My cardiologist wrote me back late tonight. She has been pretty good with replying to my messages so she must have been busy. Since the shortness of breath doesn’t come when I exercise, it’s probably not coronary artery disease. She thinks it may be musculoskeletal and I should try calling the thoracic surgeon. I guess I’ll call the surgery nurse tomorrow and see if she has any ideas. It is definitely getting worse though. I was at church earlier tonight and just by walking down a set of stairs and across to the first row in the parking lot winded me again. I’m going to walk a bit on the treadmill to see what happens since I haven’t done so in awhile.
I thought the bypass surgery “fixed” my artery issues, at least in the short term. The thoracic surgeon should have bypassed all the clogged arteries during the operation. Unless I clogged some other existing blood vessels or the replacement arteries, I’m not sure what’s going on. Also, it shouldn’t be COVID-19 since I’ve been tested four times since the shortness of breath symptom started.
Finally, the sternum bone movement is most worrisome. I don’t know why this happened all of a sudden. I’m hoping the thoracic surgery people will tell me that this is normal or expected 9-months post surgery and it will pass. With my luck, likely something else is wrong and this will sideline me for a kidney transplant, again. Maybe I’ll never get off dialysis. Ugh, I can’t even think about that.
This blog is probably not the place for political rants but I need to vent. I mentioned a few posts ago that I was playing a mobile game called Age of Z Origins. The developer is Camel Games and they’re based in Beijing. Well, I guess the game servers are in China as well, and if we know anything about the communist party, they’re thin-faced and petty. One of the group leaders wanted to make a composite flag to use as the group’s avatar so I replied that I’m originally from Taiwan but now live in the US. The message showed up in the chatroom but within about 30 second, the word Taiwan was replaced with ******. If you look at the chat history, only swear words got converted to stars. The iOS Taiwan flag emoji was also blocked. When I try to send it in a message, it just disappears.
Screenshot of chat history
I blocked out all aliases and avatars from the chat history screenshot since there’s no limit to the depths of Chinese commie pettiness. I probably hurt the feelings of 1.4 billion Chinese people, me not included of course. F*cking stupid.
I’ve read about Chineses censorship on everything from WeChat to movies but this is the the first time it’s happened to me personally. I don’t get it. If the CCP think China is so great and communism is so awesome, why does everything little thing scare them so much that they can’t even see the word Taiwan or it’s flag? 🇹🇼 🇹🇼 🇹🇼
Not yet. The procedure is scheduled for next Tuesday. This time, the vascular surgeon will take it out in his office. Last time, I had to go to the hospital, which means at least a 4 hour wait. Th doctor took it out in the pre-op room anyway, so it wasn’t a full OR experience. This time,it should be much faster. Hello hot showers, again.
The dialysis center also removed my one suture from the fistulagram last Friday. The head nurse did it and commented that it didn’t even bleed when he removed the one stitch. As always, he talked to me aboutTesla since he bought a Model 3 while I was here before.
The fistula works much better now too. The tech was able to cannulate me on the first try for both needles and run the machine at 350 mL/min without any alarms.
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Update: 8/28/2020 3:45 pm
I don’t think I shared this photo before since it’s kinda gross, and it was taken before I started this blog. This was the previous catheter after it was removed form my chest. The procedure was done in the pre-op room at St. Joseph hospital. They were prepping me like I was going into an OR. I was wearing a hospital gown and I think they stuck an IV needle in me. Then the surgeon walks into the room, gives me a local anesthesia shot, then yanked the catheter out. I think he asked me if I wanted to keep it. Uh, no.
Catheter is the long white thing on the left of the picture. The bottom part were the ports that stuck out of my chest.
It didn’t hurt coming out but it did feel weird. I thought there would be more blood since it was sitting in a large vein for the past 20 months. This time, I’m only going to a doctor’s office to remove it. The actual hole in the chest should close up in a few days so may a week for the first shower in many months?
It’s 11:00 pm and I have try and sleep now, with dialysis in about six hours. I think this problem definitely has something to do with the heart surgery since the keloid on the scar is starting to hurt. I don’t think I’ve experienced this in the nine months since surgery. The chest pressure symptom has always been there in one manner or another, but it’s a lot more pronounced. Over the course of the day today, I tried take a nap several times. Either the shortness of breath gets worse until I have to sit up to breath, or I fall asleep somehow for a hour before waking, still as tired as ever. The cardiologist didn’t call me back yet but usually it takes them two days to reply. I hope I can get some sleep tonight so I don’t have to sleep on the dialysis chair for four hours.
