The tech that’s been gone for three weeks was back today. I thought someone said medical leave but he told me he was on vacation. He went on vacation back in April; do dialysis techs get a lot of vacation days in addition to working only three days a week?
He came by at around 7:00 am to stick me. Originally I though my dialysis nurse was going to do it. At first glance, it looked like he was successful on both needles. However, once hooked up the machine, the arterial line had pressure issues. After adjusting it for awhile, he gave up and they used the chest catheter to pull blood from my body. He did say that he should have used the regular needle instead of the short one since my artery seems to be deeper down, though a huge blood vessel bulge is developing at the site. Someone else prepped the medical supplies this morning and I think he just used whatever was at my chair.
The only problem is that the arterial needle site is hurting, even three hours after dialysis. I don’t know if he poked around too much or what. At least I’ll get a break on Thursday since it’s monthly lab day and they like to use the catheter to make sure I get a good cleaning. He said he’ll try again this Saturday. Can’t wait…
Life with chronic diseases 