Fistula AND PD cath

[Willis]

So really...how unusual is it to have BOTH a fistula and a PD cath?

I go my fistula last month so I would have a backup access. I got my PD cath two days ago and will start PD next week. While in the hospital I got a lot of strange comments wondering why I had gotten both a fistula and a cath. Even my neph said it was unusual. Only the vascular surgeon (who did both operations) didn't seem to think it was an unusual request. The only thing he wouldn't do was perform both procedures at the same time. He said he had done that 3 or 4 times early in his career but won't do it anymore because it is too stressful on the patient. (I think he was right on that point.)

 

[HouseOfDialysis]

I have the same. I was going to get both procedures done at the same time, but right after my fistula was finished there was an emergency liver transplant, so my surgeon who is sought after for these things had to go scrub up and get to the next OR. I had the catheter installed later. My first choice was PD, but the fistula is there just in case, I need it.

[Jie]

I know someone who has both. But personally, I think it is not necessary for both. One needs to make up his or her mind about PD or HD before the surgery. If planning for PD and then transplant, it is better without dealing with Fistula after transplant. If planning for HD, of course, PD cath is unnecessary. If planning for PD and thinking it needs a long long time before a transplant, then it is fine to do both. We will have a lot of different surgeries, and it is better not to do any surgery if it is not absolutely necessary.

[Hanify]

I've been on PD for 3 1/2 years and have just had my fistula put in.  Have no intention of using it any time soon but I feel  a lot better having it done, so that there's one less thign to worry about when I dio need to change to haemo.

[sullidog]

Yes, I see your surgeons point though, in case pd fails you are ready, I'll tell you something that shouldn't be performed all in one day is last year  they couldn't get my graft declotted so had to put in an emergency catheter for hemo, well they used so much heprin to try to bust the clot in my graft that I was in the hospital for about a week because my blood was so thin I bled bled and bled, but there's probably no way around that, if your fistula clots and can't be busted open then they have to put a catheter in the same day.

[Lillupie]

My neph has actually suggested I do this. Only because I am suspectable to getting hernias and having to go on hemo. Two years in a row I had hernia repair surgery. But that hasnt been since 2009. I think he was mainly trying to get me to avoid an infection. I utterly refuse to get a fistula. Even to this day I refuse to do hemo on more permanant basis. I keep thinking of this guy I knew online who spent 18 months on PD before getting a transplant and I think to this day after like 22+ years his transplant is working. I suspose in a way I am hoping for that. Ive been pretty much been on PD my whole time on dialysis except for a few weeks and a few months on hemo, so if i get a kidney that lasts a long time, look a fistula would of been a waste. And isnt it sometimes when you are using a fistula it shrinks down or it just doest work?
 Either way i think it would be a waste for me to get a fistual now. I will get one at a very, very last resort. My kidney fails and I cannot ever, ever do PD again. THen maybe I might think about it. But until then no, not if i plan on sticking to PD. Ive spent 4 years on PD so far/

Lisa