Fistula Ready?

I had an appointment with the vascular surgeon that put in my fistula today. Last time I went and saw him, I had to wait over an hour. Today, the entire waiting room was packed with patients but they called me in while I was still signing in. I guess my appointment is super brief so they wanted to get me out of the way. The surgeon saw me after only two minutes and said the fistula may be ready for use. He then got a market to trace out the vein’s route through my arm so the dialysis techs know where to poke. I think I’m supposed to try using it this Thursday.

The vein splits into two further up the forearm so I’m supposed to tell the techs to use the portion between the small scar to where the vein splits. The tech told me that they would use only one needle first, which will further mature the fistula. The vascular surgeon also said that he will remove the chest catheter in his office when the fistula is fully matured. For my first chest catheter, I had to go to the main hospital to get it removed.

I thought it would be several more weeks until we starting using the fistula. The surgeon did say if the techs couldn’t get the fistula to work, we need to wait several more weeks. I’m afraid that by using it too early, they will damage it and I will need another surgery to fix it.