As for dialysis Thursday, all went well. My after-dialysis standing pulse was 129 (which is a little high). I am talking with the radiology department at the hospital about getting the catheter taken out of my neck and having a new one put into my chest. Julie (the scheduler) said that she may be able to squeeze me in as early as Wednesday, but I won’t know for sure until she calls me back (after confirming with the doctor exactly what he wants me to have).
11/26/2005 at 1:05am, Stacy Without an E said…
I was searching for other Dialysis patients and I stumbled on your blog.I've been a Dialysis (I have to capitalize it or Dialysis gets angry) patient for the last 18 months. I'm using a graft (similar to the one you're scheduled for) that's over 10 years old.I wish you nothing but the best for your surgery. I have a venomous love-hate relationship with Dialysis, but lately it's been ok. The problem I have is related to pain issues.Sometimes it burns, but that's probably related to the graft's age. When I used it ten years ago I don't remember having any pain issues, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.Good luck to you. Are you on the transplant list?
Thank you, Stacy, for taking the time to peruse the blog-o-sphere (I don’t think that should be a word). I am glad that you stumbled across my musings. Well, the fistula revision surgery went great. In fact, it's been about a day, and it hardly hurts at all.Now, I'm not pleased with the catheter in my neck (and I think it will soon be exchanged for a chest catheter), but I guess that its okay.As for the transplant list ... I’m working on it - another slow process I have to deal with. I have a meeting on December 14 that should get the official list-process started.
11/28/2005 at 10:19am, Conservative Conservationist said …
I wish the best for you today, in your surgery.
The surgery itself went well. You can read the posts Update I and Update II for more information. Thank you for the well-wishes!
12/01/2005 at 7:41pm, Barbara said …
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.
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!
That is all for today. I am in the process of trying to set up my appointment with the radiologist to have a permanent dialysis access catheter placed in my chest (soon, hopefully) and to have the temporary dialysis access catheter removed from my neck. Also, I talked to UniCare today, and they said that I will only owe $4,000 total to the dialysis clinic (as opposed to $16,000) which is what I had hoped to owe them.
I would love any prayers on:
- Getting the dialysis access catheter surgery scheduled and completed without complications
- My fistula healing quickly and easily so that I can go back to using it for dialysis access. Even though it hurts more than the dialysis catheter, it is safer to use and easier to keep clean and safe.
- That the best thing (according to God’s will) that can be done for my thyroid problem will be done.
- That the next 57 dialysis treatments will go even better than the first 57 did
Thank you all for stopping by and for always reading. And, of course, Jenny and I really appreciate any and all prayers that come our way. Thank you!
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