Fistula Update 8/6/2020

For the past 2-3 weeks, I’ve been using the chest catheter because the only tech that can stick me is out. I got used to having the use of my right arm again during dialysis, and no pain! With the proliferation of personal protection equipment at the clinic, I think the risk of infection with the chest catheter is lower than before. I’m also still waiting fo the vascular surgeon to get back to me on yesterday’s fistula ultrasound.

So about an hour into the session, my current nurse comes by with two 17-gauge short needles and said she wanted to try. I think she tried once before an failed. She goes ahead and feels for my veins for awhile, and sticks both needles in one try. The arterial one did hurt on insertion even though she used lidocaine, and the venous one hurt for the rest of the session but no bruises or leaks. Since she used 17-gauge needles (thinner), they could only run the machine at 250 mL/min max. So even though the dialysis wasn’t as effective, at least the fistula got used for three hours. Now what do I tell the vascular surgeon?