Fun day at the hospital for Joe

[Sara]

He goes to dialysis early in the morning - 5am.  They tell him there is no blood flow through his fistula.  So we go to the vascular surgeon to get it cleared out.  It's not his normal vasc. sx but a different one (not sure why).  First the guy didn't know it was a fistula, I had to keep correcting him that it was not a graft.  Then he says, oh, that changes our approach.  He wants to go through the artery in the groin to stick the wire up and clear out the clot.  Says he has better luck with that.  After sitting in the waiting room for about 5 hours, Joe is finally taken back to curtain area, where he sits for another hour or 2.  He's been having restless legs and man, today, they hit hard.  Surgery takes over 2 hours, turns out he had 2 blockages, 1 at the fistula in his upper arm and another in his shoulder.  The doctor very vaguely and hurridly explained this but didn't really answer my questions about why this happened, etc.  But he does say Joe needs to spend the night in hospital.  He spends another hour recovering and then gets to go to his room for about 5 minutes before they take him to dialysis.  When I see him nearly 4 hours later, he's drugged and mumbling about how he's going to tear out his lines.  He's starving, hasn't eaten in over 24 hours, is going stir-crazy, has this weird pressure device on his groin, and 1 leg tied to the bed so he doesn't move too much.  The nurses end up taking off the pressure thing since the orders said it could and was driving Joe crazy, then they think he's still bleeding from his artery.  Replace the pressure thing, call the doctor, get a CBC (don't know the results of it), bring him a nasty plate of lasagna and carrots.  When I ask for a renal-appropriate plate they say it's that or milk (!) and graham crackers.  He decides to go with the nasty lasagna, but because of the bleeding, he can't sit up and must try to swallow it down while flat on his back.  His back and butt are killing him, everyone in the world has seen his business since the pressure thing is right next to it, he is miserable because of restless legs, no one seems to know what they are doing, and his room is hot as hell.  I ended up leaving just now to try to get 2 hours sleep before work and supposedly they are waiting for ultrasound to call so they can check out the bleeding.  Seems like it would be an emergency thing not to wait until whenever, but what do I know?  God today sucked. 

Oh and plus my work gave me a hard time, saying 'are you sure you need to be there?' and 'this is something that needs to be done today?' etc.
 

[kitkatz]

Oh man! That all sucks!  Sounds like you are going to have to go in there and get some answers.
I wish you luck.  I hope he get better real soon and out of the hospital.

[Hephs-little-lady]

My thoughts and prayers are with you Sara. Hope you get your answers and Joe gets out soon. 

[Rerun]

I'm no vascular surgeon, but I don't think you need to go through the damn groin to get to the ARM.  WTF!  Why didn't he just try going up his damn nose!  It makes just as much sense. 

I'm sorry about work.  It sucks because you are healthy and so they don't understand.  There is family leave.  It is the law.

[Epoman]

 I never heard of them going through the groin.  I didn't it is done like that, is that common, can someone answer that? Man what a rough day, I know how he feels I have been in situations just like that. It feels like the world is on your shoulders. Who's your insurance by the way?

[Bajanne]

Actually, that groin thing works.  My cousin (same age as me) had an aneurism in her brain some time earlier this year.  She was taken to Venezuela for a delicate operation to put a balloon or two in her head, and they went through the groin!!  II had never heard of that before, but it seems to be the way to go for things dealing with blood vessels.  She is doing amazingly well now, back to work, driving, everything. 

[angieskidney]

hmm... I wonder why they would go thru the groin?? I mean when I had blockage in my fistula the surgeon just went thru my arm ..

[Sara]

I've heard of going through the groin for heart caths but when he had the fistual problem before they went through his arm.  It was a different dr., but I don't understand why that would matter.  Oh, and we have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance + Medicare.

