If you have not read the Post-Surgery Update – Part I, then you should go ahead and scroll down to it and read. Or, just click Post-Surgery Update – Part I. After you finish, then you can read the Part II posting.
I had an appointment for a follow-up with the vascular surgeon on Tuesday afternoon. I went in to his office and he was confused as to why I was there. He said that there was a mistake in scheduling and that I would not need to come back until January. I was not too pleased by this information, as it means that I am going to have tubes hanging out of my neck for the next six weeks. This is a problem, especially since the radiologist that put the catheter in said that it was temporary (only for a week’s worth of use).
So, disappointed, I returned home to prepare for dialysis. They finally moved me to a chair where the machine is on my left just like my fistula (not that I was using the fistula Tuesday). The nurse laid me down in the chair, and hooked up my temporary catheter to the machine. It did not work nearly as well as a fistula (it ran very slowly from what I could guess) and I could not move during the entire treatment. If I moved my head, then the dialysis machine went into alarm. So, I got to lie still for four hours (not fun).
The nephrologist came to visit Tuesday evening. He asked why I had a catheter in my neck and not in my chest. I told him that I was not sure, but apparently I was supposed to schedule my own surgery (and know what to ask for) when the surgeon scheduled my fistula revision. So, the nephrologist said that he would get a hold of the hospital to set up an appointment to get the neck catheter taken out and have a long-term catheter placed in my chest while we wait on my fistula to heal.
So, all in all, Monday was quite frustrating. The surgeon did not tell me when to arrive for my surgery, he did not tell me that I needed to previously schedule my own catheter insertion, and he did have me properly scheduled for a follow-up appointment.
So, now it is Wednesday. I am back at work today and am waiting for a call from the hospital to schedule me a time to have my neck catheter removed and a chest catheter inserted. It looks like my fistula won’t be ready to use for about six more weeks. The only nice thing is that my elbow really doesn’t hurt too much, and it looks like it is healing well (from what I saw).
I apologize for this post being two posts long. I did not intend for there to be this many problems or for me to end up looking like I didn’t go to medical school. I guess if I had, then I would have known what to do for this surgery. Oh well, better luck next time.
Oh yeah, I just remembered. To top it all off, my cardiologist called on Monday and said that my blood work made it look like I have a hyper thyroid problem. So, that’s one more thing that I have to take care of this week. I am supposed to set up an appointment for a thyroid check with uptake (whatever that means). Hopefully this will not be a major problem. I know that I don’t need any more of those.
460) Annual Update
4 years ago
2 comments:
Nathan,
I was so sorry to hear about your ordeal this week. I hope that you aren't mad at the rest of us in the medical field. I have a question did you make the appointment with the vascular surgeon or did your unit? You might want to ask your nephrologist to recommend another surgeon who treats patients better. The hospital sounded pretty crappy too. I understand that each hospital and states have different procedures but the docs in Canton and here put the perm caths in the chest wall and not the neck. Your surgeon could have easily consulted either your nephrologist or a covering nephrologist at the hospital to do the procedure. Our docs receive consults from surgeons all the time. Was your intact PTH level elevated? Do you have to go see an endocrinologist for the hyperparathyroidism? Our docs have put patients on medicine for elevated PTH before. I can't think of the name of the med now though it might be rocaltrol but I'm not 100% sure.
God Bless,
Barbara
No, Barbara, luckily, I am not the type of person that will blame an entire group for the actions of an individual. Sadly, the vascular surgeon just seems to be a busy person that isn’t always so good at providing information when unprompted. I made the original appointment with my vascular surgeon for the revision surgery, and he said that my nephrologist should have made it so that he could have also requested the perm-cath in my chest. The hospital isn’t really the problem; I think it is just the surgeon. I am probably going to keep dealing with him until I am finally done with my fistula (after transplant). I guess the surgeon just wasn’t thinking about how long I would need the catheter when he requested the clavicle catheter. The radiologist that put it in did mention that they normally do the chest catheters on patients in my situation. I have not seen any of my lab reports for the thyroid problem, yet. Once the doctors figure out what the problem is, I will probably ask to see the labs just to look over them for myself. My family doctor said that if it is overactive, they can medicate, and if that causes it to be under active, then they can medicate permanently to fix that problem. Thanks for the comments!
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