I had written a post about this mobile game that I’ve been playing, but never posted it. I wasn’t too impressed at first, especially the P2W (pay to win) aspects of the game. One of the goals is to level up your city and troops but each level becomes much harder to achieve, unless you spend money (a lot of money). I’ve been at it for a week and just got to level 16, yet there are players that should have been playing for about the same length of time (the game creates a new world as each one fills up with players) at level 30+. That would take months or years if you don’t pay with real money to buy stuff in-game. In fact, the developers (in Beijing China) evidently focused so much on getting more money, have added gambling features where you spend money for in game prizes. It’s like the worst example of micro-transactions I’ve seen in an app.
In the beginning, I installed the game on several iPhones/iPads to get different accounts and played mainly by myself. Now, I’ve been recruited by larger “alliances” or groups and the gameplay has changed a lot. You can group together into large fleets or armies and attack other cities. Since the game allows for a lot of languages, the groups seem to be organized by nationality or ethnicity. I’m in a group called Brazil but most of the group members are not Brazilian. In another instance of the game, I’m in a group call THC (yup!). I’ll admit, it’s been a lot more fun playing in groups, and since most people are stuck at home, there is a lot of participation. The THC group seems fun since there’s no ugly nationalism involved, and the member seem older than your typical immature 15-year old. There’s also a lot of social medial aspects with chats and messages for communications. Real life does intrude into the game however. One of the group members had to sign off for a few days because his sister just passed away. Another member mentioned he needs to go out into hurricane Laura tomorrow for work. I’ll probably never see these people in real life nor even know their real names but you find out about stuff about their lives anyway.
I still get irritated by the intrusive and obvious game features inserted for money but as long as you are patient, I think you can have a good time for free. The problem is that higher level players will always beat lower level players. There is some strategy involved, especially with group play, but I think the whales (those that spend a lot of money on in-game transactions) will always win in the end by outspending you.
$100?!
There are literally a hundred different packs you can buy from $1 to $100. The $100 package above actually doesn’t give you that much. You can collect the equivalent resources in a few days, and at most it saves you two days of waiting. Also, what is QiXi Festival? I’m Chinese and I don’t know. I’ve seen instances where the developers forgot to put in English text so a bunch of Chinese characters (simplified) comes up. When the text is in English, some longer passages are pretty odd. You can tell the game was developed overseas.
I’m learning so much about medical disorders that I can be a doctor soon… just kidding.
I bought a pulse oximeter several months ago at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. Since price gougers already hit Amazon by that time, I went and bought it directly from the source on AliExpress. Items are cheaper but you have to be patient; my order for two oximeters took 40 days to get here from China.
Pulse oximeter. Not the exact one I got but they’re all pretty much the same.
Normal readings for blood oxygen content is from 95% to 100%. Readings below 90% could mean hypoxemia, or below-normal levels of oxygen in blood. I just measured my oxygen levels and got a 93%. I guess that’s not unexpected since I’m experiencing shortness of breath. I tried breathing deep but it didn’t help very much. Maybe since we’re stuck inside the house with the air conditioner on 24/7, I need to try breathing deep outside.
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Ugh, I just went out to the backyard and the reading go worse.
Maybe it’s due to walking downstairs and using up all the oxygen in my bloodstream?
Actually, the reading drops down to 80% and comes back up repeatedly. The meter beeps when the oxygen reading drops below 85% so it was beeping constantly. That’s not good. I know things made in China may not be super accurate, but I “tested” everyone in the house when I received them and all were reading 98% to 100%, even me. So something definitely happened in March, probably to my heart as I was recovering from bypass surgery. Whatever it was may have also triggered the a-fib that took forever to fix, and now is making me breath hard.
I hope it’s not serious. I’m tired of hospitals and surgeries. At some point, UCLA transplant center will probably drop me again as a candidate if this continues.
