Rant: Clot, work, and medical bills

[kevinswife]

Hi All.  I feel the need to rant a bit. . . .

 

My husband has a clot in his fistula.  He has only had the fistula for about 2 months, and this is the second time that it has clotted.  I hope the clot can be fixed and he won't have anymore problems.  They couldn't do dialysis today due to the clot.  I guess it's a good thing they sucked him dry during his last treatment! He is working this weekend and will go Monday to try and have the clot removed. I would really like to take off work Monday to drive him to the surgeon, but my boss will probably have a fit! We are short handed because one of my coworkers is out with a knee problem.  My boss really needs to cross train the employees in order to have better coverage when someone is out.     

Also, my husband received something in the mail today from our insurance company.  It says we owe $253 per dialysis treatment!  Good grief!  We cannot afford this!  He has an appointment with Social Security to find out about signing up for Medicare to help with the expenses.  We owe the hospital over $3,000 from previous visits, and are making monthly payments.  I miss the good insurance that we had 12 years ago.  My husband did dialysis for 3 years and had a transplant.  We didn't even have a copayment. 

Thanks for letting me rant!  This forum is a blessing. 

[Poppylicious]

Awww, being in the UK I can do nothing but sympathise about the money you have to pay out, but I hope you can get Medicare sorted out reasonably quickly to take the stress off the financial woes.  Hope his clot gets fixed and dialysis can safely resume asap, too. 

*huggles*

[willowtreewren]

 

The insurance situation in this country sucks! I wish every member of congress had to deal with these kinds of frustrations! THEN we might see some action!

I hope Kevin can get his fistula up and thrilling on Monday. How will he get home if you don't take him??

 

Aleta

[lmunchkin]

He must have some underlying Vascular issues going on, so ask about Plavix.  It will thin his blood where it can move through the vessels alot easier. I know my husband had some clotting issues too, but when they prescribed plavix, he has none anymore.  Or get the clinic to increase his heprin (Neph has to ok this).  But do talk to Vascular doc and see if he is a cannidate for plavix.

Yea the insurance part is a pisser and We are going through the same thing!

God Bless,
lmunchkin
 

[looneytunes]

Hopefully, the social worker at your clinic can help with the co-payments and when Medicare does start up for you all, that will help some too.  Sure hope the fistula problem gets taken care of quickly.

[kevinswife]

My husband told me that I used the wrong terminology.  What he has is a graft, not a fistula.  I will tell him about the Plavix and heprin.  I will update later and let you all know how it goes.  We still don't know what time he will be seeing the surgeon today, but it is only 7:40 AM here on the east coast of the US.

[kevinswife]

The surgeon was able to remove the clot.  Also, he perscribed Plavix to try to prevent future clots.  The surgeon said if my husband gets another clot in the near future, they may need to check further up in his chest/shoulder area to see if there is something in there that is causing the graft in his upper left arm to clot.  The nurse was saying that he really shouldn't sleep on his left arm.  He tries not to sleep on that side, but sometimes he just rolls over to his left side while he is sleeping.  My husband carries a heavy backpack to work.  He tends to carry it over his left shoulder when he is walking to and from the car.  I keep nagging him about it as I am afraid it may hurt his graft. 

I ended up going to work.  The entire time I was there, I felt like I should have been with my husband.  I was in a grumpy mood at work, and I am not usually like that.  I was also on the verge of tears a couple of times thinking about my husband being there alone.  My husband drove himself to the surgical center, but he was unable to drive home due to the pain meds making him sleepy.  I ended up leaving work about 15 minutes early.  When I asked my boss if I could leave to go get my husband after surgery, she didn't even look up from her desk to look at me.  She just told me I could go.  It kind of pissed me off that she couldn't even look me in the eye or say "I hope everything is okay".  I work 15 minutes late almost everyday, and don't get paid for it.  I hardly ever ask to leave early.  I ended up leaving my car at the surgical center and driving my husband home in his car.  I hope my car is still there when we pick it up tomorrow after dialysis.  Thank you for letting me vent!

[del]

Your husband really needs to stop carrying the backpack on the should he has his access in. He has to take care of it because its his life line. Hubby doesn't even wear his watch on that arm.

[kevinswife]

My husband's graft clotted again two days ago.  This is the third time!  Now he has a perma cath in his chest.  He has an appointment on Friday with the surgeon who put the graft in his arm. 

He was off work in between clot number 2 and clot number 3, so I can't blame it on the backpack this time.

Del, I didn't think about his watch and wedding ring.  Good to know. 

[bansix]

do you know where it is getting clotted? is it the arm or chest area?
i got my fistuala late september and have to get a fistulagram just about every other week. it gets clotted in the artery in my shoulder.  so far the latest diagnosis is that i have an anatomical defect where ive got too muscle for a person my size. so empty space is limited and theres no room for blood to flow where it should. one option they are talking about is removing my top rib.
i will be very pissed if we go through that and it still doesn't help. especially cause it took so long to get this far and each diagnosis has been wrong. feels like another shot in the dark.

[The Noob]

not saying this is why, but have seen this many times when DH in center, with other patients, both with grafts and fistulas.
the center will run the patient too high pressure, too fast, BP will drop constantly, which clots blood. the high speed and high pressures wear out the graft and/or fistula way too soon, and many have to have the angioplasty every few weeks.

have either of you thought about home hemo? in center,DH ran 3 days a week, for 4 hours or less, at a speed of 800! horrid.

at home he runs 4.5 hrs, speed of 300, FF rate 33, UFR 1.25, these are much slower and easier on him.
since doing this, his PHOS is normal, all labs are perfect.

just saying..