Each day after dialysis, as they’re removing the needles, the tech would ball up a piece of 2×2 gauze and tape it down on the exit site. I would then have to put pressure on the gauze for about 10-15 minutes to stop the bleeding. Then they would put a ton of tape to continue to apply pressure on the gauze. When I get home, I would remove the gauze after about six hours.
Well, ever since I started using the fistula, each time I remove the gauze, one or both of the needle exit sites would still ooze blood. Usually I would wipe up the excess blood, and put a band-aid on it. Sometimes the blood would overwhelm the small band-aid so I would have to change it. This means going through a lot of band-aid strips. I have a drawer full of medical supplies and there are about 10 boxes of assorted band-aids.
Today, the upper exit site was bleeding a bit. Like an idiot, I put the band-aid at the wrong place so it kept bleeding. Good thing none of the blood dropped on the carpet.
Dang it. The band-aid is on the right exit site but the blood has saturated the small gauze pad and is now leaking out. I’ll need to stop the bleeding first and change the band-aid again.
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I now have a piece of balled up gauze held down my medical tape on my arm, much like at the dialysis clinic. I’ll keep this on for about 15 minutes to see if the bleeding stops. There sure are a lot of side issues to deal with during dialysis.
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Aiya! It’s almost 8:00 pm and I’m still bleeding. I had a piece of gauze on the exit site for a few hours then put another band-aid on but just saw blood flowing out under it again. I now have yet another piece of rolled up gauze on my arm. I guess we’ll try again and see if I can get it to stop bleeding this time.
Life with chronic diseases 