Fistulagram Done

Today’s hospital visit was fairly quick. I got there at 5:30 am and was done by 9:00 am. Due to the coronavirus, I feel the hospital is more efficient in their check-in procedures since they want to minimize face-to-face contact. In fact, I didn’t have to do any admissions paperwork; it was already in the system or taken care of in an earlier phone call.

A nurse walked me into the pre-op area and even though they were only working on my lower right arm, I was told to change into a hospital gown. I hate hospital gowns since you always freeze to death. At least I got to keep my underwear on. That wasn’t always the case on previous visits. All they did during pre-op was insert an IV line into the back of my hand. And of course, the same thousand questions they ask each time I’m there.

At 7:30 am, a nurse wheels me into the operating room. This time it was different because I was awake throughout the entire procedure. They had me scoot over to the OR table, and at this point, they usually give me general anesthesia and then I’m out. This time, I had to converse with 2-3 nurses, trying to follow them around the room while strapped down to the table (at least my arm was restrained). There was a lot of prep work with shaving, antiseptic, some sedatives in the IV line, and lots of sterile drapes(?) to isolate my arm. It was strange to feel the sedative hit. I felt a bit groggy but managed to stay awake. None of that twilight sleep stuff for me.

The vascular surgeon came in and immediately injected several hits of lidocaine in my arm, then made an incision to insert a ink injecting catheter. I can see the same X-ray video he’s watching on the wall. Next he inserted a balloon catheter and proceeded to widen the artery with the balloon. I think because the lidocaine was injected into the skin, each time he inflated the balloon, it hurt pretty good. He did this three times then I could feel him pulling the balloon catheter out. That’s it. He said the fistula was fine. There was some minor narrowing but the dialysis nurses and techs should have been able to cannulate me easily. I guess he was fixing the high pressure issue with the dialysis machines. He also said that we may need to do this several times, or he may even need to go back in surgically to widen the blood vessel. God I hope the transplant comes through before the fistula acts up again.

They then wheeled me out to post-op and since I wasn’t under general anesthesia, I was released and got dressed within 30 minutes. My dad came to pick me up since I was not supposed to drive for 24 hours. After getting home, I wanted a breakfast burrito. Totally forgetting the no driving rule, I ordered over the phone and drove to pick it up.

I have a couple of sutures in my arm from the catheter insertion point that needs to come out in 2-3 days. Otherwise I don’t feel any different. Hopefully this hasn’t been a total waste of time and money, and the fistula works better now.