Catheter Again

So, today is Saturday, June 10, and I am writing to you from the dialysis chair. There are 15 minutes left on my treatment, so this post might be kind of short. I thought I would update everyone on how my treatments have been this week, and what kind of trouble my fistula has been having.

Tuesday night, I was hoping for a better stick in my fistula. Unfortunately, only one needle really got in well. The second needle caused a bit of infiltration, which made my arm swell up a bit (rather quickly) and hurt really bad. I had to do my treatment with the catheter, and it did not run very well at all. It stopped and started all night, and it was hard to keep still while holding a glove full of ice on my swolen and bruised arm.

And, let me tell you, my arm got bruised. The worst pain I had was trying to remove the one needle that they had inserted, and hold it to stop bleeding. It was really not enjoyable, and removing the tape that was holding in the needle was unpleasant to say the least. I left with one bandage taping up the small hole in my arm, and I could barely move it. It felt as if I had bruised my entire bicep, making it nearly unbearable to bend my arm.

I slept with the arm elevated, and it felt better in the morning. When I looked at it, though, it was kind of disgusting. There is a large hematoma (bruise) all around the area where I was stuck, minus a square when the bandage had been pressing, keeping the blood from pooling there under my skin. The pain was less, and a warm shower felt nice. My arm is still sore today, but it is much better than it was Tuesday night.

I used the catheter again on Thursday and Saturday, since my fistula is still quite bruised. The doctor mentioned that we should probably wait a few treatments before we go back to trying to stick me again. I also think I am going to have them use the 17-gauge needles for at least two weeks, since they tried 15-gauge on Tuesday night. Hopefully, using the 17-gauge will help my fistula develop a bit better before I try and use anything larger.

The only other problem was that my catheter did not work on Thursday. They had to use an unclotting medicine (which stays in the catheter for thirty minutes) to get it flowing again for my treatment. This meant that I had to stay later, but at least the machine was able to run better. Previously, it had been stopping every couple of minutes because it could not return my blood. Today (Saturday), I am doing great. The machine ran at 300 ml/min and only stopped a few times during the whole four hours.

There are only a few minutes left in my treatment, so I will try and wrap up. My blood pressure is 116/63, with a heart rate of 96. If you remember back to a few months ago, this is a huge improvement. I think that my current medications along with the "profile 2" that they are using to remove fluid, has really helped. I hope to continue to do well with this combination.

Please pray for my arm and fistula this week. Pray that the swelling and bruising goes away, and that my fistula will be ready to use again (soon, but not so soon that it causes problems). The insurance company called, complaining about paying for my dad's transplant testing. Pray that that will get worked out so that I can get started on testing someone else.

Thanks for coming to read my chronicles. They may not be as fanciful as Narnia, but they are mine. Enjoy!

Saturday's Update

Welcome to Tuesday everyone. I have another dialysis treatment scheduled for this evening, but I thought I’d try and update everyone on what happened Saturday night. My treatment was not as good as it could have been.

When I woke up Saturday morning, my arm was bruised around my fistula. My guess is that it was from Thursday’s treatment, but it just took a while to show up. So, when I went in to dialysis Saturday night, the technician wanted to avoid the bruised area. She put in the first needle, going down, in about the middle of my fistula. Now, I had pointed out that the lower end of the fistula and the upper end of the fistula were really the best places to go. But, she got it in the middle, and had a hard time getting “the flash”. The flash is the blood that initially shoots into the needle when it is inserted into the fistula.

She filled the first needle, and went to work to find a spot for the second one. She could not find one, and after several minutes, decided to use the catheter to return the blood. Unfortunately, by that time, the blood in the first needle had clotted, because it was not pulsing (it was just sitting there). So, they had to use my catheter for both needles, since they did not want to attempt to stick me a third time.

As you may remember, we stopped using the catheter because it was not really providing a good treatment. The only reason it is still in is because the doctor wants it to be available for a “just in case” basis. I guess that is good, since that had to use it Saturday night. But, the machine could not run above 300, so I did not get as high quality of a treatment as I would have wanted.

So, if you read this on June 6, then I’d ask that you pray that the technician is able to get two needles in to my fistula tonight so that I can have a decent treatment. I think they are going to try the 15-gauge needles, so the machine can run up to 400 with those. I think that the technician I have scheduled for tonight is the one that had no problems with my fistula the last time she stuck me. I am hoping to repeat that tonight.

Thanks for coming by to read. I’ll let you know what happened tonight on another day.

Post Surgery Update

Hi everyone,

It's been about a week since I have blogged, so I apologize for not keeping everyone updated. I am recovering well from the gall bladder surgery. The holes in my belly are healing pretty well, though the one closest to my belly button did bleed a little bit in my sleep last night. It doesn't look like it is having any problems. I think the stuff that they used to close the incisions is probably just starting to wear off, and the incisions are healing fairly well on their own. I haven't had any residual pain from the surgery, so that's been good. I'm eating fairly well, though I have had a bit of upset stomach the last few days. The doctor said that would be normal as I heal from abdominal surgery.

I have some unfortunate news on the transplant front. My dad called last night to tell me that he had been contacted by the transplant coordinator. She told him that they would not be able to use his kidney for my transplant. I think it is mainly age related, though if you want the full story, I can tell you one-on-one.

This means that I will now have to have a second person get tested. I've got a fairly extensive list of people that have volunteered to be tested. All I have to do now is to contact someone on the list and see if they are still willing to go through with the testing. Then, I'll talk to the transplant coordinator and let her know who to go after next.

So, it has been a fairly busy week. I recovered from surgery on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I went back to work on Tuesday, and everything went well. I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon, and he said that everything looked fine. At dialysis, they moved from using 17-gauge needles to using 16-gauge. They prefer to use the larger, 15-gauge needles. I imagine that they will start using those on Tuesday. The larger needles mean that they can run the machine at a faster filtering rate, and that I get a more effective treatment (better clearance).

The techs at dialysis have been having an interesting time with my fistula. I never have the same person more than two treatments in a row, so that makes it a little difficult to get a consistent stick. I've got three or four different areas on the fistula that have been used, so far. Sometimes, the needles end up very close together, and sometimes they are a little farther apart. I think it is easier for the technician to place the needles farther apart, and I probably get a better treatment that way, too. Hopefully, now that I am starting to get repeats on the tech that sticks me, I will get more consistent treatments.

I have a few prayer requests for the week. Please pray for my next possible kidney donor. Pray that God will help me choose the person that He has planned for my kidney donation. Pray that the testing will go easily and that we will find out who is the right donor. Also please pray for my continued recovery from the gall bladder surgery. Pray that the incisions will finish healing and that my stomach will settle down (so that I can enjoy eating again).

Thanks for coming by to read!