The Honeymoon is over .....

[Katonsdad]

This week my DaVita unit started using my Graft . It worked great and I felt 100 times better. I asked about getting
the Cath out of My chest and they said it would be a couple of weeks.  Well jokingly I told one the unis RN , :well your short . I can g0 over your
head : Not really meaning much by it. We;;; seems she took it as an insult and said , we just might keep it in 3 weeks now,
Well Whatever , I thought . I have gone
 months without a full shower  , what a couple more weeks.
I had my treatment on Thursday , Friday afternoon . I got to shivering and feeling cold and the houses heater was on.
Took my Temp and it was 100.6 , Called my Neph and the unit. they got together and sent me to the hospital and the cath was removed
Their doing , not mine.  (they did not give me antibiotics.
On Saturday , when I checked in I had a Temp of 97.8 . The RN walked by . looked at me as said , I see you found someone to take it out for you and
walked away. When she came back by , I told her the doctoe and this unit made the choice to remove the cath and not me and she just said .I hope your graft keeps working. 
A short time later I started getting cold .  I told 3 nurses that I was freezing and I had a blanket on and not 1 took my temp.  For some reason . my Neph
happened to stop by on a Saturday and asked How I was.  I said I was freezing and he asked if they had taken my temp . I told him I spoke with 3 nurses and not one took it. He told a nurse to take my temp and it was up to 101 . He immediately ordered antibiotics to be put in (had 17 mins left to run)
Got some Tylenol and went home and woke up a sweaty mess and a temp of 98.8
Typing this the next day , feeling good getting ready to go to bed because I worked all night
First time I had a rant fest.

Katonsdad

[willowtreewren]

If this is your first rant fest, then you have a good record.

Just goes to show how petty some folks can get over simple mis-communication. I joke around alot, too, and Carl is always warning me that it will get me in trouble some day....

Sorry this happened to you, Kevin! 

Now take good care of that graft and don't let them screw with it....you might want to self-cannulate as a precaution. 

Aleta

[Rerun]

Good thing someone stepped in.  You need to ask to have your temp taken.  They aren't going to offer.

Keep on your toes.

[jbeany]

Touchy nurse!  Rant away - everyone needs to once in a while!   

[lmunchkin]

I dont understand, and someone please clarify for me, why they are not taking temp pre D.trment?  This is something that is in their protocol, or at least I thought so.  I was trained to do that before & after dialysis.  Now, the incenters dont have to?

lmunchkin
 

[Lovebelle]

Please Rant! Some nurses are pretty touchy and get defensive. I especially get it from nurses because I am also a nurse and some people always things I am trying to second guess them when I am really just asking a question (just because im a nurse doesnt mean I know jack about dialysis, I work ortho for goodness sake). When I first started dialysis, Nurses would never explain anything because they assumed I knew, but I had never seen a dialysis machine before except in school.  Most of what I know I learned from this board because at the center my questions would meet with resistance and the nurses answers would take on a defensive tone. So needless to say I still feel very much behind the curve in learning and try to research on the internet.

Im actually surpised the issue with infection wasnt not communicated with the Dialysis center. Its frustrating that we as patients have to be "on top of our game" sometimes to make sure our needs are being met. But in the end Im glad you got taken care of, but scary to think of what if your doc had not stepped in at that moment.

[lmunchkin]

Can some of you who D. at home please tell me whether you were trained to take temps pre&post dialysis.  Temp is the first indicator that "something is wrong" somewhere!

Thanking in advance,
lmunchkin

[msrosefromms]

I was trained to take temp, BP \, blood sugar and weight before and after I dialysis on my cycler at night. I record this info every day.

[KarenInWA]

I dont understand, and someone please clarify for me, why they are not taking temp pre D.trment?  This is something that is in their protocol, or at least I thought so.  I was trained to do that before & after dialysis.  Now, the incenters dont have to?

lmunchkin

lmunchkin, when I was D in-center, they took my temp both pre and post treatment.

KarenInWA

[willowtreewren]

We were trained to do the pre and post temperature, too. Also BP and weight pre and post, but not blood sugar as MsRose was trained.

Lmunchkin, Kevin's temp was taken at the beginning of dialysis. It was when he started feeling cold and asked that it be taken again that they did not respond! ARGH!

Can you imagine if J asked you to take his temp during dialysis and you just ignored him? Humph!

I understand that folks can get their panties in a wad over things, but when it concerns someone's health and even LIFE, they just need to get over it!

Geesh!

Aleta

[sullidog]

funny thing is everytime but once I needed a catheter I always got an infection at the time it needed to come out.

[Joe]

lilmunchkin, I was only trained to tke my temp if I was not feeling well. I don't do it routinely. I do BP/Weight and PD stats every day and log them as well as having them recorded on my cycler.

[lmunchkin]

Yes exactly Aleta!  My point is why aren't these centers doing that also?  Temps and all vitals taken pre&Post D.  A patient may "feel" great, until the temp is taken, and lets say its 99.9.  Would that not tell or ring a bell, that something could be festering. So you would keep checking it until it went down'

Well maybe 99.9 may not be a good number for example, but I just don't understand why we are trained to and they are not!  Now when J was in-center, they did it pre&post.  You didnt have to ask, it was Protocol.  Its good practice IMHO.  J is very easily infected, thus checking his temp is a must. I would think that would be the case with most ESRD patients. Immune system is practically nill, thus leaving them wide open for all things, infections, bugs, flu ect......

lmunchkin
 

[sullidog]

and, the ones that do take your temp use ear thermometers, those things are in my oppinion about as acurate as someone not feeling well and not having their temp taken at all. I've gotten better results with an oral thermometer I can tell you this because one time I was having chills, at my center I didn't have a fever, but when I took my own temp at home it was 101.

[lmunchkin]

I think thermometers are one of medicines modern invention!  A simple tool, used to take temperatures!  Not always accurate, but not far off, it lets you know that infection on the rise if elevated. Sully, you were smart to take it again, case n point, not always accurate!

And the fact that they took Kevin's temp at first, but wouldnt when he was feeling chills, but did after the Doctor ordered them to? Im sorry, that just does not sit well with me and hopefully, that Doctor rhemed them a "new one"!!!!!

lmunchkin
 

[Riki]

And the fact that they took Kevin's temp at first, but wouldnt when he was feeling chills, but did after the Doctor ordered them to? Im sorry, that just does not sit well with me and hopefully, that Doctor rhemed them a "new one"!!!!!

lmunchkin
 

Yeah.. that doesn't sit well with me either.  It kind of makes me glad to know that my nurses, for the most part, are not like that.  I know that there have been a few times when I've asked the nurses to take my blood pressure because I wasn't feeling well.  They always do it.

I was told by several of them that I, as the patient, am the boss, and what I saw goes, for most things anyway.  The example I was given was this: I have a 4 hour treatment.  If for whatever reason, I told them I wanted off after only 2 hours, they have to take me off, no questions asked.  I have never done that, but I know there are others who have.

[Katonsdad]

At my unit if you want off early you need to sign an AMA form/  No just going home because
you dont feel like being their and then coming back later to say he was shorted time when he ends up in the hospital.