YEA, The Cathater Is Finally Out

[thegrammalady]

finally after almost 3 years the perma-cath is out! now mind you i haven't actually had one for three years, i've had 4. i'd almost decided i was born with it. anyway it's gone and i'm jumping for joy     

[willieandwinnie]

 

[okarol]

Yay!! Must feel so good! 

[spacezombie]

Getting a catheter out is the best thing in the world! I remember when I was completely catheter-less for the first time in five years and able to take a real shower. Oh man, that was the best shower ever in the history of the universe. Congrats!

[Romona]

 
Yipee!

[kitkatz]

Quick! Take that long awaited shower!

[Sluff]

Good for you Sue, glad you will have a wee bit more freedom. 

[bolta72]

Yipee    time to get wet.

[kidney4traci]

Yea!!!  I remember that feeling - man that is a long time!! 

[Adam_W]

     I sure can relate. I'm glad you're cath-free now.

Adam

[Rerun]

Go swimming!  Just jump into a pool and be free of tubes.  Congrats!!!

[2_DallasCowboys]

Very happy to read you are cath-free!

Enjoy your shower!

Anne

[spacezombie]

Go swimming!  Just jump into a pool and be free of tubes.  Congrats!!!

That is my plan too for when I get all these damn tubes out of me! I can't wait to go to the beach in La Jolla.

[BigSteve]

Wonderful, mine was only in for three month, and I went nuts without a shower.
I tried the catheter covers called CD-100 several time, but every other time it didn't
work and the catheter would get wet.

[monrein]

Oh yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah.  Like I always say...it really is those little things that make the big difference.

[stauffenberg]

If you were not on dialysis and someone told you that in order to take showers rather than baths you would have to endure pencil-thick, steel needles being poked three times a week into a giant, artificially created vein-artery combination surgically carved into your arm, forcing you to put clamps on your arm to stop the massive bleeding, plus freaking everyone out with its horrible, permanent disfigurement of your arm, and in addition, you would not be able to move your fistula arm freely for 12 hours a week, and on top of all that, you would have to endure painful and repeated fistulagrams, as well as deal with the fact that the fistula would break down eventually and you would then require more surgical disfigurement to repair it or create a new one, I think you would prefer bathing.

[monrein]

However, for those of us on dialysis, our reality is not the same as that of someone who isn't.  There's nothing wrong with celebrating something small like having a shower since our wish to be free of ESRD is not actually possible.  None of us would be so stupid as to choose ESRD in order to take showers.  That's not the point.  Just because we can't have it all doesn't mean we can't appreciate what little things we can have. 

But your description does paint a powerful picture (`a la Hieronymus Bosch) of despair that leaves me thinking I must surely be delusional when I feel grateful for my disfigurement.  There is in reality no such thing as truth, only perception.  I miss what I've lost, cherish what I've got left and love that I still feel joy.

Stauff, I read your description to my husband and we both had a good laugh when he turned to me and said  "So, my little Frankenstein monster how's the buzzing been today?"

Life's way too serious to be taken too seriously.

[spacezombie]

However, for those of us on dialysis, our reality is not the same as that of someone who isn't.  There's nothing wrong with celebrating something small like having a shower since our wish to be free of ESRD is not actually possible.  None of us would be so stupid as to choose ESRD in order to take showers.  That's not the point.  Just because we can't have it all doesn't mean we can't appreciate what little things we can have. 

But your description does paint a powerful picture (`a la Hieronymus Bosch) of despair that leaves me thinking I must surely be delusional when I feel grateful for my disfigurement.  There is in reality no such thing as truth, only perception.  I miss what I've lost, cherish what I've got left and love that I still feel joy.

Stauff, I read your description to my husband and we both had a good laugh when he turned to me and said  "So, my little Frankenstein monster how's the buzzing been today?"

Life's way too serious to be taken too seriously.

LOL, this is a very good response. I very rarely take anything too seriously. Thanks, monrein! 

[stauffenberg]

Monrein, I'm of course not saying anything as absurd as that it would be preferable to be in endstage renal disease so that one could take a shower!  I was saying that between having a catheter and thus avoiding all the unpleasantries of dealing with a fistula, and having a fistula so that one could have a shower instead of having to take baths all the time, the catheter would be infinitely preferable.  The advantages of a catheter over a fistula are enormous, as my original post indicates.  I can never understand why people think they are gaining something by getting rid of their catheter, their only access to pain-free, trouble-free, convenient dialysis.

