Election day!
At the end of the dialysis session, after the tech removes the needles, I usually have to sit there and hold some rolled-up gauze on the needle sites to stop the bleeding. Today, the fistula bled a lot. It was probably the most I’ve ever seen of my own blood.
Since I have to sit there an hold the gauze for 10-15 minutes, I’m usually reading Reddit on my iPad. Normally I’m not looking directly at my arm. Today, I felt my arm getting warm which is unusual. When I looked over, there was a huge pool of blood under my arm. I quickly got the tech over and she managed to change the gauze. I then applied pressure again but it was still bleeding. The tech thinks my vein “rolled” away from the gauze while I was applying pressure so she stood next to my chair and held the gauze for 10 minutes. My fistula did stop bleeding after that but I wonder how much blood I lost.
I ended the session at 79.2 kg. The nephrologist lowered my dry/ideal weight again to 79.5 kg so I’m still losing weight, though not as much as the weeks right after surgery.
Life with chronic diseases 