I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: graftgurl on November 07, 2008, 08:09:43 AM
-
I know I'm not the first to post on how bad this week has been. Is it something in the air? :waiting;
Last Saturday I went to dialysis. The alarms on the machine kept going off all of the time I was there. Right before they pulled the needles out, I noticed a small area near one of the needle sites that looked raised and was blanched/white. It looked like an infiltrated area but it wasn't. I felt for the thrill and couldn't find it. ??? I even had the nurse use her stethoscope to hear the bruit and she said she thought she heard it. My leg was swollen even after dialysis, which is nothing new for me. Anyway, I left dialysis and went on with my weekend.
Tuesday I showed up for dialysis and got all my stuff unpacked for my treatment (gotta have stuff ;) ). The tech goes to put the needle in and is having trouble getting it in. She tries for another 2 minutes or so and then calls someone else over. The needle is still in my leg (thank God I use lidocaine) and they deduce that my graft is clotted off. My day had not started off well because my daughter had woken up feeling ill and I had to take her to the dr. after dialysis. I had also been super nauseated that morning. :stressed; At this point I am so frustrated, angry, and a little scared that I burst out crying. :'( Everyone was telling me it would be fine and I would be OK. I find out from the nurse that I will have to go to the hospital in Austin where my vascular surgeon practices and have them remove the clot. This will take most of the day. They want me to go straight there from the center but I have to make arrangements for someone to drive me home after the procedure and also for someone to take my daughter to her appt. So I go home to gather up what I will need at the hospital. On the way there I was able to get ahold of a friend and she had no problem with taking me to the hospital and driving me home after the procedure.
We get to the hospital and the clerk at the front desk had me sign in. I told him they were expecting me but I did not have anything scheduled ahead of time. He was aware of that and also remembered my name. I have been there too much if he can remember my name already. So they call me into pre-op and the nurses look at my arms for a good vein to start an IV. I need to say at this point that I still had a bruise on my arm from my venogram 3 weeks ago. It was just starting to fade. They picked the nurse that was the best in starting IV's. She gave it 2 tries and gave up. I just don't have any good veins anymore. :thumbdown; They had the anesthesiologist come take a look. He looked quickly and didn't see anything so he announces he is going to start one in my neck. :o ??? I've had IV's there before and they haven't been too horrible. He gets all set up and starts to go for my neck vein. I suddenly realize he hasn't numbed the area with lidocaine yet and so I ask him for it. He gives this big sigh and he's irritated he has to wait all of 30 seconds for the nurse to get it and for the area to become numb. Finally he states, "you'll feel a little pressure," and sticks the needle in, and out, an back in, and out, and...you get the picture. I moan each time he moves the needle around and I tell him that it's not just pressure but real pain I am feeling. He says, "Oh no it's not. You're just being a baby." This pisses me off and after 4-5 minutes of digging around in my neck, he pulls the needle out and loudly declares that he couldn't get it in because I moved around too much and I would not relax my muscles. Say what?!! I was very careful not too move my upper body at all while he was trying to start the IV in such a tender place.
Now he's even more irritated because he has to try again or they have to take more time to put in a permcath. He goes for the first option in the other side of my neck. So we start all over again on the opposite side. BTW, he doesn't put a bandage on the first place he stuck and so while he is setting up for the second stick, I have blood running down my neck onto the bed. I say something discourteously about it and finally, a nurse puts a bandage on it. He tries again on the other side and he gets it in the vein at last. He has been mumbling under his breath ceaselessly about patients that act like they know more than the doctor. I wanted to hurt the man and if he had been any closer to my stretcher, he would have been singing soprano in the church choir for a change. :Kit n Stik; :oops; "I'm so sorry!!" Now I have a large bruise down the left side of my neck and I'm sure it won't go away any time soon. Later, I heard him whining in the next cubicle about how he was so tired of people complaining and why couldn't they just "suck it up?" I said very loudly to my friend, "I am so tired of doctors who are A__holes." :sir ken; I didn't hear him anymore that day.