[BigSky]

There is a bigger problem with catheters than having a fistula.

Biggest reasons being that poor dialysis is achieved with them and high rate of life threatening infections.   

This poor dialysis from catheters leads to deterioration in patients that are on them long term. 

[kitkatz]

Problem with catheters is they are visible and they can create really bad infections that travel to the heart. 

[monrein]

Stauffenberg, I did understand the overall point of your post but once again our experiences of things are so very subjective.  In addition to BigSky's point about the risk of infections and often poor dialysis, I for one far prefer having and using a fistula than a catheter.  I've had both and I hated the catheter.  It itched, got in my way ,made me worry and I was beyond thrilled to see it go.  The short-term is one thing but longer than a couple of months..no..for me personally.  I stuck myself in the fistula for 5 consecutive years, did not find it all that painful and felt free of dialysis when not on the machine.  This is not to say that I think everyone has had or will have the same experience but I really do not consider the catheter remotely preferable, let alone "infinitely preferable" to the fistula nor do I see the "enormous advantages".  I sympathize with the fact that for you it is a brutally disfiguring and horrible beastly thing but for me it is not.  I choose to love the sound it makes, I like its thrill and that's just the way I prefer to bend,twist and see my reality.  Until I get a transplant, it will hopefully be a friendly beast that serves me well.
Just a different set of lenses I suppose.

[kimcanada]

oh Congrats!!!!!

I can remember the day mine came out.... first I scratched for an hour and then I jumped in the shower and cried!!!!

Awesome!

Kim

[stauffenberg]

I had a central line catheter for eight years and my typical pump speed was 450 rpm.  I tested it once and found it could go up to 520 rpm without pulling, but the nurses advised me against that because such a high speed would create a danger of recirculation, which does not usually occur with catheters.

As for infections, I had three in total, in every case because I or a nurse did something wrong, like splashing water on it in the bathtub or breathing on it without a mask.  I never had an incident of infection after the nurses and I agreed always to mask up before opening the catheter.  The infections were very simple to handle, and all two of them required was a removal of the old tubing and a re-insertion of new tubing over a guide wire, which took about a half hour and was completely painless.  The third infection did not require even that much response, and went away with a course of anti-biotics.

Generally, everything bad you will hear about catheters is based on out-dated information about the generation of catheters phased out at the beginning of the 1990s.  Even many nephrologists are victim to these myths arising from the historical past.

[petey]

Marvin has had every type of dialysis access known to man -- 14 perm caths, 2 fistulas, 4 grafts, 2 Tenckhoffs (for PD), and one temporary in the groin.  He said he would rather -- much, much, much, much, much, much rather -- have a fistula over the perm cath.  And, he took showers and went swimming (in our pool, so we knew the water was treated correctly) when he had his perm caths!  (It can be done if you are extra careful and thoroughly clean the exit site after showering or swimming.)  Marvin never had an major problems with his perm caths (except the one that FELL out) -- like infections, etc., and he didn't "hate" them, but he said he still much prefers his fistula.  The fistula doesn't protrude and/or dangle from the body and has less chance of infection.  Also, the fistula is "all" Marvin (his vein and his artery tied together), whereas the perm cath is a foreign object in the body.

Stauff, I read your description to my husband and we both had a good laugh when he turned to me and said "So, my little Frankenstein monster how's the buzzing been today?"

Monrein, this is so funny.  Marvin calls his surgeon (the one who has operated on him 20 or so times in the last 13 years and has also saved his life on several occasions) "Dr. Frankenstein."  Marvin told the surgeon he calls him this because this one particular surgeon keeps "piecing" him back together.  So, the surgeon said if he was "Dr. Frankenstein" that that must make Marvin his monster!     

And, stauffenberg, there is NOTHING -- absolute nothing -- "horrible" or "disfiguring" about Marvin's fistula arm.  It is the most beautiful arm and fistula in the world; Marvin's proud of it, and I think it's simply magic!  To us, there's nothing "unpleasant" or "freaky" about it.  I guess it's a matter of perspective and self-acceptance.