I'm joining the club tomorrow

[Stoday]

I'm joining the club tomorrow by having my first (and last, I hope) surgery to establish an A/V fistula. I want it ready to go when I need to have hemo. I wouldn't like to have to start with a catheter.

I'm just beginning to feel a little apprehensive...

[David13]

Good luck tomorrow, Stoday! 

I think you are very smart to be getting the fistula surgery so you will be ready when dialysis starts.  Sometimes catheters can't be avoided, but a fistula is usually a better option if possible. 

[KICKSTART]

Best of luck 

[paul.karen]

Good move.

Best to have a mature fistula ready to go for sure.

I may have waited to long for my PD operation.  My funtion feel fast this last month.  I have a consult with the surgeon on the 10th. 

[MandaMe1986]

Good Luck.  You will be in and out no problem wait and see. 

[Rivy]

Good ideal.  I had mine in three month before I decided that I had to go in a dialysis center.  I was happy I did and it was a smart thing to think head. Now I'm fixed with button holes.


It's a smart thing, Rivy

I'm joining the club tomorrow by having my first (and last, I hope) surgery to establish an A/V fistula. I want it ready to go when I need to have hemo. I wouldn't like to have to start with a catheter.

I'm just beginning to feel a little apprehensive...

[twirl]

I am in that club and I didn't even know there was one 
when I started dialysis - it was ready and waiting
 

[willowtreewren]

Way to go. My husband had his fistula done about 9 months before he needed it. Boy were we glad. His sister did not and had to start with a catheter.

Will be thinking of you.

Aleta

[Wallyz]

Welcome.  Its a crappy club to be in, but we're glad you're here.

[Rerun]

Where is your fistula going to be placed?  Ask your Surgeon when you should start squeezing the ball.  It is supposed to help mature your fistula.

[jbeany]

 

Welcome to the club.  I had mine over a year before I started  Best to have it and not need it right away than the other way around!

[pdpatty]

welcome to the fistula club. Remember to PUMP that ball every day,not just a few times but HUNDREDS. I still use it  and try to do 3-4 hundred pumps a day. My thumb is continously sore from it but fistula is getting bigger. That is all yhat matters.

[Stoday]

Well, I've got it now.

Discharged from the hospital 5 hours ago with a leaflet on how to look after my new fistula. All the usual stuff, except NOTHING about a squeezy ball — or squeezy anything else for that matter.

Maybe they have a different opinion of the effectiveness of a ball here in the UK.

[willowtreewren]

Hi, Stoday,
Regarding the squeezy ball, they don't start you with that exercise right away. The fistula has to heal first. Ask about it when you go back in to have it checked. You really so want to develop it, because the larger the fistula is, the less likely that it will clot.

Best wishes.
Aleta

[tyefly]

I have a question about sqeezing the ball and building up the fistula...... sqeezing the ball would be getting your muscles a work out...how does that help the vein or artery.....is it the strenght of the muscle that make the fistula work....and a fistula is simple a vein and artery hooked togeter right?   And  why does it have a sound and buzz to it...what makes the buzz.....does anyone know......  there is nothing in there but tissue and veins...right..... I had a chance to feel one the other day and boy this was a big vibration.... I was quite surprised...... 

[MandaMe1986]

It helps the blood flow

[glitter]

sounds like your doing the right thing- good luck to you- I will be rooting for your success!

[monrein]

I have a question about sqeezing the ball and building up the fistula...... sqeezing the ball would be getting your muscles a work out...how does that help the vein or artery.....is it the strenght of the muscle that make the fistula work....and a fistula is simple a vein and artery hooked togeter right?   And  why does it have a sound and buzz to it...what makes the buzz.....does anyone know......  there is nothing in there but tissue and veins...right..... I had a chance to feel one the other day and boy this was a big vibration.... I was quite surprised......

What you hear and feel when touching a fistula is the sound and movement of arterial blood (which is oxygenated and pumped at great pressure by the heart) being pumped by the heart, turning the corner and rushing into the vein, to which the artery has been attached.  The vein gets bigger to accomodate the greater flow and the greater pressure so it basically becomes an artery.  Veins are closer to the surface than arteries but the blood flow in them is more passive and veins also have valves that help to keep the blood moving along and back to the lungs to be oxygenated and sent out again via the arteries.  The reason that our fistulas don't collapse on themselves, like the veins of people who shoot up drugs, is because they are really arteries that have been diverted into a vein so the blood flow is that much greater.