So yeah. Yesterday the arterial went in like nothing. It was beautiful. The venous however... what a little bitch that vein is.
My nurse stuck it 3 times and all 3 times I clotted off the needle before she could even get it started. At one point (and no, I do NOT have a photo of this) the clot was so big that they wanted to show me. She pushed it back out of the needle onto the paper towel thingie that they keep under my arm and it was just like jello blurbling out of the needle. *urp* *gag*
Yeah. That was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen.
After the 3rd venous fail we packed me up and sent me on my way. I want to make sure to mention that yesterday, even with the fails, there was no pain at the time it was happening. No tears and no pain, just no blood. :-/
I had to come back today and today was a different story altogether. I got there today and they had a special guest stick me. I don't know what he was thinking exactly because he stuck the arterial just fine, but then didn't flush it with saline... I even said to him, "You need to flush that with saline or I'm going to clot it off". Guess what happened... lol I clotted it off.
The venous was horrible again, as usual. I think he got it, but then it clotted off immediately. I don't remember because there was pain involved and tears and me wishing I didn't have to go through this crap.
This time they called someone else in to try and she ended up watching while my nurse did the sticking. Arterial went in fine as per usual and this time, because she knows me, she flushed it immediately. The venous however... UGH.
They got it stuck, but it HURT. Then, they hooked me up to the machine and started it up and the pain only got worse. Like REALLY bad. Like, tear the needles out and get me out of here bad... That happened of course, after I had called my Hubby back to my chair because we thought everything was going to go fine. So yeah, he got to see that. I don't like anyone to see me in that situation, least of all my Husband.
Some fiddling with the needle seemed to fix the problem but not before I was told that they want me to consider a PermCath. That about sent me over the edge. I don't want one. I've thought more and more about it and there is no way, when I have a perfectly fine fistula in my arm, that I'm going to let anyone stick anything directly into my heart. It is NOT happening.
This fistula works. It's been successfully stuck more than a few times now. What I need are nurses that can do it on a routine basis and if the nurses at my current clinic can't do it, then by god I will go to every single center in the greater Chattanooga area until I find a team that can do it before I will even consider a PermCath.
Anyway, they fixed that issue by flipping the needle and turning the speed down and things seemed to be going ok. I sent Dan home and started to relax... until I started having problems getting my breath. They gave me oxygen and that was fine until... I got cold. I don't mean a little chilly either. I mean I was bone chilling, shaking uncontrollably, freezing. They gave me more blankets and even warmed up the fluids that were going back into me through the dialysis process and eventually I warmed up enough to fall asleep.
And then I clotted off the machine. They changed out the works and hooked me back in. And then the venous blew.
And then I went home.
I have an ice pack on now and I'm going to use a heating pad in the morning. And then, tomorrow afternoon, we're going to try the whole damn thing over again.
People, I can't stress this enough... Take care of your kidneys! You do NOT want to go through this.
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