Friday night at the ER

[MooseMom]

I finally decided that whining again about my fistula on IHD wasn't going to get me anywhere, and I was starting to get really concerned about my arm.  It just hurts.  It just can't be normal.  It has always felt weird, but for the past week, it just relentlessly aches.  We were on the way home from dinner, and I'd had enough, so I asked hubby to take me to the ER.  I felt a little stupid, but you know how everyone bangs on about how we're supposed to take care of our access, blah de blah.  My veins feel like they're burning and are about to burst.  Various muscles in my upper arm are sore.  For some days now it just hasn't stopped.

Thankfully, the ER doc examined it and said that it is working well.  He suspects that there may be a slight problem with...oh hell, I don't know...something about my exoskeleton and musculature.  It's written down somewhere.  Anyway, he gave me a script for Valium as a muscle relaxant and something else for pain.  The main thing is that I have had some reassurance that my fistula isn't on the verge of exploding because that's what it has felt like.

But the funny thing was my convo with the doc.  I prattled on about my renal issues, and I was vaguely aware that I was sounding like a nephrologist.  Funny the language you pick up!  My husband was sitting there listening to us, and he obviously had no idea what we were talking about.  He doesn't accompany me to my various medical appts, so I was speaking an idiom of which he has no clue.  It was as if I'd suddenly starting spouting Russian!  It was an amusing end to a frustrating week.

[YLGuy]

It is a good thing that you went to the ER.  Did the doctor say that this will subside any time soon or will you need pills to deal with it indefinitely?

[looneytunes]

MM, thanks for the grin you gave me.  I can just picture you and the ER doc having this technical discussion with hubs sitting by clueless...

Glad to hear your fistula is ok and I hope the pain goes away soon for you.   

[texasstyle]

Oh don't ever feel stupid about getting your fistula checked out!  That is your life line... At least you can take a deep breath knowing it is functioning properly.  You did the right thing. Even though we think there's a lot of people who have learned as much as we are able too, there probably is very few. I would guess a dr. find it's refreshing to be able to speak in that manner with you.

[billybags]

Tex I entirely agree with you. This last 2 months the only time I get out has been to take hubby to hospital. Since his heart attack and his arthritic hip and knees and now his stomach pains, I too feel like a doctor. We saw a gastric specialist and we had a good conversation, I told her I didn't think it was gastro, so she is going to do a tube down the throat jobbo, we went to see the neph the same day and I was suggesting things and he is booking us in for a CT scan. Yes you do seem to talk like you know what you are saying. Hubby has been really very poorly for nearly two months and quite frankly I am pis*ed of with it. I am at the stage now where the carer does not care any more. I have told him if he carries on not eating, which he has not done for 6 weeks because he doesn't fancy any thing he will die, and I will spend all his money. his stomach aches because of all the pills he is popping on an empty stomach. So I told him he has to help him self and eat. I think it is working, to day I have just been slamming bits of food at him and he is eating. Fingers crossed he will get the message. I have had to laugh because he now says he is constipated, could it be the food that his system has been crying out for and is making the most of it. Men.

[boswife]

oh MM, im so glad you decided to take care of YOU!!  dang!!  And you gave me a chuckle too as when we go in to see any dr to do with hubby, he sits there  and points to me to do the talking and figuring and smiles with an innocent cluless look..  He does listen!!! but needs the simpler explaining once home.   Im so glad your Fistula is doing fine and rearing to go..lol   One less thing to stress over for a while...

[willowtreewren]

Awww, MM. Glad it turned out all right!

And Billybags, I understand your ire with hubby. But glad he is eating!

Aleta

[AguynamedKim]

Glad you're doing alright, MooseMom and so sorry the fistula hurts.  I hope the valium helps for now and you can follow up with the doctor to help you feel better long term.

[MooseMom]

The valium and the pain medication really did help.  You know how those sorts of drugs make you drowsy?  Well, not with me.  I didn't fall asleep until well past 6AM, but when I awoke, I felt better than I had done in weeks.  Just goes to who how exhausting constant discomfort can be without you even recognizing it.

They gave me enough meds for just 3 days, so I am hoping that after that, I won't need them anymore. 

[billybags]

MooseMom, so glad you are feeling much better

[okarol]

  Did they recommend heat or ice to help with the pain? I still wish we understood why it's so painful. I hope it improves!

[MooseMom]

Well, I spoke a bit too soon.  The meds were very helpful, but unfortunately they've made me sick as a dog and have forced me to spend most of the weekend in bed.  We went to see "Source Code" at the cinema, and we had watched only about 10 minutes of it before I got so nauseous I had to go home and sleep it off.  Same thing happened to me yesterday.  I don't understand it; I take a mountain of pretty strong meds and have not had any side effects, but prescription pain killers just make me so ill.

In thinking about it, I think I may have caused my own problem.  I think perhaps I have been lifting things that are too heavy and didn't realize it.  I do most of my cooking in cast iron skillets and dutch ovens.  I don't pick them up with only my fistula arm because I am careful, but maybe these things are too heavy for me after all.  Since I've spend most of the weekend in bed, I haven't been using my arm at all, and I am having no pain.  Perhaps I have not been careful enough?

      It has not been the best weekend.

[rsudock]

Moosemama pain meds make me feel like crap too! Do you have any nausea pills you can take with them....

