The "Going to Dialysis 3X a Week is Like a Job and We Look Forward to Friday", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Ruff Ryder's Anthem", DMX, but I'm not in the mood lol. Gonna go find another song....how about "Ain't Leaving Without You", Jaheim. Love the baseline.  Lol. Boppin' in the chair trying desperately to keep the lift arm still.  On that note, the left arm with fistula is doing ok. I've graduated the next size needles.  There are 3 needle sizes..red smallest, green medium, and finally blue, the largest and the permanent needle. Now before you freak out on needle size (I know I did), the size isn't really the "size" of the needle, but  the diameter of the inside of the needle. The flow is increased with each size. This goes along with the maturation of the fistula. Moving too much blood can blow the fistula and we really don't want that. So with my green needle, more blood is flowing because the diameter of the needle is wider.  I'm not sure if I told you that I have a local anesthetic that I apply before leaving for the center. Using the anesthetic, I feel nothing during the stick. Absolutely nothing. :-)  

I'm eventually going to do home dialysis. I have several options. There's peritoneal, which means I'd need minor stomach surgery. The access is through the stomach...the peritoneum. I can also use a home machine..Brian and I would need to learn how to cannulate (stick me). That being said, there are people here who stick themselves!!!  Yes!!  When I first saw that I was like, oh wow, I could never do that. Well, once you get more informed, you realize it's not a bad thing to take control of your care. So I'm headed in that direction. iPod shuffled to "When You Get Right Down To It", Phyllis Hyman.  I had to crank up the volume.  The home dialysis feature makes travel a bit easier..more or less. I don't have to find a center out of town with techs who don't know me. 

Other benefits of home dialysis, is more dialysis.  More dialysis is more toxins being removed.  Slower dialysis which means less chance of my blood pressure dropping too low. Another benefit is the diet is less restrictive, because I'd be dialyzing more often and more better. You know at the start of all of this, I was bombarded with information. I was bombarded with options. At one point it seemed as if I was moving on three trajectories at once....and I was. :-X    I was moving forward with the fistula, I decided I wanted peritoneal dialysis, and I was moving forward with the transplant.  I was seeing a different doctor for each option.  And each doctor was affiliated with a different hospital. :-(  

Once my vascular surgeon said he could to the peritoneal surgery, I put the brakes on that...especially after he said, "If you're going to do peritoneal, why are we wasting our time with the fistula? ".  Lol. At the moment, I stopped the peritoneal track to focus on the fistula. The transplant stuff would continue. I think I made the right decision. I had to make some hard choices.  Believe it or not, the deciding factor is swimming. With peritoneal, I would not be able to swim. The stomach access is too susceptible to infection. 

Ok this is long. Signing off with "Fall in Love, Lady Love", The Dramatics. Oh and for a bonus, I have a published article. I'll explain later.

http://kidneybuzz.com/clearing-the-air-while-sitting-in-the-dialysis-chair