Fistula Revision is Healing

I saw my vascular surgeon yesterday afternoon. I went in for a follow-up appointment to the fistula revision that I had done at the end of November. He ran the sonogram wand over my arm for about 15 minutes, and he said that the revision is healing very nicely. He also said that I would be ready to use it again in about three weeks.

So, that is some exciting news. In about three weeks, I will go back to the painful needles in my arm, rather than just tubes hooked up to my chest catheter. I know, it doesn’t sound all that great, but if the fistula is working correctly, then I should start getting an even better dialysis treatment. I also will get to have my chest catheter taken out a week or so after they start using the fistula again, so that will be nice. I am growing tired of covering the bandage in plastic every morning so that I can take a shower. Also, I am going to enjoy not having tubes in my chest that keep me from sleeping on my stomach. I’ll just tell you that it is not all that great to have a large bandage on your chest. My chest is small and the catheter is right in the middle of the right side of my chest. This means that the bandage has to try and curve around under my arm and attempt to stick. I usually have to tape it up (again) every morning so that the catheter stays covered up (and clean). It will not be a problem for me to stop tending to an open wound on my chest.

Our company is celebrating New Year’s Day on January 2, so I do not have to come to work that day. My mother and sister are coming to town for a short visit, so that will be fun. My mom came down at Thanksgiving and she got to see me at the dialysis clinic. I think that helped her get a better idea of what I am doing for 12 hours every week. I don’t know when they will get here, but if it is early enough, then my sister can come see the clinic as well. She also has Polycystic Kidney Disease, so dialysis and a transplant may one day be in her future as well.

So, since I am going to have some family in town, I don’t know how soon the next post will be. Stay tuned to your RSS readers, and I will update when I get a chance.

Thanks for reading today!!

Merry Christmas

It has been about a week since the last time I posted. I will try to update everyone here quickly. I got my treatment moved up on Christmas Eve so that Jenny and I could go to the Christmas Eve service at church. I had off Friday of last week and Monday of this week, so I have been enjoying some vacation time at home with Jenny. We got to watch TV, play some games, and just spend time together. It has been quite nice.

I noticed that I have a couple of new comments that have been posted since the last time I wrote them out. Here they are:


At 12:58 PM, anu said...

Hi Nathan,

I wish you Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy new year 2006.

I pray that you get a kidney and the transplant is successful and you lead a happy life:)

god bless.

Anu, thank you for your well wishes. I did have a great Christmas, and I am looking forward to an entire happy 2006. I will be tested for transplant next year, and that can only lead to good things. I am looking forward to the day I get my transplant, and hope that it will improve my quality of life. Thanks!


At 2:28 PM, Vlademar said...

Nathan,
This is Vladc***@***.com,aka Lee Vlademar AKA Lee Batchelor.
That last name should bring back ancient memories from Sunnymede. I see Angela and your mother here at Coleman Pharmacy often. I am no retired and work there part time. It's a lot of fun. Almost as much fun as the old days at Sunnymede. I wanted to let you know how proud I am of you and how your are handling your situation. I know that God is leading you through your life as a responsible, productive part of society who happens to have a temporary handicap. You will beat this and be totally healed. Have fun with your mother and Angela while they are down there this weekend. You will always have my prayers. I want to thank your wife for taking care of one of my Kids. You know how I am about My kids.

Love,
Miss Batchelor

Well, for those of you that don’t know, that was one of my fourth grade teachers from back in Fort Smith, AR. I see that she is working at the local pharmacy where my mom and sister both go. It is always good to hear from someone that has known me from long ago. I have yet to write her back, but I will do so (most likely this week, in case you are reading!) I am thankful that my mother continues to share my story with those around her that know me, and that everyone has the ability to catch up on my life through this blog.

Well, that’s about all for today. I am heading off for another four fun hours of dialysis. But, it won’t be too bad. Jenny is off work and is supposed to visit me today. Yippie!!

