No snow shoveling?

[RightSide]

We're expecting about 6 inches of snow in the northern MA area, and  expect I'll have to do a little bit of shoveling to free my car.  Just enough to enable my car to blast out of there in first or second gear.

I was stunned when my dialysis tech and nurse told me that I shouldn't shovel any snow at all, because it might cause my fistula to clot.

For me, a bachelor living alone in MA, that's a real problem.

The last of my close friends moved away a couple months ago, so there's really nobody I can depend on to shovel for me.  I tried leaving ads around my area for someone to shovel for me (I'm willing to pay); but so far, nobody has responded to any of my ads.

So I'm stuck. The only thing I can think of doing is to hold the end handle of the shovel with my fistula arm (my left arm), and use my right arm to lift and toss the snow.  And I'll take small light bites of snow with the shovel, even if that takes twice as long.  I can drag the shovel to a spot where I can just turn it upside down and dump the snow, rather than throwing it.  And I'm on low-dose aspirin.  That's as far as my thinking takes me.

Other than that, I'll just have to trust to luck.

Anybody have any other ideas or helpful suggestions?

Up till now, I've been babying my fistula arm.   I don't use it for anything, not even carrying groceries.  Most of the time, I just let it hang limp and useless.

[brmoore]

      Last week we had 20 inches of snow and I said the heck with it and shoveled all day long. I have a graft and don't seem to
have caused any damage to it. The only thing I made sure of was taking small bites with the shovel.

[kitkatz]

Call your local radio station and ask for help from the community.

[sullidog]

Use all media outlets possible. Explain why you need this.
Troy

[cariad]

We found our snow guy off Craigslist by responding to an ad the guy posted under "services - general labor". We pay $45 per trip he makes out to us, and he provides salt. The problem you will have is that it is mid-season. We moved back to the midwest last year, after the first major snowfall and once that first snow hits, everyone is most likely going to be booked. I would still check, though, maybe you'll get lucky. I asked around and apparently it is normal to have a nearly impossible time finding a snow removal person, because the pay is not very good and insurance for items like snowplows is outrageous. If you don't live near a major city, that will also present an extra obstacle. Good luck!

[jbeany]

Actually, if you do regular weight lifting exercise with your fistula arm, there's no reason shoveling should hurt it.  Ask Zach and Bill Peckham- they both lift weights regularly with their fistulas and don't have a problem. I remember reading one post where Bill was talking about doing chin-ups.

I had the same working graft for almost 4 years - they did recommend that I not lift anything excessively heavy, and not to put heavy bag straps across it, but regular exercise was good for it!

Just be sensible about how much you lift with each shovel load.  Maybe get one of those shovels meant to push snow, not lift it?

[RightSide]

Actually, if you do regular weight lifting exercise with your fistula arm, there's no reason shoveling should hurt it.  Ask Zach and Bill Peckham- they both lift weights regularly with their fistulas and don't have a problem. I remember reading one post where Bill was talking about doing chin-ups.

I'm glad to hear that.

Because I've been so scared to damage my fistula, that most of the time I don't use my left arm for anything--not even to carry a bag of groceries out of the supermarket.  I  just let my arm hang limp by my side.

And that's too bad, because it's sure getting flabby and the muscles could atrophy.

[tyefly]

You know I ask my surgeon about lift weight with my left arm where I have a upper arm fistula....and he told me that I could do anything except wrap something tight around it..... He told me that weight is not a issue.....  I certainly dont want to hurt my fistula   but I cant understand why you would not be able to lift weight.....  its just muscle that is lifting the weight.....   I need to gather more information.....  about this.... 

[MooseMom]

Could you get a snowblower?

[supporter]

Hi Rightside,

We're in the Chicago area, so we get our fair share of snow.  The solution we came up with was that I just looked in the yellow pages under "plowing" or "snow plowing", and found several local guys, one of which I contracted with for $35 per plowing.  He comes out every time it snows more than 3 inches.  It's worked great for the last couple of years.

[BigSky]

Its is usually advised not to lift weights when the fistula is new.   After its healed there should  be no problem.  Been lifting and shoveling snow when needed for the past 8 years without problems.

[murf]

I am thinking what a diverse group of people we are on IHD. Today I am holed at home with the air conditioner on as it is 42 degrees outside. Tomorrow is a little better - only 40 and Sunday is 38. I have seen snow only once and that was in Europe some years ago. So I really can't appreciate the problems that snow brings but TV reports indicate that it can be quite beautiful but deadly.

[jbeany]

I'll send ya some, murf!  I had to kick open my front door this morning to push past the drift in front of it.  And we only got about 6 inches last night.

[murf]

Sorry to hear about the problems that snow brings. According to press reports it got even worse over the last couple of days. BTW, I have just realized that my American friends work in Fahrenheit so 42 degrees is in fact 108 degrees F. That is hot.

[murf]

I noticed that our ambassador to USA slipped on black ice that landed him in hospital. As he comes from my home state he stated that he had no idea what to look out for. What is black ice?

[jbeany]

A thin patch of ice that isn't easily visible.

[RightSide]

Sorry to hear about the problems that snow brings. According to press reports it got even worse over the last couple of days. BTW, I have just realized that my American friends work in Fahrenheit so 42 degrees is in fact 108 degrees F. That is hot.

We American techies all use Celsius too.

Like right now, it's 42 degrees Celsius inside my desktop PC.