Good afternoon. My husband was diagnosed with ESRD in June of last year., A few weeks ago they began using his fistula for dialysis. On Friday and today Wednesday they were unable to do dialysis because his vein became very swollen and a lot of bleeding happened. They sent him home without his treatment.
My question is this normal? He’s icing and using a heating pad for the pain and swelling, taking Tylenol. Any suggestions? I appreciate all or any responses as we are so new to this and any help is appreciated. Thank you.
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Pungo68
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wow! I don’t think he should be going undialysed …. Have they spoken with the vascular surgeon who created it? It may need more surgery to widen it? I had to have a second procedure on mine
Thank you for your reply. No one is referring him back to the vascular surgeon but I agree I think he should see him to figure out what’s going on. At least have it checked. How was it after you had the second procedure? Sorry you are going through that. Hope it’s going better for you now.
You should definitely consult vascular surgeon. They can do a scan on it and see what’s going on.
I’ve been very fortunate and got the call for a kidney and pancreas last July. Sadly the pancreas failed. It was a difficult operation with a few issues. It was then that they decided the fistula needed to be better in case my harvested kidney didn’t “wake up”. It took a while but it finally did. I now have an excellent working fistula but have not needed to use it since pre-op!!
So happy to hear your transplanted kidney is doing well, my husband has his first appointment for a transplant program in March, it’s for doing labs and test for an evacuation for the list. Today that were able to run his dialysis treatment. This gives me hope.
CatsAreTops! I have been worried and wondering how you have been since you told us your kidney transplant had not worked out. Am I wrong in thinking that you also received a pancreas? Is that o.k ? I am hoping you are well in any case!
Hello! My pancreas was the failure. My kidney took a while but finally got going. I’m doing quite well. It’s difficult being immuno suppressed. Lots of issues can and do arise but I just address them as they do.
i am so glad to hear you are doing well! Sorry about the pancreas, but I guess if I had to choose, I would pick the kidney. You will most likely get used to being immuno suppressed over time. Just always take those meds (mine are mycophenolate, tacrolimus and prednisone), and be careful around people that are sick. It becomes 2nd nature over time! I am doing great. My labs are terrific and I finally got my potassium numbers down y being sure to hydrate well. Fluids really help your kidney(s) function well. Take good care of yourself. Again, I am happy you are doing well!
No that is not normal at all. It may be a blood clot or some other reason but he needs to get an fistulogram and ultrasound. After determining the cause there are several further surgical solutions. Is the thrill sounding proper? But it needs to be determined and quickly. Because if your husband requires dialysis and they are unable to do so, this is a life threatening critical issue. Please get in touch with his Nephrologist and Surgeon ASAP. Please don't wait to be approached, pursue this actively.
thank you for your reply, yes I think we definitely need to talk to his nephrologist and nurse at his dialysis tomorrow morning and if they can’t do the dialysis again we will go to the emergency room at the hospital where the vascular surgeon performed the surgery. Not being able to have dialysis is definitely life threatening, thanks your knowledge and experience is very helpful to us as we are new to this situation.
oh I’m surprised the dialysis center didn’t send him over to the hospital . Define,y talk to the vascular surgeon they may have to put in an emergency chest port . My fistula never work try a graft something happen during my surgery no go on that I had the emergency chest port since June
oh my goodness I hope you are okay. My husband refuses to let them send him to the emergency room so they just call me to come get him, we live 8 minutes from the dialysis center. Since he was only able to get dialysis on Monday, if they can’t do dialysis tomorrow morning I will have to take him to the emergency room. Thanks for the advice and information on the emergency port. This may be his only option. They started using his fistula 3 weeks ago, it worked fine, now in his 4th week his arm is swelling up and bleeding. Your response is very helpful.
oh my goodness I hope you are okay. My husband refuses to let them send him to the emergency room so they just call me to come get him, we live 8 minutes from the dialysis center. Since he was only able to get dialysis on Monday, if they can’t do dialysis tomorrow morning I will have to take him to the emergency room. Thanks for the advice and information on the emergency port. This may be his only option. They started using his fistula 3 weeks ago, it worked fine, now in his 4th week his arm is swelling up and bleeding. Your response is very helpful.
a new fistula takes months to fully develop. Do Which means the width of your supervein is tiny. Every time you dialyze the super vein gets bigger and easier to use. So any small miss the needle drags the vein wall or worst they infiltrated. This means need sent in and supervein.
also the can go a fistulagram with balloons of certain size and they widen the access. Beware get put under not just a local it’s quite painful if all they use is lidocaine.
That happens if a tech doesn’t know your arm yet. You arm will swell like a football and most likely have to wait a day for for the swelling to go done.
Be patient it will grow with use. Tell them to try a 17 gauge at first then 16. Fight starting you on a 15 or 14, they will catch the internal wall every time.
Got them to make mine perfect, after creation itvdhorty logged. So the teamed via baloons 3 other times.
Thank you for responding, it’s good to know it will grow in time. Today the lead person was able to get the dialysis done. We talked about maybe referring him back to the vascular surgeon to look at the fistula. The lead tech said exactly what you said the width is small.
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