Waving the bloody shirt

[RightSide]

The thing I hate the worst about a fistula is when it pops open again after the dialysis session and it starts pouring blood on my shirt and pants. 

Sometimes after the session, I apply pressure to the fistula for 10 or 15 minutes.  The bleeding seems to stop--and I get ready to leave the dialysis center.  Then I use the men's room or start walking out to my car--and the damn fistula bursts open again without warning. Before long, my shirt, coat, and pants have plenty of bloodstains.

I rent an apartment and I don't have a washer-dryer hookup in it.  So when that happens, I have to start washing my clothing by hand as soon as I get home.  That's not fun, and it means I get to eat dinner late.

Anyone else have this problem?  The only thing I can think of doing is wearing very old clothes--rags--to dialysis, so that if it happens, I can just toss the clothes in the trash, or launder them the next day with the understanding that the bloodstains will have already set and I won't be able to get most of them out.

Anyway, I hate when it happens.  And it seems to happen about once every six or eight sessions, now that I've graduated to 15 gauge needles.  Those holes are big and they don't close as well.

[boswife]

Ya know Rightside, my hubby went through about a month of doing that and then it just stoped.  I kind of wondered what the reason he was such a bleeded during just that time, but yep, i know what your going through..  LOTS of washing!!  Hope that improves for ya.

[MooseMom]

My mother has been on dialysis for about 5 years now.  She is very particular about her clothing, and so she spends an inordinate amount of time getting out bloodstains.  I've decided that I'm not going to faff about with that sort of thing once I start, so I plan to buy several pairs of cheap trousers and cheap shirts to have as my exclusive dialysis clothes.  If they get bloodied, I'll wash them as normal but will not do more than that. 

My mom swears by hydrogen peroxide for getting out blood.  Seems to work well if you really want to make the extra effort.  I wouldn't because I'm just a lazy cow.

[sullidog]

I was never a heavy bleeder, sometimes it would bleed a little bit at home if I pulled the bandages off.
Troy

[glitter]

nurses at the hospital told us to use peroxide too- it works really well-Oxyclean works well too.

[bette1]

I have certain cloths that I wear to dialysis so if they get messed up I don't care.  Another idea is to rinse out the blood stains before you leave if possible.  I did that the times I bled and no stains.  And keep extra cloths in your car or bad in case of bleeding.

[Sluff]

Get married so she can wash the clothes while you eat.  See how simple it is.     Just kidding Rightside, sounds like a real pain in the Landry sink.

[monrein]

At my unit (and it was self-care too) if I got blood on my clothes, the tech or a nurse would help me by doing the thing with peroxide...they also had some extra clean shirts on hand that we could wear home if need be, since it's tough to go home all wet, especially in winter.

[brandi1leigh]

I swear by the peroxide method. It works great and doesn't require nearly as much scrubbing. I also have a set of "dialysis clothes." These are just cheap t-shirts and pants that I wouldn't dream of wearing anywhere else. But if the get too messed up, I don't feel bad throwing them out.

[jbeany]

Rightside, if you peroxide the stains when you get home - just pour it on the stain a couple of times until it stops really fizzing up- then you can let it air dry and just wash with color safe bleach when you do regular laundry.  Much quicker than a full scrubbing.  That works for most blood stains.  Dark colored clothes do help, though!

I shopped for dialysis clothes at thrift stores - that way, if it got stained beyond repair, I didn't feel bad about tossing it.  (But then again, most of my wardrobe comes from thrift stores, so I guess I never feel that bad about pitching anything for any reason....)