The rest of the surgery went fine and they were able to clear the clot from my graft. It took much longer than expected so I ended up going home around 4:30pm. It made for a really long and tiresome day. I spoke with the dialysis unit on the way home and they scheduled me to come in the next day (not my usual day). That meant I would go 4 days without dialyzing (my last treatment was on Saturday). By the time I weighed in the next day, I had gained 3.9 Kgs since last treatment, 1.6 Kgs of which were just since the day before. I learned that they had given me alot of IV fluids during surgery and my body of course, was retaining all that fluid. Needless to say, they started using heparin again during my treatment (they had stopped it the 3rd week on dialysis because I was taking blood thinners and I kept bleeding after treatment - now I am off all that type of medication except for aspirin). I do NOT want this to happen again!!! Here's my big finale: I am so tired of everything having to be a fight lately (I am not usually a complainer). It's never just 1 hard thing to deal with - it comes in waves of 2 or 3. :banghead; Whew........I'm exhausted.
The lesson I learned is to check my graft for the thrill everyday and to make sure the staff really listen to me when I have a concern. I am not one to exaggerate my complaints and so when I actually do make a fuss about something, it's not usually a small inconvenience. Sorry for whining, guys. I just needed to get that frustration off of my chest. :rant; And my daughter got to see her physician Tuesday afternoon. She has a bad sinus infection and they put her on antibiotics and said she could return to school when she no longer had a fever. That was this morning, which made yesterday interesting because I had to leave her alone while I was at dialysis, not a big problem since she is 15, but I felt guilty nonetheless.
I hope this weekend is turmoil-free!
-
Lousy week.
WOW you put that kinda mildly didnt ya.
YOu have alot more patience then i do thats for sure. The JERK who was trying to place the needle in your neck. After hurting me and then talking to me like that. Well i would have likley been sitting in a jail waiting for someone to bond me out. Im not a mean or violent person but i mean really.
Who the hell does he think he is????
The week is over. I so hope next week is the complete opposite for you graftgirl.
Also glad you daughters fever broke.
-
You deserve to complain! What a mess! I am sorry and am hoping the weekend is MUCH better :cuddle;
-
Wow, Paris is right, you sure do deserve to complain. That doctor sounds like SUCH an a--hole! Unbelieveable. What a jerk. I'm sorry you had to go through all of this, and I hope things get better soon. :cuddle;
-
What a jerk of an anesthetist. I'd be documenting the entire experience in writing and sending a copy to him and his department head somewhere. Does the hospital have a customer/patient satisfaction feedback process?
I'm so sorry you had to go through with that kind of crap on top of the unavoidable mess with the veins. :grouphug; :cuddle;
-
Graftgurl--
I am very sorry that you had to go through that. We have enough sh*% to deal with in our lives and we don't need people adding to our misery. Especially those in the medical community. What a JERK this guy was! I know one thing, though--you have the patience of JOB for putting up with all of that. I would have told him off after he acted like you were inconveniencing him asking for lidocaine. I'm with Monrein--you should definitely complain--that guy wasn't professional at all and he didn't treat you with the dignity and respect you deserve as a patient or a human being. I hope everything is better now. Hugs to you!
-
What a week...you SO did NOT have to take what that jerk tried to hand out....I had about the same issue...they decided to do a PicLine while I was in the hospital as they had done 12 IV attempts in my right arm with no luck and the neph said no more on the arm, put a Pic Line in her neck ..well I asked my charge nurse about something for pain and she said "oh no problem" they will vie you something so you don't remember and I believed her..that is the last time...got to radiology and the Dr come with this telephone pole to insert..I asked for my pain med and he says "oh we don't give that for this procedure"....and he and the two nurses started their loud brathing and mumbling and finally told me in loud voices.."fine, you can have something but you have to go back to the floor, the nurse has to order and administer and then make another appt for you to come down and in the meantime they have to look for a vein" so I'm in tears and said fine, just do it and I honestly did try to keep from screaming but wasn't too sucessful...son called just as I got back to the room and on my way to dialysis...I told him what happened and said I was so tired I just wanted to stop everything and he knew what I meant and in the next 5 minutes had talked to the hospital director and several people under him and 4 people came to dialysis to apologize and told me after the fact that this should not have happened....yeah we knew that......why are some of us always the guinei pigs??? At least now we know how we are to be treated the next time....hopefully.
