Perm Cath today @ 1pm

[nwigirlmom]

I have to have my MIL @ the hospital at noon to prep for her perm cath.  (Or is it perma cath?  Hmmmm ...)  The schedule of the surgery didn't bother her much - okay, maybe the details a little ... but she'll have the wonder drug Versed (sp?) and I'm quite positive she'll be fine.

We've been told not to get it wet ... but anything else anyone can add about care or anything?  Anything we should watch out for?  (We'll be able to be with her for a few hours after surgery when we bring her home - but she lives alone.)

And I also spoke w/ the social worker at the dialysis center who gave us our time schedule - MWF, 7:15a-11:15a.  Now THAT really irritated my MIL ... whoa.  Honestly, I kinda like the time.  I can leave here, pick her up, bring her back to the center in town and then be home to make sure my kids get on the bus on time.  Actually, I couldn't think of a better time - I'll have to leave my house at 6a when my DH leaves for work - and that hasn't happened in YEARS!  (Pre-kids actually!)  But I'm happy that I won't have any probs with after school activities.  MIL thinks it ruins the whole day - while I think the early hours have the opposite effect - she'll be home by noon.

I also had a long conversation with the social worker - who I really liked. 

Oh, and I took the kids out to Red Robin for lunch.  Very overrated IMHO.   

[scyankee]

I WISH I had that 7:15am shift!!!!  Mine is backed up to 1PM.  I spend the WHOLE day
waiting which is worse.

Be prepared for several weeks to be at least 1 hr from the time that they turn off her machine.
It will take time to stop the bleeding and for them to do all the post exams.  Make sure that
you have an emergency backup for getting the kids for a while.

Best of luck,

   SCYankee

[nwigirlmom]

Be prepared for several weeks to be at least 1 hr from the time that they turn off her machine.
It will take time to stop the bleeding and for them to do all the post exams.  Make sure that
you have an emergency backup for getting the kids for a while.

Best of luck,

   SCYankee

Oh thank you!  I didn't realize that - I'll be sure to bring that up and ask about timing when we go next Wed.

I'm actually in the Cath Lab waiting room here at the hospital - they called to bring her in early.  (Love the fact that there's wireless in the hospital!  It's much better than watching The View!! LOL)

[Joe Paul]

Good luck, hope all goes well!

[jbeany]

With an 11:15 time, I doubt you will be leaving the center until after 12 o' clock.  My schedule is Noon to 4.  I rarely leave before quarter to 5, and most of the time, it is later than that.  Since I just started, I am the last one on at my center, so I am usually hooked up 15 to 30 minutes after the supposed start time of noon.  If you mother is just starting, she will likely be the last in line for being put on as well.  The machine has to run for the total 4 hours regardless of whether they hooked you up on time or not.  There are a number of steps to being taken off of the machine, such as sitting and standing blood pressure checks, temperature check, etc.   You won't have to spend time holding the needle sites with a perma cath, but the first few weeks are very rough, so your MIL may need to sit and rest for quite a while afterward if her blood pressure is too low.

[Sluff]

Good luck mwigirlmom, with your MIL you'll eventually get into routine, that is if they don't keep moving things on you.

[joseph_towey]

I had my perm cath exchanged on monday for the second time...the first time was because of an infection...and this past time because we weren't getting good flow. Has anyone else had these kind of problems? Will these problems become persistent?

[kitkatz]

I could tell a story here tonight. But it might make your hair stand on end.

[tamara]

I could tell a story here tonight. But it might make your hair stand on end.

come on Kitkatz, Bring it ON! 

[kitkatz]

I had a phone call at 4:40a.m. the other morning. Seems a friend of mine who has been on dialysis for two years was having a fever of 102. She wanted to know what to do. I said go to the ER.  I met her at the ER and stayed with her the entire time. 

To be continued....

[kimcanada]

Insert Quote
I had a phone cal at 4:40a.m. the other monring. Seems a friend of mine who has been on dilaysis for two years was having a fever of 102. She wnated to know what to do. I said go to the ER.  I met her at the ER and stayed with her the entire time. 

To be continued....

I hope I don't forget to come back in this post, I need a personal secretary

 

[kitkatz]

Okay Part II

My friend is given antibiotic in ER and told she will be moved to a room.  We follow her to her room and almost as soon as we get there, two surgeons show up to put the quinton catheter into her groin.  They get her ready in her bed and she asks me to stay with her through the procedures.  The surgeons okayed me staying and slapped a mask over my face and I got to held her hand while they tortured....um tried to put the catheter in.  The first guy managed to nick the artery and she bled all over the place.  He kept trying to shove the catheter into the artery instead of into the vein.  He stopped and got bloodwork done and left a huge bleeding hole in my friend's leg.  They had to put pressure on it for over an hour for the artery to quit bleeding. Meanwhile I am holding her hand and talking to her.  I am also asking for pain meds for her on a regular basis.  I made sure she was out of it and talked her through any pain she felt.  She would not let go of my  hand.


Part III coming up dr. appointment for me...

[kitkatz]

Continues....

So there I was in the room with my friend watching these surgeons do a major F* up on her leg. Then they tried to put the catheter on the other side and it was blocked.  By now she has had a lot of meds put on board her.  The surgeons give up after wrestling with catheters for three hours.  They try to clean her up and leave.

Ten minutes later in walks the same surgeon to take out the chest catheter.  Yes, you have an infection they tell her ,so out came the catheter with lots of pulling and slicing and dicing on her shoulder. She was very patient.  It finally came out and she sighed a sigh of relief and the surgeon left.

I stayed a while longer and left around 3:30 in the afternoon.

It is not over....with no dialysis catheter what would they do on Monday? On Monday they took her down the X-ray and put the groin catheter in.  This was a tunnel catheter; supposed to stay in six to nine months at a time maybe longer.  Then they sent her to dialysis, where it worked.  Then she goes for dialysis on Wednesday and ends up back in X-ray with the catheter pulled and a new one put in because it failed during dialysis. Her hematocrit is 8.1 today and she may be getting a blood transfusion.

The upshot is they want her to do PD and she does not want to do it.  She was scheduled for surgery on the access during spring break next week.  Can I sum it up for you?  Pray for her. Her name is Jennifer.

[stauffenberg]

Because I have what the surgeons have described as a 'uniquely complicated vasculature' in my chest around my heart, they have usually had a very difficult job to do each of the three times they replaced my permacath in my chest during the 9 years I was on dialysis.  The problem was that the standard length of the catheter was not long enough to thread from the surface of the chest to the vessels leading into the heart!  So, knowing the 45 minutes of grunting and sweating efforts by the surgeon and the pain and discomfort of being shoved around the operating table by a pole leading into my heart, I was never exactly at ease when the catheter was being replaced.  The last time it was replaced the nurse took my blood pressure just before the procedure started and asked, in all seriousness, "Why is your blood pressure so high?"  Does 45 minutes of torture give you a hint?!

[Sluff]

My prayers are with you Jennifer. 

[nextnoel]

My prayers are headed Jennifer's way, and my thanks go to you, Kitkatz, for being such a super good friend.  You're a gem!