I am starting HemoDialysis tomorrow 29Mar

[Des]

I bought myself some Emla cream. (very very small tube and very expensive) and I am ready (I hope)  What was the first time like for you?

Is it really that painfull. The lady at the centre said some people scream when they get needled?

 

[monrein]

Oh Des, I will for sure be thinking about you tomorrow and hoping that things go as smoothly as possible.  I was 26 years old the first time and dialyzed through a subclavian catheter for the first two months or so.  People where I was were not screaming, the nurses were lovely and I felt cared for and cared about.  When the time came for the needles since my fistula had matured I was nervous but had watched it being done to others, no one was using cream or anything to numb it, and I focused on being calm, breathing deeply to distract myself and I watched, trying to mentally distance myself from my own arm and see it as someone else's.  I had practised pinching myself, slowly, hard and deliberately and using that pain to breathe and think through as a "dry run".  Everyone's experience is different and often that difference is one's mental approach and of course the state of one's fistula. 
It will be an emotional and difficult day and my thoughts will be with you.  I'll be perching on the back of your chair, talking to you, massaging your shoulders, or in spirit doing whatever you feel you need to get through over this particular hurdle and I hope that very soon the physical part will become somewhat routine.

PS...I very quickly decided that I was going to do my own needles and talking to nurses as they put them in, about what they were doing and feeling for etc. helped to distract me too....BUT that's nothing at all to do with tomorrow. 
 

[Des]

I was trying so hard to just sound "whatever" about it but you know me better. I am an emotional wreck. The minute I read your post I started to cry. Thanks, I will "feel" you there massaging away over my shoulder. Thanks

[Rerun]

It may hurt for a minute, but then you don't feel any pain.  I hope it goes well for you Des.  Let us know.

Best wishes..........   

[okarol]

Jenna always had lidocaine shots, but she said those also stung at first. Another friend of mine started dialysis on Friday, after her 19 year old transplant has given out. She said she was tired afterward but it felt good to get the fluid off (her ankles were swelling.) Good luck Des. We will be thinking of you.
 

[jbeany]

The unknown is always scary.  Most of the time, I didn't think the needle sticks were much different from getting blood drawn.  Granted, the needles are bigger, but they are just as sharp.  Once in a while, I was unlucky enough to have them hit a nerve - and that will make you yell, indeed!  Hopefully, it will be a very rare occurrence for you like it was for me.

Hang in there - the first month is the toughest, and then it should get much easier as you get into a routine.

 

[KICKSTART]

Oh Des , i will be thinking of you. I have a line in my neck at the moment so dont go through all that yet! I would take whatever pain relief i could to start with, as you will find the Hemo itself enough to deal with. Once you get used to that , then take the step of facing the needles on their own. Even if you feel ok after hemo tomorrow , do one thing ..REST when you get home. I made the mistake in the begining of thinking i felt fine , went to do some stuff when i got home and it floored me! Now i make a point of sitting quiet for an hour when i get home ..thats after ive seen to the dogs , made a cuppa , had a smoke and answered my messages on the phone and looked through my mail ! 

[MooseMom]

Des, I will be very interested to hear how tomorrow goes because in a few weeks' time, I will be exactly where you are now.  So if you feel like it, please do come back and tell us all about your first day.  I often marvel how everyone here seems to be so sanguine about it all, and I very much hope that one day, it will be you and I who will be old hands at this and will be telling other newbies that all will be well.  I think that you perceive that tomorrow will be the first day of a very new and different reality, and that can be emotionally fraught.  It really will be the first step taken down a long road.  We will be glad to massage your feet along the way.

I hope everything goes well for you tomorrow, but if it does not, just remember that this is all new and that things will get better.  It's a process, I guess.  I will be thinking of you tomorrow.  You will not by any means be alone.

[Darthvadar]

Wishing you all the very best, Des....

Hope everything goes well for you!....

Darth....

