Chest Catheter on Thursday

I finally have my procedure scheduled to have the temporary dialysis catheter removed from the right side of my neck and to have a new longer-term dialysis catheter placed in my chest. I am set to go in early Thursday morning to spend a half day sedated and to come out of the hospital with new and different tubes in my body. I know this sounds pretty exciting to you all, but I am actually pleased. The dialysis catheter in my neck is very difficult to deal with. I cannot get it wet, and it does not support a very good dialysis treatment. The machine has to run much slower than normal, and I cannot move (at all) for the entire four hours.

I also went to the hospital this morning for my “thyroid scan with uptake.” They radiologist gave me a radioactive iodine tablet, and wants to see me after four hours. I imagine that they are going to scan my thyroid to see how much iodine it has absorbed or possible used up. They told me not to consume any iodine for the next 24 hours. I also have to go back tomorrow morning to get a 24-hour reading on my thyroid. Hopefully, by my next update, I will have more information about my thyroid problems.

I have one more dialysis treatment tonight using the temporary catheter in my neck. I am not really looking forward to it, as it is a giant pain. I don’t like not being able to move, and my neck usually ends up hurting during most of the treatment due to staying perfectly still. I made it about two hours on Saturday before I was setting off the machine alarms every fifteen minutes. I guess I just can’t quite hold still for that long.

In other news, the surgery on my arm seems to be healing well. It is still a little swollen, but the bruising has gone down quite a bit. The stitches are starting to loosen up, and I am guessing that they will be gone in the next couple of weeks. The surgical scar itself seems like it is healing and staying clean, so that is good. I will be looking forward to when it does not hurt at all, as it still has some pain if I move it too much or too quickly.

Please pray for my procedure(s) on Thursday. Pray that it goes well and that there are no problems. Thanks!