis. Thanks for visiting!

Hi amazing video, I am a dialysis nurse in the uk and we are looking at using buttonhole technique, this is the first time i have seen it.

Daily-Short dialysis which is 6x a week has less stress on the body than doing incenter 3x per week. Doing 6x per week is way more gentle than the incenter 3x per week. Currently, I am averaging only .5 of fluid to take off…Before, at center I was taking up to 4Kg to take off!! So as you can see 4Kg is quite a ride, which in turn causes cramps and low blood pressure. Daily-Short and Nocturnal doesn’t do that…

Thanks for your reply

what about cramps and low blood pressure

Make a home video of your Nxstage setup. We want to see it! Thanks…

Hey thats cool, can you make a home video of your setup and upload to Youtube?

My care partner does use gloves. There’s been debates about whether patients who insert their own needles really don’t need the gloves. Personally, I think my care partner needs the gloves more than I do. Though I do wash my hands and use anti-septic hand lotions like Purell. Thanks for your suggestions!

GREAT video thought. Keep edjucating.

Ive been doing homehemo for a year now on the nxstage machine. Its awsome. I only have one sugestion and that is to were gloves. you guys need to prevent infection. Usem and change em ofton.

You betcha! There’s no place like home. Its great to be at home and caring for myself and hope other people can learn that home dialysis is just as safe as incenter dialysis but with an added benefit…. much more freedom at home.

Wow!! it feels Good Xp

Hi Angie, great to hear from you again. Btw, do you still have your kidney transplant?

Thanks for posting….

A guy who sat beside me in dialysis used to do the buttonhole technique and encouraged me to go that route. My fistula was to wobbly to be stable enough for me to self cannulate. After 7 months even the dialysis staff gave up on my arm. The first fistula didn’t even last past 10 days. When you have a good one it is good to use buttonhole to keep it working longer! Good vid! Thx for uploading this Gus! :)

Thank you