Just got a call from the vascular surgeon’s office. He wants me to get a fistulagram, which appears to be a dye-enhanced X-ray of the fistula. It’s scheduled for next Friday at 7:30 am which means be at the hospital by 5:30 am. I also have to do another COVID-19 test, this time in the hospital ER, then quarantine myself until the procedure by not going anywhere other than home and dialysis. I guess no follow-up dentist appointments next week.
As all this is going on, my fistula worked fine today. The tech used regular 16-gauge needles and was able to stick both needles in on the first try. They were also able to run at 350 mL/min without causing any error alarms for the entire four hours. In fact, they didn’t even hook me up with the catheter, and they even drew blood for labs from the fistula. It was a bit painful and itchy however.
I don’t think this is the last step yet. It’s just for him to go look at possible narrowing of the blood vessel and to see if there are clots. If not, there still a chance of more surgery. Dang it.
Life with chronic diseases 