Here are some recent lab results using the table from a February post:
Test
Normal Range
6/11/2020
7/16/2020
8/13/2020
Albumin
3.6 – 5.1
4.3 g/dL
4.3 g/dL
4.6 g/dL
Calcium
8.6 – 10.3
8.8 mg/dL
8.8 mg/dL
9.4 mg/dL
Potassium
3.5 – 5.5
5.2 mmol/L
5.2 mmol/L
5.4 mmol/L
Phosphorus
3.5 – 5.5
5.9 mg/dL
4.6 mg/dL
5.3 mg/dL
Urea Nitrogen (BUN)
7 – 25
54 mg/dL
39 mg/dL
47 mg/dL
Glucose
65 – 99
82 mg/dL
104 mg/dL
81 mg/dL
Creatinine
0.7 – 1.3
9.74 mg/dL
8.76 mg/dL
9.63 mg/dL
eGFR (non-African American)
> 60
6
6
6
Urea Reduction Ratio (URR)
> 65%
63%
64.1%
68.1%
*1/16/2020 results from Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
So for July and August, all the important renal lab results are within range. Interestingly, the 63% and 64.1% for URR were measured with the chest catheter. For August, they use the fistula and took the blood samples from the dialysis machine. Last week, the nephrologist said that once we figure out the flow and pressure issues, we can “turn up” the machine and get better cleaning. It was already at 68.1% this month. Hopefully they can increase the flow rate and cut down the time. I noticed that out of everyone arriving at 5:30 – 6:00 am at dialysis, I am the last to leave at past 10:00 am.
UCLA transplant center sent me a FedEx envelope today. I knew it was coming; the coordinator assistant told me over the phone she would send it out Monday. In it are instructions for this Friday’s video call, and another consent form. There is also other lists I need to fill out for medication and current physicians. The new item seems to be a consent for blood type B patients to receive kidney from blood type A2/A2B donors. The documentation said the risk of rejection is similar to a regular type B kidney. Of course I’ll take it. There is also consent forms to receive Hepatitis C or HIV infected kidneys but I was told to ignore those for now.
I believe these are standard forms for a new kidney patient. It’s kind of weird that I’ve filled these out three or four times already. Each time my donor is being reevaluated, they send out the forms. However, the main reason that this call is set up was them to explain the situation with my sister as donor. I guess I’m cautiously optimistic that they’re moving forward with the process again but not looking forward to retesting again at UCLA. At least the traffic is better now with COVID-19.
Actually, I have no idea what to do with the documents after I fill them out. Send back via FedEx? Scan to PDF and email? Is that allowed under HIPAA? I guess I’d better call the coordinator assistant tomorrow.
Wow, it was pretty bad today. I didn’t sleep enough this morning, getting up at around 2:30 am and staying up until dialysis. I tried to sleep during dialysis but it’s difficult with two huge needles in my arm. I also got woken up by nutritionist but that was near the end of the session so probably didn’t matter much.
After charging my car again, I came home at ~11:20 am and started nodding off. I tried to take a nap but was having lots of difficulty breathing. As mentioned before, this was mainly when I was lying down on my back and there were several times when I thought I couldn’t catch my breath. In addition, my sternum was still moving and making noises so it was very uncomfortable. I doubt it’s COVID-19 since I just tested negative and there is no fever. My cardiologist asked about a Lexiscan test last time but I thought symptoms were improving. I guess not. I just sent her a long email asking her what I should do next. So many issues, just one after another…
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Situation is about the same for the past four hours. I tried to take another nap but was unsuccessful. it’s almost 10:00 pm now so I’m going to try and go to sleep and see what happens. It’s kind of weird since sometimes I would bend over to pick something up and run out of breath, then go upstairs to my bedroom and feel relatively fine. Shouldn’t I be passing out all the time? Something happened mid-March. I thought it was the a-fib but that’s been fixed for over two months. I’ve also tested negative for COVID-19 four times.
Since I have a finance degree, my mom has always been bugging me to invest her money. However, I am very risk adverse and my work has basically been budgeting and planning for companies. I only started doing some investments after working in Treasury, but the company’s investment strategy is also very conservative.
For the past 10+ years now, I’ve give a bit of money to an accountant friend who also does financial planning. The thought is to earn some investment income but also look for ways to reduce taxes. I don’t think he’s been too successful on the tax target since it seems like I’m paying a lot of taxes. Over the ~10 years, he’s probably averaged 10% returns post fees. Not bad, but in comparison, the S&P 500 averaged about 12% gains annually. I could have done better if I just bought SPY ETF with the money I gave him.
