After today, I’m 4 for 6 on fistula usage. On Thursday, my nurse tried to insert the needle in my arm but did not draw any blood. She is very much a one attempt per needle nurse so she pulled the connector out, put a band-aid on it, and just used the chest catheter for the entire session. Today, a different tech stuck the needle in my arm then made several adjustments with the needle until she was able to hit the blood vessel. Since she did not use any Lidocane, it hurt a lot while she was digging around with the needle. Even afterwards, there was a dull pain at the insertion point for the entire session. Once again, they ran the machine at only 200 ml/min so I’m pretty sure I’m not getting enough dialysis. Is every session going to be like this until the fistula matures more? I can’t imagine sticking two larger gauge needles in at the same time when one thin needle is already hurting.
Life with chronic diseases 