Another ER Visit

Previously, I spent about 22 months on hemodialysis. Even though it was a pain-in-the-ass to go in every other day, I remembered it as mostly tolerable. This time, likely due to the heart surgery recovery, I’m having a much harder time. Due to chest and back pain, it’s hard to sit so the 3.5 hours of dialysis, even though it’s the same duration as previously; it seems like torture this time.

Today, I sat for over an hour doing nothing, then pulled out my iPad to watch Season 4 of The Grand Tour, which was about 1.5 hours long. When the show was done, I started not feeling well. I can’t describe exactly what was wrong but remembered feeling hot and wanted to end the session early (I’ve never ended a hemodialysis session early). The nurse came by and asked me if I was okay, and I answered I wasn’t sure, which was like pressing a panic button. The nurse make me raise my legs and lowered my head, as well as giving me oxygen, and trying to stop the dialysis session. I’m not sure what she did but the machine started beeping loudly non-stop, and pretty soon there were four nurses around me messing with the machine and the connection to my catheter. I distinctly remember the nurse saying she wanted to push my blood back in me but also had me unhooked at one point. Anyway, they decided that due to the worsening numbness in my hands and feet, the should call the paramedics. Arg!

So soon the paramedics arrive, all six of them, and they started hooking me up to monitoring units and asking a lot of questions. I felt better at this point but the numbness in my hands and feet were still pretty intense. I hoped it was part of a reaction to taking (and stopping) amiodarone, and nothing else. Since the numbness wasn’t really subsiding, paramedics decided to take me to the ER, which was about 500 feet down the street. Anyway, got strapped into a gurney, put in the back of an ambulance, and took a 60 second ride to the ER. It was just enough time for me to find my phone and text my sister that instead of picking me up, she should come to the ER instead.

At the ER entrance, I was unloaded and pushed through the ambulance only door and into room 29 (the highest number I saw was 45). Soon doctors and nurses came to ask questions and take blood samples. After waiting about an hour, the ER doctor said they could not find anything wrong with me. All the labs came back normal except for my troponin levels which were at 0.24. Seeing that i was at 4.5 to 11 during my first ER visit, he thought the value was ok for heart surgery recovery. To be sure, they ask me if I wanted to wait two hours and run the test again. I said sure and the second test said 0.23. With that, the ER said to get dressed and go home. My sister and cousin visiting from Canada kept me company for the four hour ordeal.

I’m glad it was nothing but I can’t keep going back to the ER. Ambulance rides are paid for since I pay the city monthly, and likely all expenses are covered by my work health insurance. However, I don’t know if these post-surgery visits count as strikes against me getting back on the transplant list or lengthening the time it takes to go forward with a live donor transplant. Seriously, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the next dialysis sessions yet I have endure many more months of it.