10:45 came, still no van. 11:00 came, still no van. A few minutes after 11, my driver called to say he'd be a "little" late and would be here by about 11:20. 11:30 came, still no van. I called my Dialysis Clinic to let them know that I was going to be late due to STS. 11:40 came, still no van. I was getting ready to call the Clinic again when he showed up. It was about 11:50 at that point. I got to the Clinic, weighed in (hadn't gained any weight at all if you believe the scale there... however I'm not sure I have a lot of faith in that thing), and got all my crap set up and readied myself for a great day of dialysis. Yeah, I know... but I was trying to stay positive.
The Nurse from the Access Center was there and she was just going to watch one of my regular nurses give it a go to see what happened. Today, for whatever reason, my arterial (you know, the one that never has any problems at all) decided to be a pita. First needle was a miss and then a clot. The Access Nurse took over for the 2nd try and she got it in with little to no problems and we got my labs drawn and got it flushed. Yay! They both said that it 'felt' different though. Of course I didn't feel anything different, so I have no idea what they were talking about. As long as it doesn't hurt, I'm pretty much OK with whatever...
Now it was time to stick that little venous bitch. That needle went in, tried really hard to clot, but in the end they coaxed it enough that it pushed and pulled fine! Yay!!! Only 3 sticks and no pain at all!!! It WAS going to be a good day!
And then...
They hooked me into the machine and started it up. Within a few minutes my alarm started screaming. Uh oh.
I'm still not entirely sure what the problem was, because when they used a syringe, my arterial pushed and pulled really well. When I was on the machine though, my pressure was whack-a-doodle. Rather than continue to try, the decision was made to just call it a day again.
I talked to my Nurse a little more about the PermCath. I'm still very, VERY opposed to the idea, but I don't know how much longer I can put it off. It was decided that I need another Fistulagram (see previous entry from a few weeks ago) to figure out what's going on. I may need an Angioplasty if my arterial has become too narrow. I was told not to eat or drink anything (this was approximately 12:30 this afternoon) for the rest of the day because I was having the procedure done this evening. Bleh.
Dan left work early to come and get me, we got home and I went to sleep. When the phone rang at almost 4:00, I thought that was my call telling us to come to the hospital. Nope. It was the hospital, but they were calling to tell me what time TOMORROW to come for my procedure. I said, "Tomorrow?" The woman seemed confused. "The Doctor's office didn't call you?" Of course not. It's only a potentially life-saving procedure and I'm only terrified out of my skin... why on EARTH would the Doctor's office call to fill me in?
So as it turns out, I was going to have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 9:00 in the morning for the fistulagram at Noon or so. Fine. We immediately left the house to go to the grocery store and get some food for supper. While we were out, my phone rang again. This time it was the Doctor's office telling me that rather than go to the hospital for my procedure, I would instead be going to the Doctor's office and having it done there at 1:30 tomorrow. Mind you, I'm still not supposed to eat or drink anything after midnight tonight, but yeah, my procedure won't be until at least 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.
Yeah, guess who's going to make sure to eat a nice breakfast tomorrow at about 6:30 a.m.? This girl, that's who.
All in all, I'm so over this crap. I want a fistula that works. No, scratch that. I want to have never inherited this damn disease in the first place. I hate PKD. I hate it with a passion so red hot that it burns.
And that was my day. Now I'm home and Hubby and I are getting ready to spend the evening playing Everquest (Remember folks, it is now FREE TO PLAY!!!).
Finally, as for my shout out to Chad and Angie:
Thank you two so much! You guys make my days bearable. Yesterday, even though it was a horrible day and I was in tears for quite a bit of it, you guys helped me through. Let me share that part of my day with you. :)
My ringtone is "Moves Like Batman". I got a phone call yesterday in the middle of all the bullshit (my Daughter's Doctor telling me that she doesn't need her gall bladder removed after all) and the nurses started talking about "Moves like Jagger". I explained that my tone was Batman, not Jagger. They had no idea what I was talking about, so of course I pulled up Youtube and showed them this video:
Everyone that saw the video absolutely loved it and several folks asked me for the exact spelling of "Screen Team". :) I told them to just search YouTube for "Moves like Batman" and then follow the links to see all of Chad and Angie's brilliance. :)
I left out of there with at least two of my nurses singing the chorus over and over again.
Today while I was sitting in the chair, in the middle of all the fail, my nurse was telling some of the others about the video so of course I played it again for even more of them.
Even on the worst of days, Chad and Angie can make me smile and for that, I sincerely thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. I don't comment on the videos and such, (I don't know why... I always mean to, but then I get distracted by something) but I watch them all and I love you guys.
Alright gang, Norrath is calling me.
I'll post something else tomorrow if I'm up to it after the Fistulagram.
Oops, forgot to add my photos...
This is all the crap that is laid out when we first get started. I have iodine on my arm, you can see the arterial (red) and venous (blue) lines to the left of my arm. To the right are the tubes to draw my labs, 2 syringes with medicine to further numb the injection sites, and alcohol swabs.
Here's one of my needles next to my hand/finger. I have large hands btw... I'm almost 6' tall, so I've got the kind of hands you would expect a woman my size to have... Those needles are huge.
This is the package that the needles come in. Each package has 2 set ups. One red and one blue.
And finally, here's something dedicated to all my Nurses...
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