So to update, Joe called me at work at 7am saying he was starving and he still wasn't allowed to sit up b/c they were worried he would bleed out from his groin.  The nurses hadn't ordered him any breakfast so there was none for him on the food cart.  Why is it difficult to figure out a DIABETIC needs to eat?!?  I don't have a nursing degree, but I know this, I think pretty much everyone would know this.  He starts yelling at people (which he apologized for later, but I think they deserved it) and finally got some breakfast (1/2 a dried out scrambled egg and a piece of toast - they probably just scraped that off of someone's half-eaten tray) and the vasc. surgeon came in and said he could sit up, he has an aneurysm in his groin but they're just going to watch it for now.  I need to call and get someone to explain all that to me because I think Joe was drugged at the time so can't answer most of my questions, except that he can't go back to work until next Wed or Thurs.  Why do they think someone on pain killers and exhausted and starving is going to retain all the information they throw at them?? 

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'm going to talk to Joe about learning more about the buttonhole technique.  If they aren't blowing his fistula every time at dialysis maybe it won't get clotted so badly?

[Panda_9]

Oh dear what a terrible thing to go through. Its awful when you are starving in hospital, the staff didnt seem to care, how cruel. On our wards theres usually sandwhiches for times when a meal hasnt been ordered, and if not theres cheese and crackers or toast. I bet they would change their attitude if joe had a hypo because of not eating.
All the best, I hope they get it all sorted. I would definitely try for the buttonhole technique, as there is no chance of infiltration, and less trauma. I dont know if it helps lessen the chances of clotting though.

[angieskidney]

Oh dear what a terrible thing to go through. Its awful when you are starving in hospital, the staff didnt seem to care, how cruel. On our wards theres usually sandwhiches for times when a meal hasnt been ordered, and if not theres cheese and crackers or toast.

Last summer when I was in the hospital for 6 weeks total they kept running all kinds of tests (mostly ctscans) and telling me not to eat .. day after day .. I spent over 3 days without food or drink cept for pills and going into dialysis and having all the fluid they put into me thru IV taken back out again. They wondered why I was so grumpy??

[Panda_9]

If I know Im going to be admitted I usually pack some food to take, just things like muesli bars or savoury snack packs that dont need to be in the fridge. They have come in handy just about every time.

[Sara]

That's a good idea.  I'll have to remember that.  Maybe just put some in his "dialysis stuff" bag.

[fireguy]

Had mine clot up twice in three years. Never heard of going through groin???for arm. Hope everything is getting better.

[goofynina]

Hey Sara,  How is Joe doing?  Hang in there, things will get better soon.... Prayers are with you both....

[Sara]

He's getting around, thanks for asking.   His leg is very bruised and swollen, on the side that they used. 

[Mom3]

Sounds like a very hard day!

Less than a month after getting out of the hospital with the heart surgery etc. my son's fistula clotted. They had to do vascular surgery on him, too. It was unsuccessful in his case. While he was hospitalized, they dialyzed him through his groin since his fistula couldn't be used. After it was decided the surgery was unsuccessful, they operated again to install a cath. I wondered why they hadn't done that in the first place instead of putting him through that dialysis through the groin!!

I hope the fistula repair works. If the guy didn't know WHAT a fistula was, he wouldn't cut me (or B.). I'd be getting out the phone book! But in some smaller places I guess there are no choices...

Good luck with the work place. I was fortunate these two fistula operations happened in the summer while I was out of school. Only places with more than 50 employees have to grant FMLA and there are other qualifications, too. Even though I did not use the whole 12 weeks this spring, since I have already used FMLA during the past school year I won't be eligible again next year. Hoping against hope I don't have to take much time for him or me!!  If you work at a place with more than 50 employees it is certainly worth looking into! I wouldn't have a job without it!!

Hope it goes well with the fistula! Sounds like Joe was fortunate to have you there looking out for him...

Mom 3

[Sluff]

Sara I hope things get better soon.

[Sara]

Thanks for the well wishes.  Joe has been taking Darvocet or Percocet...one of those -cet medicines because his leg hurts so bad.  He's been out of work now for over a week because of this...ugh.  He goes back to the vascular surgeon today to have them look at it, so we'll see how that goes.  It is a little less swollen so I guess that's good.

[Bajanne]

I wish Joe a painfree weekend, and you a worryfree one.

[Joe Paul]

So true, hope you both have a good pain/worry free weekend.