fishula --- not spelled correctly --- need info

[twirl]

this is difficult to place in words---- but here goes---- my fishula is older than three years--- I have been on dialysis almost three years and my fishula was mature when I started - my fishula is large on the side of my arm where the needles are placed - skip over my shoulder and I am starting to get a bigger vein like thing that is on the other side like starting where my chest is--- it feels just like the veins that are large where my needles go -- my fishula is above my elbow- higher up than some I have seen
could the fishula cross over my shoulder and continue to my upper arm area - this part throbs but does not buzz -- how big can these things grow or
how long

anyone else experience this

[mtaylorbrown]

Twirl

     It is a IV Fistula, I just go mine in preparation for hemo. (not sure when). It is on my left wrist and I can feel it moving or growing up my forearm. I have an appt with my neph for several reasons tomorrow.

     Your story and concern, concerns me greatly. I just did some research and found that a number of things can go wrong with our fistulas. I was told nothing about my fistula, this forum has been my soul source of info and links.

     That makes your combined kidneys worth their weight in gold.

 
Matthew

[petey]

Marvin has had two very good fistulas (the first one clotted off a month after his transplant).  His second fistula has been working perfectly for over three years.  His fistula has "grown" -- is more pronounced, bigger -- since he first started using it.  Marvin's surgeon explained that this was normal with more and more use.  But, to be on the safe side, why don't you have your vascular surgeon take a look at it?

Marvin has also had grafts (plastic under the skin for the access), but he prefers a fistula.  Fistulas have less chance of infection, all "natural," and last longer (typically) than grafts.

[G-Ma]

I noticed there is a man at dialysis whose fistula is on his forearm and looks like he has 2 golf balls under the skin...he is very selective about where he allows needles, a type of ladder but that is it.  I have heard nurses and techs call this type an aneurism (sp)? He won't talk much so I have not asked about it.

[BigSky]

Fistulas can get pretty big.

There were some pictures posted long ago of some that got really huge but they removed so as not to scare new people to dialysis or something.

I have seen some that are bigger than a garden hose running half way up the arm.

[twirl]

I went to my regular doctor today and she examined my shoulder. She immediately called a surgeon to come to the room and look at me.
He said it is my fistula growing longer. Right now it is not a problem but it could start bothering me and we will do something then. I will inform my kidney docs about this on rounds Monday and see what they say.

[okarol]

If you have a aneurysmal arteriovenous fistula they will repair it surgically. Here is one story from the New England Journal of Medicine - the photos show the before and after http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/15/e16/F1

[twirl]

can not look
too chicken
but thanks

[okarol]

ok don't look, but here's the text anyway:

A 50-year-old man had a 30-year history of end-stage renal disease associated with idiopathic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. His medical history included immune thrombocytopenic purpura, with platelet counts that were persistently less than 15,000 per cubic millimeter. After a second renal transplant failed 8 years ago, the patient began to undergo dialysis through a left brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula, which became severely aneurysmal over the next 6 years (Panel A), with no evidence of a proximal venous stenosis. There was no evidence of complications — such as infection, embolism, rupture, or high-output congestive heart failure — from this aneurysmal arteriovenous fistula. The patient underwent an elective resection of the arteriovenous fistula, owing to the possibility of life-threatening hemorrhage if the fistula continued to increase in size. The surgical result was satisfactory (Panel B). A subsequent arteriovenous fistula was created in his contralateral arm, progressed in a similar manner over the next 18 months, and also required surgical resection. For the past 12 months, the patient has undergone hemodialysis through a third arteriovenous fistula that is currently nonaneurysmal.

[twirl]

      no visuals

what is story behind the heart painting

[okarol]

I answered that in the kids going away thread.

[mtaylorbrown]

OK

     Next time I'll not look myself. That was the last thing I needed to see with my own eyes.

 
Matthew

[twirl]

I have not looked yet

[boxman55]

wow that was some arm why did he/she wait so long to fix it??? Boxman

[twirl]

I can not look
I think it shocked Boxman

[Rerun]

Twirl

     It is a IV Fistula,....

Matt, it is an AV Fistula.... arteriovenous fistula (Arteri A  Venous  V)  AV Fustula. 

[Bajanne]

A guy on dialysis here had to go to Puerto Rico to get an aneurysm on his hand fixed. it was about 3/4 the size of a tennis ball.  I only realized then why he always wore longsleeved shirts in this weather.

[G-Ma]

OMG.... I did cover one eye.

[twirl]

I can not look

[petey]

I looked.  Oh, my!  Twirl,  do not (I repeat -- DO NOT) look!

[twirl]

I have not looked and I am very afraid too.

[G-Ma]

Please continue being afraid...wish I had been.

[twirl]

really and thank you for the warning
I really would freak
it would worry me

[G-Ma]

you don't even want a mental image, trust me...........

[kitkatz]

Holy crap. I should not have looked!