warning rant ahead!

[sullidog]

Well I went for my apt today with my vascular surgeon. We agreed on a fistula gram, actually mine is a shuntagram since I have a graft, but it's all the same. Anyways the problem is my pressures are hi on the machine. It's weird though because he felt it and said it has a nice thrill, it also has a nice strong bruit so I'm thinking it's probably the dum techs, they even admited my last treatment it was probably them because I had a nice thrill and bruit. The thrill does decrease as you go up then gets strong again but you can here good swishing all throughout the graft. I've asked for the same tech everytime but they won't grant my request. Instead they keep giving me this african chic that all she does is stick the needles really deep, and today I said I think you are going too deep she said what are you feeling? Lady I feel discomfort you stupid lady.
They've also played with the needles so much I have a knot in the middle of my graft.
I'm not getting very good dialysis, I don't know what my clearences are but I can tell I'm not getting good dialysis and they can't get me in til possibly next week but they will call me. I have to work, I'm phatigued, have that matalic taste sometimes, and not to mention they won't give me longer times because they don't know what my clearences are for the month yet as they haven't drawn them and last months were ok. So I have to suffer until we find out if it's my graft or the techs that are at fault. I don't know what to do I hate feeling like crap and I usually feel pretty good on days I don't have dialysis, in fact I feel more horible now after dialysis before they pulled my catheter last month do to the infection. That's another thing they didn't want to put another one in do to my infection, but I feel it needs to be put back in until we can sort all of this crap out.
I'm about the end of my rope!
Troy

[Rerun]

Troy, I hear ya.  If the techs aren't doing something right how are we to know.  They like it that way.  They don't need us watching them telling them what to do.  Then who suffers..... we do.  I guess go ahead and get the fistulagram done and if all is well there then insist on a seasoned tech. 

I hope you start feeling better.

[RightSide]

I've been going to the same center long enough that I can see how each tech and nurse has his or her own "style" of cannulation--and how some are better at it than others.  They can be quite opinionated about which "style" is best too.