Since I’m working part time now, and I’m starting to really plan for retirement, I’ve been looking at the investments I have position in and trying to understand the mutual fund market. To start, my mom is giving me about 10% of her retirement to invest. Right now it’s almost all in cash, making 0.80%. I started with an account at Robinhood but heard it’s not a great choice for research so I opened another account at Fidelity. I then picked out some funds that seem interesting. I think I’m going concentrate on a bond fund, and a stock index fund. Still debating whether to buy SPY for the stock portion of the portfolio, or go with a Fidelity mutual fund.
I’ll probably also take some cash and open an account for myself. I want to see if I can outperform a “professional” in picking mutual funds or justify his 1.5% fees. If this works out, maybe I can just day trade as part of retirement. Just kidding.
Holy crap! I think that was the mother of all dentist appointments I just went to today. I got there at 9:00 am and got out after 12 noon. I then had to take something to the guy making my crowns and have him do some color matching. All together it took over 3.5 hours. Today, the dentist prepped my upper teeth for a bunch of crowns. I think there are six temporary crowns in my mouth right now. All to be replaced with permanent crowns in about two weeks. I’m not sure what all this costs. I think I paid $4000 a few weeks ago and about $800 today. This is in addition to >$10k earlier in the year.
Since so much work was being done today, my gums took a beating. The anesthesia was waring off near the end of my appointment and my gums were throbbing in pain. After I got home, I quickly popped two Tylenol + codeine pills and now I feel pretty good. The downside is I only have two more pills left so hopefully no more long dentist appointments. I do have some leftover Percocet from the heart surgery, and my mom has some Tylenol + hydrocodone. I can use those if the pain becomes unbearable.
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My dentist worked in the same company as me before he became a dentist. I left that company 9 years ago but still keep in touch with a few ex-coworkers. Coincidentally, the old sales VP was in the dentist’s office as I was checking out. My dentist asked if I wanted to say hi. I know of the VP and were in a few meetings together but I don’t think he remembers me, especially after 9 years so I declined. Small world.
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It’s 10:30 pm and all I’ve ate today are some pieces of watermelon and a cup of decaf tea. The temporarily capped teeth are feeling better but still throbbing a bit. I was going to eat something but it was either too sticky or hard. I’ll probably go grab a protein shake, drink it and go to sleep. Looking forward to having the nurse remove the couple of sutures in my arm. The incision point has been itchy all day.
As I was brushing my teeth tonight before bed, the word thinner popped into my head. I know I’ve talked a lot about my weight loss. If this had been anytime within the last 30 years, I would have been very happy. However, I’m fluctuating between annoyed and concerned right now. I’ve kind of flattened out at ~88 kg lately but here’s the chart from Fitbit again, updated for today.
I had to move the chart manually and hold it while getting a screenshot, so the app didn’t reformat the y-axis.
Thinner was a book by Stephen King. I think I read it a long time ago. I’ve actually read many Stephen King novels until I read It. I read it right before I started college at UCLA, and it scared the crap out of me. They also made a movie based on the book but I don’t believe I ever saw it. Basically a lawyer runs over a Gypsy and the justice system covers for him so he’s found not guilty. The Gypsy’s father curses the lawyer by touching his face and whispering, “Thinner.”
My situation is not a curse but nevertheless, I’ve been losing a lot of weight. Looking at my ankles, I probably still have too much fluids in me so the weight loss may be more dramatic than shown. From right after the surgery in November 2019 to now, I lost ~20 kg or ~45 pounds. As someone who has been overweight to slightly obese his entire adult life, this should be great news. I thought when it happened, I would be losing fat. Instead, I think I’m losing muscle mass as my arms and thighs have definitely shrunk over time. Now I really feel like a shrinking old man.
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Updated: 8/24/2020 11:00 pm
Since I skipped all my meals today to to a long dentist appointment, I just weighed in at 86.6 kg. I believe the lowest I’ve weighted at home was 86.5 kg so I’m almost there again. It would be a very light dip at the end of the chart if I were to update it. I’m a bit hungry but not too bad. I think I’ll just grab a protein shake. Maybe I’ll feel better enough tomorrow to eat some solid food.