December Lab Report

It is time, once again, for Nathan’s Lab Report. I have noticed that the web site does NOT like me to submit my labs in a table, so I am just going to do a bulleted list today. I will put the test and my results first, with expected values in parenthesis. And, I am going to try to put low values in blue and high values in red. I’ll see if I can find my old report to discuss the changes after the list.

• WBC: 4.68 – 1000/mcL (4.80 – 10.80)


• RBC: 3.20 – mill/mcL (4.70 – 6.10)


• HGB: 10.3 – g/dL (14.0 – 18.0)


• HCT: 29.2 - % (42.0 – 52.0)


• MCV: 91 – mcm3 (80 – 94)


• MCH: 32.1 – pg/cell (27.0 – 31.0)


• MCHC: 35.2 – g/dL (33.0 – 37.0)


• HGB X 3: 30.9 - % (42.0 – 54.0)


• Pre-dialysis BUN: 29 – mg/dL (6 – 19)


• Pre-dialysis CREATININE: 7.1 – mg/dL (0.5 – 1.2)


• POTASSIUM: 4.0 – mEq/L (3.3 – 5.1)


• BICARBONATE: 22 – mEq/L (22 – 29)


• ALKALINE PHOS: 87 – U/L (40 – 129)


• AST/GOT: 20 – U/L (13 – 39)


• TOTAL PROTEIN: 6.6 – g/dL (5.9 – 8.4)


• ALBUMIN (BCG): 4.2 – g/dL (3.8 – 5.2)


• CALCIUM: 9.2 – mg/dL (8.4 – 10.2)


• PHOSPHORUS: 4.6 – mg/dL (2.6 – 4.5)


• Ca X P PRODUCT: 42 – (<55)


• SODIUM: 139 – mEq/L (133 – 145)


• CHLORIDE: 102 – mEq/L (96 – 108)


• IRON: 59 – mcg/dL (45 – 160)


• UIBC: 184 – mcg/dL (110 – 370)


• TIBC (CALC): 243 – mcg/dL (228 – 428)


• TRANSFERRIN SAT. (CALC): 24 - % (20 – 55)


• Post-Dialysis BUN: 8 – mg/dL (6 – 19)


• UREA REDUCTION RATIO: 72 - % (65 – 80)


• HBsAg: Negative (Negative)


• CORRECTED CALCIUM: 9.0 – mg/dL


• CORRECTED Ca X P PRODUCT: 41

As always, the important numbers to see are the post-dialysis BUN and the Urea Reduction Ratio. My BUN is 8, which is about the same as I have been seeing the last several months. My URR is 72, which is a bit worse than what I have been seeing, but I attribute that to the fact that I was receiving dialysis through the neck catheter on the day they took my blood for the labs. The neck catheter did not provide as good of a treatment.

My phosphorus shows that it is high, but it is an acceptable value for a dialysis patient. They want us to score between 3.5 and 5.5, so I am right on target. I would like to try to get it below 2.6, but I don’t know what the likelihood of that is, given that I am on dialysis. My hemoglobin is low (meaning anemia) and that is normal. They lowered my anemia treatment last month, and I guess they will have to raise it back up again this month. My potassium is still lower than they prefer, so they continue to dialyze me using the 3K solution. Of note, my average fluid weight gain is 0.76 kg (or 1.1% of my dry weight). A good fluid weight gain is between 3% and 5% of your dry weight, so I am not having any problems with fluid overload. In fact, the dietician said I could drink some more if I want to.
That should be about it for today. I go to see the vascular surgeon next week, and he will tell me how well my fistula revision is healing. Hopefully, we can go back to using it soon and see if I will receive better treatments. Not that I miss the needles, because I don’t. But, I do want the best treatment possible.

I also learned that I will have to keep my chest catheter covered for as long as I have it. For some reason, I though I could remove the bandages at some point, but I guess not. They will keep changing the bandages and cleaning the site at every dialysis treatment until the catheter is removed. Also, I got my treatment moved up to the lunch-time shift for Saturday so that I can go to the Christmas Eve service at church.

Thanks for coming by to read. See you all later!