Fistula Goose Egg

[Rerun]

On Saturday when the Tech put in the arterial needle it puffed up (goose egg).  She left the needle in and placed another one.  I have a small goose egg there too. 

Yesterday when she placed the needles, even with lidocane, it hurt like hell.  It hurt a little during the whole run.  Now it seems like it will never end.  I can't take two weeks off to let it heal.  We just keep jabbing it with needles.  I don't see how it will heal.

I've heard to put ice on it for the first 24 hours then heat?? 

What do you guys do!         I do not want access problems!  DAMN!   

[kevno]

Hi Rerun. I am back, only for a week or so Kevno.

When I have a goose egg (Blow) the unit gives me Lasonil, which is a heparinold ointment, which helps get the bruising out a bit quicker. It seems to help me, but with my Vast Experience of needles just now on Haemo I have not had to use the ointment for a few months.

Thank you for all your kind prayers.


Kevno

[ginger cookie]

I know this sounds odd and it's purely anecdotal but... some patients use cold/wet tea bags held over the bruise for an hour 3x/day and swear it works to get rid of it more quickly. I knew one pt who did a test patch with this after a bad bruise and you could see a dramatic outline where the tea bag was placed. (This is regular old orange pekoe or black tea, no fancy herbal concoction).

[angieskidney]

Oh wow I just read this now and I will try that right now!! This should be stickied as I would have seen it sooner if it was and it is pertanent to anyone with a fistula who has the nurses stick them!

I got this "goose egg" this week and it scared me because I didn't know if this is a really bad and dangerous thing or not since I am new at this!

The nurse wanted to stick me again and I said no because I am still bruised and swollen so they used my permcath today and I was happy.

What happened is on Monday when they put the tourniquet on my arm on Monday July 17th I got a small goose egg (they didn't even poke me at all yet that day and I had the whole weekend to heal!!!) so they put the 2nd needle higher up spacing the 2 needles to avoid the goose egg.  But then on Wed July 19th when the stuck me the 2nd needle was closer to the goose egg this time and it blew up upon cannulation and my are swelled and bruised a lot! Friday July 21st I asked them to not use the fistula while it is still swollen and bruised and agreed to the one needle farther down on the stronger part which seems to be working and using the permcath instead of the 2nd needle in the arm and they accepted that.

They tell me my fistula is still not strong enough and that is why it blew but I want to understand more about this. I want to comprehend why this happens. And what will make it stronger? My surgeon said I didn't need to exercise the arm at the beginning but obviously he was wrong about that. I am now using the ball but I wasn't in the beginning.

Anyway advice on how to prevent goose eggs I would LOVE to hear from any of you guys!

I would also love to see this stickied! Thx!

Oh and before anyone says it again .. I can't learn button-hole / self-stick until I get switched to the morning shift where the head nurse can teach me (and is my best bet to learn it correctly).

btw, sorry to have bumped an old post but being a mod of other forums .. I don't like to start a new thread when one already exists for this topic.  Hope that is okay here with you guys, as this topic was 100% relevant to my post

[susie q]

Angie.. almost exactly the same thing happened to me!!  Started using my fistula 2 weeks ago.. first time was fine.. second time.. different nurse.. seemed to have a little trouble.. and it hurt.. ended up with a bruise.. on Friday.. another nurse (kinda ditzy) didn't even read the orders so just used my cath.. (I didn't want her to stick me anyway cause of the bruise)
Anyhoo.. come Monday again.. another nurse.. stuck me.. couldn't advance the needle.. kept trying .. got another nurse.. I'm almost jumping out of the bed.. finally gave up and used the cath... now I have a HUGE bruise and swelling .. didn't use the fistula for the rest of the week..
We have an access nurse and she will be back from Holidays next week ... hopefully she can sort out what is wrong.. 

[Rerun]

I insisted on the "same" tech sticking me in the beginning.  The center didn't like it, so I told my Dr.  She asked them to try and have the same person do it. 

It only makes sense to me.  The same person would get to know your fistula.  You FLAT OUT tell them if there is some idiot you don't want sticking you.

[angieskidney]

I insisted on the "same" tech sticking me in the beginning.  The center didn't like it, so I told my Dr.  She asked them to try and have the same person do it. 

It only makes sense to me.  The same person would get to know your fistula.  You FLAT OUT tell them if there is some idiot you don't want sticking you.

In my Canadian city it is just nurses that stick you so it is not so bad.


Edit: The nurses have been sticking me for a month now and 20/30 my fistula blows. Last Monday they had to use my catheter again. On Wed it went fine but last Friday it blew again but the nurse I had that day kept trying and even hooked me up to the machine and started the pump (on slow) but I told her, "Look!! It is getting bigger! It did definitely blow! Pull it out! You can't use that one!" She eventually unhooked that one and tried higher up my arm. So I had 3 needles in at the same time even though only 2 were in use. So when my run was done she had to pull out 3 needles and man was there ever a huge bruise after this! And I had just finally got most of my bruising to go down from last time!! Geeze!

I wish I knew how to prevent this