I am not sure how to help with the fistula except to say that now that I have been using mine it is even stronger then before. sometimes it does seem like it is ready to burst but of course I know you are pre D so??? but I have experience some of what you are talking about on D. weird huh?

xo,
R

[AguynamedKim]

Sorry the pain meds have gotten you nauseated.  Being careful with the arm is probably a good idea.  I wish there was a pain med you could could take that doesn't make you nauseated.

[Deanne]

I'm glad you're ok / sorry you're feeling so miserable. Back away from those cast iron pots! Does your husband cook? Maybe it's time for him to learn, or would that mean adding food poisoning to your list of woes?

[cariad]

Oh, no!  :(Sorry you had such a miserable weekend.

Opiods nearly killed me when I took them years ago for viral meningitis, I will only take them under dire circumstances now, and if I'm lucky, I can just go straight to bed and sleep through the agony. I had a nightmare side-effect after 10 days of IV painkillers in hospital - I developed akathesia. Only google it if you can take a horror story right now. I had not eaten in 10 days, vomited constantly, already in renal failure, and I lost all ability to fall asleep and had to pace around our little California flat all night long because the akathesia was so bad I could not lie down, nor even sit still.

They gave me Ativan and Zofran in hospital to try to counteract the nausea. It did not work. I have a more powerful anti-emetic in my drug collection, but often I will not be able to keep that down either and all of these make me so sleepy that I lose days at a time.

I really feel for you. If you need further painkillers, try to stick to extra-strength Tylenol, and do rest that arm!

[paul.karen]

Well MM this thread went from sad to happy to glad you feel so much better to oh boy that sucks (the nasuea part).
But i think you may have learned why your arm is hurting you in the long process of this weekend.  Alot of things we are not use to being a danger or hazard to us can be just that.
IE:  Your cast iron pans.  Maybe you have found the source of alot of your soreness.  I would say buy some new pots and pans, hopefully this could be an easy fix to alot of your pain.  And if not you have new pots and pans.

Hope you feel better soon.

[MooseMom]

Well, the ER doc was obviously well aware of my renal probs, and I did tell him that I don't do well with painkillers, so I just assumed I wouldn't have a problem.  It seems, though, that each time I am given a prescription pain med (I've been given three different meds on three different occasions after three different surgeries), the reaction is more severe, like I'm becoming more and more sensitive.  I guess from now on, I'll have to ask for an anti-emetic.  When I had my hysterectomy, Zofran worked really well, but 18 months after that when I had my gallbladder removed, they put a patch behind my ear before the surgery, and it didn't help one whit.  They gave me Zofran and everything they could think of, but I kept throwing up despite there being nothing to throw up.  They even talked about admitting me because I was throwing up AND having a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, but I was determined to leave, so they dressed me, plonked me into a wheel chair and wheeled me out, me barfing all the way through the atrium and out the hospital door.   I got home, slept it off and then was fine, just like yesterday.

Anyway, the whole reason I posted this was to show that even though I have a year old fistula that is in tip top shape, apparently, it doesn't mean that I don't have to be careful.  You all know how much my fistula has bothered me, and it truly never occurred to me that maybe it was my own fault.  I refuse to get rid of my cast iron pots and pans, but I WILL get help lifing them.  OH NO...I guess that means I CAN'T CLEAN those heavy ol' things and will have to get my big strong husband to clean them for me!  Give me that kidney card and I'll play it!

So, moral of the story...do mind your fistula arm.  Don't be stupid like I was.

[boswife]

yeah for cast iron, boo for what they're doing to you     I'd say it's time to 'play that card'!     I too use cast iron and i tell ya, i have found ways to sort of 'swing' them from place to place so as not to put full weight on my back..lol   so yea, they ARE heavy..  I am glad thought that you may have found your problem with that pain.  Pain meds and me........no NO!!  scares me to think if i need something really bad cause the about killed me once and now im scared of them too..  Hope your feeling better today..   

[billybags]

I am finding the frigging hoover too heavy for me!!!!!!!!!! or is that an excuse lol

[MooseMom]

I am finding the frigging hoover too heavy for me!!!!!!!!!! or is that an excuse lol

I have a great big load of dirty laundry I have to take downstairs, and IT IS SOOOOO HEAVY!!!!  (I'm not kidding, actually.)

[rsudock]

So, moral of the story...do mind your fistula arm.  Don't be stupid like I was.

Friends don't let friends lift cast iron skillets!!! 

Love ya...hope you are feeling better soon. I think maybe the anxiety you have about the fistual is adding to your pain. I know the ER doc I saw yesterday (yes I was at the hospital again ) he was like "well part of the reason your heart rate is elevated is anxiety."

I felt like saying, "hey you try D and tell me how that effects your anxiety level pal!!!"  Then he finishes by "People don't realize how much anxiety will play into how they feel and pain levels..."

I know he is right but still my heart is acting weird ya know??

xo,
R

[MooseMom]

rsudock, it's funny you should say that because when I had to explain to the ER doc what was going on, I told him, "Look, I haven't had to use this fistula yet, so I don't know if it is OK or if there is some big clot running around in it or something.  I'm being constantly told that I have to take good care of it, but I am not sure what that always means.  All I know is that it hurts, sometimes a lot.  But I will say that I have no real reason to think that something is wrong with it.  The few times it HAS been checked, it has been deemed in good shape.  Also, I do understand that constant, unrelenting anxiety about my kidney condition and about my future can change my perception of pain, so that just all adds to my confusion."

He was very understanding, and I appreciated the fact that he understood the link between anxiety and discomfort.  He pretty much echoed what you've said.