What to expect?

[kaci]

Well, we got the bad news this morning. DH's creatnine took another jump and they want him on dialysis. They have him scheduled to have a perma-cath placed next week. His tentative transplant date is 10/21 so hopefully he won't need dialysis long, but I/we're still scared and upset that he needs it at all.

He had planned on PD if it came to it but there isn't time and in-center hemo seems to be the only option.

Any words of wisdom?

[Rerun]

He will appreciate his transplant even more and cherish it and take care of it.  If you have never been tortured with dialysis you would not know this.  There is a reason for everything.

Best of luck!!

[willieandwinnie]

kaci, did they say how much of a jump in his creatnine? Does he have a firm transplant date? I'd be asking lots of questions to this doctor. How does he feel? Whats his other numbers look like? The  perma-cath isn't so bad. Make sue the it is kept super clean to avoid infection. Let us know. 

[kaci]

10/21 isn't firm yet. We will know 10/02 what our actual date is but everybody has used that as our working date.
Last week his creatnine was 5.9 and GFR was 11%. This week his creatnine was 6.7 and I haven't heard if there was a change in GFR. I know his numbers are pretty borderline and lots of people wait longer than this but he's been feeling pretty bad lately, tired, nauseous, he's developed a metallic taste in his mouth. If he really fought I bet he could get out of it...but then if he looks non-compliant they can refuse to transplant him. And I'm not sure that putting it off would be the best thing anyway...it's so hard to know what the best decision is.

He just called he's been offered the options of day or night appts, any thoughts on that?

Thanks so much everybody! This site is such a godsend right now.

[willieandwinnie]

kaci, if he is feeling bad and has the metallic taste, then it's probably time. The time you choose is totally up to you. What would fit your schedules better? Do you work? How long will his run be? I always thought evenings or night were better because you could go home and maybe sleep off the effects from treatments. I'm sure other members will chime in. I'm the caregiver and we did home-hemo so we did it to fit our lives and what we had going on certain days. Keep us posted and I'll pray the transplant date is confirmed. 

[kaci]

I stay at home with our toddler. The dr offered the nocturnal appts because she thought that would interrupt DH's work schedule the least. Scheduling wise either one works finine for us, I just didn't know if there was a general preference for one over the other or what people see as the pros and cons of each.

[jbeany]

Depends on if he's a light sleeper or not.  If he can fall asleep easily, he might want to try the night ones - he can sleep thru them and the time will fly by. 

[kitkatz]

The nocturnal time flies by for me much quicker than the four hours awake.