I saw the girl patient that was brought in on a stretcher walk on Tuesday. It was after dialysis and she was walking out of the dialysis center to a car in the parking lot. She had pretty large leg braces on both legs and was using a walker. I had to use a walker for several weeks after the heart surgery. Anyway, she was walking super slow since she could not bend her knees, and it looked exhausting. Did something else happen? Was that complications from dialysis treatment?
Well, on Thursday, she was wheeled in and out on a stretcher again. I’ve only seen her try to walk that one time. Same thing Saturday: in and out on a stretcher. Maybe she’s not healed enough for walking yet, or whatever condition she has got worse. Ugh, if kidney failure doesn’t kill you, dialysis slowly will. That is why I’m pissed off at UCLA right now. Unless the medical director tells us something surprising, I think they just wasted two years of my life on dialysis.
And f*ck Trump for getting our hopes up with his executive order on kidney transplants and home dialysis last year… then not following up with anything. What was the point of the totally useless executive order? Nothing has changed.
At dialysis yesterday, the tech was able to get both needles in the blood vessel on the first try, however the arterial needle seemed to have high pressure again. She went and got the OG tech, and he was able to readjust the needle so it flowed much better. They haven’t use the chest catheter for over a week now. I’m getting worried that if they don’t flush it soon, it may clot and won’t work if we need it again.
My lifelines, literally
Also, the tip of the upper needle looked like it was getting pretty close to the fistulagram incision site. Right after hooking me up to the machine, the incision site started to hurt. I think it was still healing from the cut and to have that much blood flow near it wasn’t good. The pain subsided in a bit but occasionally I would get a brief shooting pain near the lower needle. That went on until late in the night last but hasn’t come back yet.
Again, I really don’t like the fistula. It’s ugly and it hurts a lot more than the catheter. No one has shown me the actual statistics for the infection rate for the different access methods. I’m pretty sure infections are more serious with the catheter but is it common? What about compared to all the complications that can happen with a fistula? I also think poking the needle in the same spot all the time can’t be good. The scabs covering the insertion site never heals and there are permanent dark spots on my arm from the repeated cannulations. Even after I get a transplant, those fistula scars will probably never go away. Lovely. Another scar to add to the many on my upper torso: long open heart surgery scar, exit sites for heart fluid draining tubes, peritoneal dialysis catheter port, and two holes for hemodialysis chest catheters on my upper right chest. I feel like Frankenstein.
Instead of getting dim sum this morning, I decided to try out Holdaak, a Korean fried chicken place. I went online and ordered 5-pieces of chicken strips and six chicken wings (original flavor). Didn’t get anything spicy, which is what they are famous for. Maybe next time. The two chicken dishes(?) tastes very different. The chicken strips were very large, and the breading was very crispy. It tasted very similar to Raising Cane’s chicken fingers, though I think Raising Cane’s is a bit more tender and juicy. The sauce they gave looked and tasted a lot like Cane’s sauce too. The wings had a different taste, similar to the chicken from Fuari Chicken, another Korean Fried Chicken place inside Zion Market in Irvine. My mom came with me to pick up the food. I had trouble finding the place since it was in one of many strip malls on Tustin Avenue. There was a line of people ordering inside the restaurant, and another line for online order pickup. Overall, it was pretty busy, especially for noon on a Sunday.
Fried chicken! I thought the breading was too thick and crunchy. It was good but I liked Raising Cane’s version a bit more.
I think I still prefer Raising Cane’s chicken fingers. The Box Combo cost about the same as Holdaak’s five chicken strips. Holdaak had better fries and you also get a piece of bread. Raising Cane’s combo gives you some coleslaw that’s ok, and a 22 oz. drink. It also feels like if you go to the restaurant an order, you’ll get your food much faster at Raising Cane’s. My mom really liked the Holdaak wings though.
The wings were also very good though very greasy. Our entire order of six wings were all mini-drumsticks and not the bottom part of the wing.
Overall, I think I need to stop eating from both places. Fried chicken tastes awesome but you can tell how greasy it is just by looking at your fingers afterwards. This type of food probably led me to needing a heart bypass surgery so I need to avoid that as much as possible.