[galvo]

Des, I was feeling the same as you 4 months ago. Then I found the procedure wasn't much worry at all. I always watch the needles go in. Good luck, mate. You'll be OK. Let us know how you go.

[RichardMEL]

Des, best of luck tomorrow (oh wait, it's already the 29th here  ).

Yes, some people do scream (I've heard some blood curdling cries?!!) but let's be honest - i reckon 90% of people have no problem. Our unit usually offers a local shot for the first time,but try to wean people off that ASAP (too many locals in the fistula can be bad they say). I used local my first time, then didn't bother after that. Sometimes the needles sting a bit going in(like any injection) and sometimes they don't - the fistula toughens up after it's used a bit and sometimes all you feel is pressure as the needle goes in. The actual dialysis process itself doesn't feel like anything. The most you'll probably feel is ***BOREDOM*** - so be prepared with distractions and entertainment!

Anyway best of luck!!! I agree it's what you don't know about (just being there, the procedure, the other patients, the machines alarming, etc) that can be scary. Soon you'll be an old pro and wonder what all the fuss was about

 

[sullidog]

You'll do fine, after a while, I dropped the cream which went well accept on when they would hit a knerve, and boy you'll know it. You said you had to buy the cream? Won't your insurance cover it? Mine did.
Troy

[Stoday]

Keep us posted, Des. I'll be in your shoes in the next couple of months.

I and seven other patients had a familiarization session on hemodialysis. They passed needles round so everyone could have a look at them. One bloke fainted when he saw them. Another collapsed a little later.

I watch the phlebotomist's needle; I find it better than looking away. One phlebotomist said "Hey, you're watching. Hardly anyone watches". But I'm with galvo on this. I shall watch.

[Des]

The 29th is here.

Just wanted to pop in before work and say :thanks, for being here for me.

 

[Jean]

hope it all went well for  you Des. 

[galvo]

We are watchers, Stoday.

[billybags]

Des I will be thinking about you to-day, I hope all goes well.

[lou]

Best of luck today Des 

[monrein]

I'm still with ya Des.    .....where's a massage icon when a girl needs one?

[Des]

Well, it was a total fiasco!!!!


after NINE tries they decided to send me home with no dialysis. YES NINE TRIES. They were digging and digging. 

When they actually did find a nice "throbbing" place to insert the needle I clotted up before they could connect it to anything.

Now, I have to go for x-rays and double my "blood thinning medication". We will try again next week Monday.

So I was sent home with an ice-pack on my swolen arm.... oh did I forget to mention "infiltration" took place as well.

I think what could go wrong did, so it should be plane sailing from here onwards......   

[monrein]

CRAP!   Des, how ^%#@&% awful.   Please get some rest and keep the ice pack on but not too cold.  I'm sooo sorry!   
 

[KICKSTART]

Well thats not a good start! The only up side to it ..if there is one? is that you escaped the dreaded chair for 4 hours!

[okarol]

AAARRRGGHHH!! 
Oh Des, that's horrible. After that happened with Jenna I told them if they cannot get her on in 1 or 2 attempts to have the most skilled nurse try, but maybe that's what they did. Poor girl, sending you hugs.   

[MooseMom]

I'm speechless, which is an unusual state for me.  Did they give you any explanation for why it was such a nightmare?  I mean, really, could anyone have written a worse script?  Did you leave anything out?  Did they miss your arm completely or anything?  Did they use knitting needles or something?  I mean, what the hell were they playing at?  I hope you left that clinic with every last one of them begging for your forgiveness.  I am so very sorry this happened to you; don't they know they are dealing with someone who is already suffering and is already ill?

I'm just really angry on your behalf.  So much for you having a good story to tell some future newbie!  Let us know what the x-rays tell you.  I don't really know what you mean by bloodthinning meds...do you have to take something before you start dialysis?  Sorry...I haven't started D yet so I don't know about such things.

When you feel like it, post again asap and let us all know how you are getting on.

[galvo]

Bloody horrible!!!! Next Monday must be better.