Need Back Support, Lift Belt And To Rant

[PrimeTimer]

Any suggestions or opinions for cheap back support or lift belt? I have Fibromyalgia and bending/stooping to do my husband's home hemo treatments and Pureflow is starting to tear up my lower and middle back. I am in pain and taking handfulls of Ibuprofen and walking around like an old lady. Okay, real old lady. I think I am getting a permanent stoop in my back.  If I could find a way to do it all while seated and everything at elbow level, I'd be in hog heaven. Sorry...I use to have my mother to vent to but she passed away last year and if I vent to my mother inlaw, I'm just a good-for-nothing-lazy a-- in her mind who has let her son down so I come here to let go. Sorry. But it does kind of help to vent sometimes to people who understand. While I'm at it, heck, here's another rant; haven't celebrated the holidays for a few years now but this year, despite being up late the nite before doing home hemo for my husband, I cooked up a full traditional meal that was suppose to be for three of us (me, my husband and my stepfather). Except that my stepfather thought it more important to watch football...so he stayed home to watch the game while we ate. Was kind of a blessing in disguise in the way that it made for a nice quiet dinner for just the two of us. And then we played Monopoly after dinner and that was fun and brought back good memories. Except for whenever I had to pay him rent on his hotels and railroads. Since we ate good we expected a longer go on his treatment the next night but nope, only needed about 1.5 to be removed. Treatment went smooth. But then tonite was a different story. Still only needed to remove 1.5 and everything was going fine, his blood pressure has been very good and behaving lately but with less than 20 minutes left of treatment to go, we got a Red 10 (air) alarm. I tried getting air out of the dialyzor port, checked his venous lines, saline T, saline bag, etc and no matter what, just could not overcome the Red 10. Was praying that I could at least command the cycler to do Early Rinseback but noooo, it wasn't going to have none of that so the dang machine won the battle tonite. Several minutes later, made the decision to sacrifice the blood circuit, could not rinseback with it looking as dark as it was. Frustrating! Good thing he's not anemic, his hemoglobin has been right on target but now I'm sure they'll want him in for an Iron shot and doing EPO again for a while. Tomorrow is our "day off" and I pray, just pray that we can get out of our batcave and do something just to get some fresh air. I am now super pasty white, either because I'm anemic or it's because my face hasn't seen enough sun. I'm scary ghost white with raccoon eyes and scare myself in the mirror so it's time to get outdoors and get some color back in me. Ooh, I could go on and on but at last, sleep beckons me. G' Nite. 

[Jean]

Good rant!!! You deserved it and just keep them coming. We will all be glad to read them and cheer you on. One little problem does not mean you are dumb. Keep your chin up.

[obsidianom]

AS  MY WIFE PUTS IT,  "SOMETIMES THE BEAR GETS YOU !"
  I usually do a manual rinseback in cases like this.   . I risk it as i dont want to lose all that blood.

This morning I got SPRAYED with blood . My wifes hole from yesterdays cannulation let go while cannulating today. It sprayed under very high pressure and coated everyhting including her and me and the chair. I tried putting the needle in the same hole but it just leaked too much around it. Then it blew a second hole from manipulating it. What a mess. I thought she might bleed out it came pouring out so fast. I finally got it controlled and got another needle in too so we could dialyze. I had to put the new access line in backward to make it work but it did . Unfortunatly the pressures are high so I have to run very slow and add extra time.   ISNT THIS FUN!!!
My hands hurt a lot and doing all this grabbing and pressure makes it worse. My thumbs stay swollen now all the time.     It definatly takes its toll. We are all in this together.  Its a life style few can understand.

[cassandra]

Oh sweethearts darlings, I'm with you, I hate those stupid alarms, those stupid clamps etc, but we are still here, and what doesn't kill us makes us stronger

     


Lots of love, and stay strong, Cas

[Joe]

PrimerTimer, to answer your initial question; check at either Home Depot or Lowes for a back support belt. I got mine from there and they were fairly inexpensive. Best of luck!

[PrimeTimer]

PrimerTimer, to answer your initial question; check at either Home Depot or Lowes for a back support belt. I got mine from there and they were fairly inexpensive. Best of luck!

Thanks, Joe. I'll look at Home Depot or Lowes first because that will probably be easier (and maybe even cheaper) than trying to bribe the delivery man for his. 

[PrimeTimer]

AS  MY WIFE PUTS IT,  "SOMETIMES THE BEAR GETS YOU !"
  I usually do a manual rinseback in cases like this.   . I risk it as i dont want to lose all that blood.

This morning I got SPRAYED with blood . My wifes hole from yesterdays cannulation let go while cannulating today. It sprayed under very high pressure and coated everyhting including her and me and the chair. I tried putting the needle in the same hole but it just leaked too much around it. Then it blew a second hole from manipulating it. What a mess. I thought she might bleed out it came pouring out so fast. I finally got it controlled and got another needle in too so we could dialyze. I had to put the new access line in backward to make it work but it did . Unfortunatly the pressures are high so I have to run very slow and add extra time.   ISNT THIS FUN!!!
My hands hurt a lot and doing all this grabbing and pressure makes it worse. My thumbs stay swollen now all the time.     It definatly takes its toll. We are all in this together.  Its a life style few can understand.

Did she have high blood pressure that day? Whenever my husband's BP is higher his access sites (buttonholes) bleed more when I remove the needles. Use to really scare me but I've learned to keep calm and just apply firm but gentle pressure instead of mashing down hard on the holes. And even if the gauze is saturated and blood runs out the sides, I've learned to not let up on the pressure, just to stay still holding pressure with the saturated gauze for 10-15 minutes. Then I carefully take off the saturated gauze by doing a kind of sideways motion opposed to pulling it straight up and off while simultaneously replacing it with fresh gauze before taping him up. Have to be pretty quick with two hands to do it to avoid any more spraying, otherwise, you have to start over. My husband has to go for another fistulagram this week because his Neph said she feels a slight weakness. He's had several angioplasties performed and a stent but his AV pressures have been looking pretty good so if he does have stenosis going on, it is very slight and the bleeding hasn't been bad. Best to get ahead of it tho so we don't lose the access. By the way, my own fingers are starting to look swollen these days and knuckles hurt. They feel bruised, almost the same pain you feel with a sprained ankle only it's in the hands and fingers. Hurts! But there are far worse things going on in this world and I feel fortunate to not be caught up in some of the ugliness we see on the news everyday now. There are people who need way more "help" figuring out life than I do and I pray they get it! I don't like it but I'll take dealing with my husbands access sites and needles any day over some of the ugliness I see in the world. When we do his home treatments, it's just the two of us and in an odd way, we kind of feel cozy and protected from things in the little living room of our small apartment and are comfortable because that time is "our time". Hopefully no more spraying at your home but if there is, powdered Oxy-Clean and warm water in a spray bottle and gentle brushing on the upholstery works wonders. And I agree, it is a lifestyle very few understand.