Bad Tuesday Dialysis

Tuesday night's dialysis treatment did not go all that great. I was okay for a little over three hours, but during about the last fifteen minutes of my treatment, I started to not feel so well. I was kind of light-headed and dizzy, with a bit of a headache, and I felt slightly nauseated. I told the technicians, and they gave me back some of my fluid. At the end of the treatment, I was still not feeling well, so they gave me back some more saline (500 ml in all). I stood up to give my final blood pressure and it was 90-something over 50-something with a pulse around 140 bpm. The nurse told me to sit down and to wait to see if it would balance out.

I stayed at the clinic for another half an hour waiting for my blood pressure and pulse to get within their normal ranges. The blood pressure remained low each time I stood, and my pulse was always much too high (usually in the 130's or 140's). The nurse wanted to call an ambulance, but I had my wife come to dialysis and pick me up, instead. I assured the nurse that I would go to the emergency room if I felt worse or did not start feeling better.

When I got home, I laid in bed for about 30 or 45 minutes waiting to feel better. I finally decided to check my temperature, thinking that I would go to the hospital for anything over 100.4. It turned out that I had 101.1, so we hopped in the car, and we went to the emergency room. I guess I had not been to the hospital with a problem in too long, and my body must have just missed it there.

We got to the hospital around 11:30pm. They got us in to see a doctor right before midnight. We talked about my symptoms and my dialysis, and we figured that a little more saline would probably help with my light-headedness. So, they gave me 250 ml of saline, and I laid on the short, uncomfortable ER bed for another hour. When the nurse came back, I was feeling less dizzy, but now I was much more nauseated than when I had come in. The doctor gave me some nausea medicine and let me lay there for a while longer.

He finally came in to say that he could either send me home, or admit me to the hospital for observation. He said it would be observation only has he had no idea what was wrong with me. By this point, I was feeling mostly better, albeit tired, and was ready to go home. I told him to just send me home, and that if I got to feeling worse after having some sleep, that I would come back to the ER to see him.

I went ahead and went to work today, even though I was a bit tired. I did not have any dizziness symptoms, though there was some nausea. The nausea did not bother me as it is not infrequent in the mornings for me. I took my temperature when I awoke and after I got home, and both were normal. Even now, right before I typed this, I was only up to 98.8 degrees.

Please pray for me that Thursday night's dialysis treatment will go better. I think I am going to ask them to raise my dry weight another half a kilogram to 69.5 kg. That will mean that I get to keep a little bit more fluid, and hopefully will help prevent me from having to take another trip to the ER. I appreciate and need your prayers. Thanks a lot!