Surgery has been scheduled. It will be on January 31st at 11:00 am. I need to check in at 9:00 am for pre-op stuff and the surgery should take about two hours. The surgeon is taking out the now unused peritoneal dialysis catheter, and also putting in a fistula into my left arm. Since I will be under general anesthesia, they will need to keep me until it wears off, which may be awhile since I can’t pee stuff out. I think the recovery is very quick; I don’t remember being out of it too much when they put in the PD catheter. Removing it should be an easier surgery since there’s nothing poking through your skin. I was supposed to go back to work on January 31st but will now need to take a few vacation days depending on how long recovery takes.
I’m kind of ambivalent about this surgery. Sure they need to take teh old catheter out but I really didn’t want the fistula, even though everyone recommends I get one. If it takes three months to heal and mature, I’ll only end up using it for a couple of months. As surgeries go, these are minor out-patient events. After an open heart surgery, all other procedures seem minor in comparison.
Life with chronic diseases 