Today was the second day in a row that I just had one meal. Yesterday, I only had a breakfast burrito (with bacon) to eat for the entire day. Today, after dialysis, I decided to get a chicken kabob from Panini Kabob Grill. Typically I can make the food last over two meals but I ended up eating all of it (chicken) at 11:00 am. I tried to stay awake but each time I would sit down, I would start nodding off. I ended up taking a few naps, and slept through dinner again. It’s 11:40 pm now and all the leftovers are packed away so I guess I’ll have another protein shake and go to bed.
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I found another chicken finger/strip place that looks good. It’s called Holdaak and it’s basically Korean fried chicken sandwiches and strips. The location in Orange is pretty much across the street from Raising Cane’s on Tustin Avenue. I wanted to try Holdaaak earlier but they open at 11:00 am, which is a bit longer than I want to wait after dialysis. I could have gone there for lunch today since I went to charge my car after dialysis, but I had a craving for chicken kabobs so I went to Panini instead. Prices a Holdaak are similar to Raising Cane’s except you don’t get the Texas Toast and Coleslaw, stuff I don’t usually eat anyway.
For heart surgery, the surgeon cut through my sternum to open up my chest and ribcage so they can have access to my heart. After surgery, they bind the sternum together with wire so the bone will fuse back together. All good, right?
However, since mid-March, I’ve had some shortness of breath, especially when lying flat on my back or walking up stairs. I thought it was related to my a-fib condition but it has continued after my cardiac ablation procedure. I thought it was getting better but now it seems worse. There is definitely a clicking sound and feeling of bone grinding at the base of the sternum when I’m flat on my back. It’s kind of freaky feeling. I didn’t experience this early on during heart surgery recovery when the bones should be moving. Not sure why it’s happening 9 months after surgery. Not even sure who I should contact… my cardiologist or the thoracic surgical nurse?
One problem at a time. First is another dental appointment Monday. Then a video call with UCLA Transplant Center medical director Friday. Then an appointment with the ophthalmologist Monday. I guess then I can call my cardiologist about the sternum and maybe do a Lexiscan since I’m not breathing right. Ugh.
At first I was going to name the post “Post-Surgery” but it wasn’t really surgery, though the OR was pretty real. I wonder if the cost will be similar to a full surgery.
Since eating the breakfast burrito (with bacon) for breakfast after the procedure, I’ve had no appetite at all. My mom made dinner but I didn’t even go downstairs to check it out. I think it’s all packed away now. I probably need to drink a protein shake or something so my blood sugar doesn’t plummet later tonight.
I’ve also been super tired all day. I thought they only gave me a minimal amount of sedatives but today was the most tired I’ve felt in months. I probably took 4-5 naps after breakfast. I did use another vacation day at work in case the fistulagram became more serious, so I didn’t even look at the emails until late in the afternoon. It’s 10:00 pm now. Let see if I can get any sleep tonight before dialysis.
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.
They must have my allergies in their system yet each time, they seem surprised I’m allergic to heparin. “What happens with heparin?”
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.
Hmm, I feel like I can start a new blog just for daily fistula updates. At the dialysis center, the techs rotate pods (areas) once every three months. The tech that has the most success cannulating me is actually in another pod currently. He usually comes over when he has free time to insert needles in my arm. That’s why my nurse usually connected me through the catheter first so I can start the dialysis treatment, then switch the access point if he is successful.
Today, the tech that’s actually in my pod currently wanted to try again, and she was successful on the first try on both needles. There must still be some differences in technique because it hurt a lot more, even with a lidocaine shot. Once in though, the fistula worked pretty well at the 350 mL/min rate. The nurse still thinks there may be a problem with the fistula, even though they have been pretty successful in using it.
This is what my fistula looks like right now. It’s hard to see in a photo but there are definite bulges where the vein is developing. You can totally feel the blood rushing through the vein and also hear it. They insert the needle in the same spot each day so it keeps scabbing over and the scar never heals.
Which brings me to my scheduled fistulagram tomorrow. Not sure what is involved but I would feel rather stupid if the surgeon can’t find anything wrong since it seems to be working now. Likewise, I’m not sure what to say if he wants to go in again to do something since I don’t want another surgery unless it’s a kidney transplant.
Life with chronic diseases 