The "There's More to Las Vegas Than the Strip", edition.

Good morning!  There really is more to Las Vegas than the strip. There's downtown!  No just kidding.  Lol. Las Vegas is really a city. A large city. Well let me check that. The city of Las Vegas is really small. The metropolitan area seems to be made up of a lot of little places, not unlike Hamtramck or Highland Park. We were rudely awakened to this fact during an election for mayor. Therefore I couldn't vote.   Even though my mailing address clearly says Las Vegas, I don't live in Las Vegas. My phone says I live in Paradise. The sign on Maryland Avenue just past Desert Inn says , "Welcome to Winchester". Then of course there's North Las Vegas, Summerlin, Henderson and Anthem. I'm still confused. But I am part of Clark county.  There are just over 2 million of us in Clark county and 600,000 in Las Vegas. Now you know. Heh. Now I know!  

In the last blog I said I'd go over the end of treatment. While I'm on the machine, there is a 2 step process to ending treatment. After a while, an alarm will sound to indicate that all of the requested fluid has been removed. A few moments later, up to 30 minutes, a final alarm will sound indicating that all of the toxins have been removed.  I need to clarify that ALL of the toxins are not removed but as much of the toxins as possible. Now you can imagine that when that first alarm goes off, I'm getting antsy. The end is near!  But not near enough!  Lol. I always ask Brian how much time is left. The answer is always too many minutes...well usually 20-30 minutes. ....too many minutes!  

The last alarm finally goes off. But wait!  There's more!  I have to take a final blood pressure. Argh.  Then we need to do a rinseback. What's a rinseback?  Brian disconnects my arterial line (blood out) and attaches back to the dialysis machine. Then pushes a button. The process returns the remaining blood back to me. Because, you know, once treatment is stopped, there is still blood circulating through the machine.  I want the rest of my blood back!  It's mine!!!  It's flushed back with saline. When the venous (blood in) line runs clear, the rinseback process is complete. But wait!  There's more!  Brian attaches a syringe filled with saline to each access line, venous and arterial. It's a final flush of the lines. This kinda makes sure all of my blood is returned. 

Now. We can finally remove the needles. First out was last in. The venous needle. But it's not a matter of ripping out the needle. First Brian has to remove the tape. Yes. He tapes the needles and he tapes them according to standard procedure. There are 8 pieces of tape on my arm during dialysis. Each needle has 3. The first secures the butterfly part of the needle. The second piece is a half width piece of tape that sort of V's around the needle, called a chevron. And finally a piece of tape with gauze over the whole shebang.  This is the process for both accesses. Finally a piece of tape over the accessss to make sure it stays. A piece of tape over the tubes on my shoulder to keep the needle tubes steady, and finally a piece of tape over the tubes on my left shoulder to keep the tubes out of the way and so I don't pull them out. I need to find a photo of that. 

Anyway. Brian removes the tape from the venous. He then hands me a piece of gauze. He counts to 3 and as he removes the needle I apply pressure to the hole. And hold it. For freakin ever. Or so it seems. I need to hold it until the blood stops flowing. Oh yeah. Prior to all of these, we have to slather our hands with Purel and then put on the rubber gloves. The process is repeated for the arterial needle. I end up applying pressure to the needle holes for about 10 minutes to stop the bleeding in both holes. But wait!  There's more!  Once the bleeding stops. And it's fun watching Brian peek under the gauze to make sure it's stopped. Because there have been times when he's been surprised by the gushing of blood.  Although he hasn't experienced the marvelous spurts. Mt Vesuvius!  Anyway. After the bleeding has stopped, he puts antibacterial cream on the gauze and then tapes it over the holes. Gotta protect against infection!!  Finally he tapes up the whole thing. Which will always elicit comments when I go out. What happened to your arm?  Or, you just visited the doctor!  I do admit it's a pretty impressive bandage looking thing!   Lol. 

Finally it's almost over. I have to take my final stats..temperature, sitting and standing blood pressure and ending weight. Whew. It's over. About 20 minutes after that final alarm goes off, I'm finally finished. And I'm still good with this because I'm at home. Yay!!!

Well.  That was long. You try to explain one of your processes and see how it goes!  The heat has arrived in Las Vegas, along with a boxing match..which seems to have consumed the city. Rolling into the mid 90s for the rest of the week. 

Well that's it for today. Enjoy the sights and smells of spring. I don't have seasons here..and I'm not complaining.  But enjoy your spring. Just stop and really take look at the trees sprouting, the grass trying to get green and the first flowers peeking through!  Have a great day.  :-)