I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Spouses and Caregivers => Topic started by: ODAT on May 14, 2009, 08:08:40 PM
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Been gone a while - hope everyone is okay.
Tuesday at 7:30 am mom got her knee replaced. The week prior at her nephrologist appointment, the doctor told mom her GFR went from 15 to 13% and that she would need to start soon. Creatine was the same as prior appt - 3.5. He said that he would see her in 4 months, if everything went okay with surgery. He also told her that he didn't want to see her wait too long and possibly have conjestive heart failure. He said the longer you wait, the sicker you will get and then dialysis would be harder on you.
Mom has not been any different as far as feeling bad. She has been eating well, sleeping good, still driving, although she did take a lot of naps. Her sugar has also been in control.
Please tell me what you think of the following events.
Surgery went perfectly. I got there around 4:00 - sis was there all day and had just left. Mom was crying and was in pain. Told nurse and they gave her iv pain med - starts with a D and I was told it was 4 times stronger than morphine. An hour later mom was still in pain so they gave her a pill form of same med. Two hours later they gave her 1 of 3 oxycotton pills. She wasn't getting any more than that because of addiction concerns associated with that drug. I left at 8:45 and mom was mostly sleeping. Whenever she opened her eyes, I'd make her drink. She was getting iv fluids and saline. Her potassium was high. Urine output was low - very low. Her skin has been looking kind of yellowish the last few months.
Wednesday - I didn't see her that day as my younger sis was there all day - then my brother at night. Sis called and said mom was shaking, but wasn't cold. My brother called to give me an update later that night. He said she was shaking like she had parkinsons. It wasn't like a cold shiver, it was more spasims. She was incoherent and had to stop and think to get a thought out.
Thursday - sis called me at 11:30 (she was at hospital - I was at work). She was crying and very upset - not like her at all. The doctor told her they wanted mom to start dialysis at 1:00 today. They said that mom had told them to talk to sis first. I called neph and he told me he would come in and see her but thought she should start - the doctor works closely with him and he trusts his diagnosis.
I got to hospital at 12:15. Neph said he'd be there between 12 and 12:30. I missed him, by the time I got there sis told me they were taking her for dialysis. I looked at mom for the first time seeing her with the shakes. I had to bit my tongue to stop from crying. She didn't even sound normal. She was right there in the room when the neph and sis told her she needed to start dialysis, yet when they came in with the transport bed, she looked at my sister and asked if she was going to surgery. Mom knows what dialysis is so she didn't confuse the two.
The dialysis doctor said they were going to dialysize for three straight days. Today they just did 20% - he didn't want to do too much. She also got a unit of blood. I told the dialysis nurse about ihatedialysis and she said she hadn't heard of it. Told her that I learned a lot and the members were awesome. And that there were also nurses on. She had gone back to her desk, an aid came in and the nurse told her 'I'm looking up ihatedialysis.'
They put lydocane on mom's arm and mom told us she didn't feel anything. She said "It's not as bad as I thought." They always use lydocane and it's always a nurse, not a technician, that puts you on and off. We were not allowed to be there when put on and taken off, but while she was on, they had no problem with us there and said to ask questions whenever we wanted.
Mom had no appetite Tuesday or Wednesday. She ate half a muffin this morning. Nurse told us she when mom finally did urinate - it would be a lot. Well, it was when she was on dialysis. With the smallest bed pan you've ever seen.
After dialysis it was almost dinner time. Mom was hungry. Got back to her room - total of 1 1/2 hours on dialysis. She ate enough. To me, she looked like she got some color to her face. We are so close that we don't see how tinged her skin looks.
We asked prior to giving go ahead if it was the oxycotton that made her shake because that is one of the side effects. It wasn' that.
I will post more tomorrow. Good night all.
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Sorry about that. Prayers for your mom. I didn't hear what happened that they felt they needed to start so soon, but if she needs it, she needs it. Prayers for you, prayers for her.
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Sorry to hear about your mom ODAT.
I was also told my skin looked a little yellowish back then, but I never noticed. Hope your mom feels better soon and physical therapy will not be bad for her.
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Best wishes for your mom ODAT- it sounds like she's getting good care. Soemtimes the stress of surgery can be tough on your organs, so maybe that's why she needed dialysis. Please keep in touch and take care!
:cuddle;
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:grouphug;
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:cuddle; :grouphug; :cuddle; :grouphug;
Thinking of you!
Aleta
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:grouphug; ODAT. I will pray that things continue on the up-hill. The shakes could very very be from all the pain medications that she took. Len had one of those spells just last week. If she isn't getting enough fluids and her kidneys are working good, she can't flush them from her system they just build up and build up. Dialysis should remove a lot of them and hopefully she can just get smaller doses to control the pain. You be in my thoughts and prayers. :cuddle;