Have a good weekend and hopefully a better next week.
Ann
-
Oh Ann, I'm just about to go to bed but now I feel more like pummeling some sense into a doctor or two than sleeping. So infuriating, these unnecessary dreadful experiences. I'm sending you more hugs tonight and next week WILL be better. :cuddle; :cuddle; :cuddle; and this one with your sons included :grouphug;
-
God love you Monrein..thank you and yes..hugs for my sons...I was always wondering if they were listening when they were growing up but yes I understand they did listen and I thank God for them everyday.
Ann
-
*big hugs* I am so sorry :( that really sucks specially that they would treat you like that specially when you're clearly not a normal patient (you know how I mean that) and have some special requirements in terms of finding your veins... :(
:grouphug;
-
You are not whining now & you were not whining in the hospital.
The doc sounds burned-out to me, blaming a patient for his inadequacies. A really bad sign & could end up where he seriously hurts someone.
It was something you should not have had to go through & I feel very bad for you.
File a complaint.
-
I apologize for not returning sooner to see all the replies to my rant. You all make me feel so cared about. I know I am NOT a complainer and that dr. was disrespectful and verbally abusive.
I plan on filing a formal complaint, not just with the department head but also with the hospital administrator. And yes, Monrein, this hospital has a wonderful patient satisfaction/feedback department. They send out surveys a week after you leave. I always return them because I feel that the compassionate treatment of patients has declined dramatically the last 20 years, at least. Since I have had to be on the other side of the bed these last 10+ years (or should I say IN the bed), I have truly seen the way patients are treated in the healthcare industry these days. If I ever get my energy back, I really want to look into becoming a patient advocate. Every hospital is supposed to have at least one, but you would never know it because they don't tell patients about them. Even when you have a complaint, they rarely bring in the patient advocate.
Just FYI for everyone here, if you feel your complaint is not being handled correctly or you have had poor/intolerable treatment such as what happened to me on Tuesday, they have to have a patient advocate contact you if you ask for one. Also, if you feel you have gone as far as you can with your complaint and it's still not resolved fairly, you can always file a formal complaint with JCOAH (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations). :oops; I guess they are now just called The Joint Commission. Go to http://www.jointcommission.org/
Thanks for all of the support. It was much needed and it will help me to start this week off much better than the last. I wish I could say the same for the bruise on my neck. I literally look as if someone has beaten me. Several people at church asked me if I needed help or needed to talk to anyone :o Of course, I got the same reaction from them as you guys gave me when I told them my story. They cringed and became outraged. I hope that dr. watches his back!! ;D
-
I think that doctor needed :Kit n Stik; :Kit n Stik; :Kit n Stik;! You give them utter hell about it!
-
I haven't received the survey form yet, but you can bet if I don't get it in the next few days I will just send a letter of my own to be filed in that doctor's complaint file. The hospitals absolutely have to place these in each employee's file and follow up on it. Kitkatz, that :Kit n Stik; is exactly what I wanted to do at the moment and again later when I had time to think about it. Sometimes when I think back on what happened I realize I was just being too emotional, but I don't feel that way at all about this one. I appreciate all the support :thx;
-
Hi graftgurl. You have my sympathies. I have disgusting veins as well so I go through all the same dramas when I have a blocked graft or need and infusion. After 9 goes to get a line in my arm for the infusion a young doctor came and got it in on one go. For future reference ask the doctor to put a blood pressure cuff on and pump it up for two minutes. It is a bit uncomfortable but when then put the needle in, it goes in straight away. Good little tip that one. xxx
-
Thanks Lucinda..good tip.
-
Lucinda, I am so glad to know I'm not alone when it comes to bad veins. I've had problems with them most of my adult life. I will definitely ask the doctor (and nurses) to try the blood pressure trick. Who knows? Maybe it will work and I won't have to get stuck numerous times ;)
Rereading what I said about not being alone - it sounds kind of wrong. :oops; I'm not glad that you have the problem too, just glad someone else can understand what I go through. Yes, maybe that's better?! LOL!! :2thumbsup;