Holiday Dialysis

Well, I've just got back from a week long holiday in France, and it was so easy, ok so I had it easier than most because my aunty lives there and was able to have a look around and find a local dialysis centre, but every dialysis centre in this country will have a holiday coordinator who will organise holiday dialysis for you, whether in this country or abroad. In most EU countries it will be free of charge too. As I say I went to France and it was so easy, even though I didn't speak French and they didn't speak English but even so there were no problems at all. I would urge everyone to give it a go, it's not as scary as it may seem

More New Fistula News

Yesterday was much better than Monday, I was nervous to say the least because of what happened on Monday! After Ben told me to shut up (I was telling him I would kill him if he got it wrong!) because I was making him nervous, he managed to get both needles in without me even noticing, and dialysis went perfectly for the first three hours, but then it really stated to ache, so I came off a little early. Apparently it aches at first until the walls of the veins get thicker and stronger with the more use they get. So for now Ben is my new hero and hopefully will be working tomorrow!

New Fistula

Well, what can I say about last night, it was an experience to say the least. After much deliberation I decided to have a fistula formulation whic is now 5 weeks old and as I did not dialyze very well at all through my tesio line on Saturday, we decided to go for it and use the fistula for the first time. I was ok with this because it meant I didn't have time to get worked up about being needled for the first time. Well I had some aneasthetic put in and the first needle went in without me even feeling it...but the second one was a different matter all together! It blew straight away and the pain was inmense. So we decided to take the blood from the first needle and put it back through my tesio, which was fine but the pain for the full four hours was unbearable, like nothing I have felt before. I'm really hoping it was just because of what happened and won't be that painful all the time. I can't believe it is for one minute unless I'm just being a wimp! Anyway watch this space to find out!

Baby Dialyzers

I intend to write this blog to try and help new dialyzers. When I first started in August, I had no help or advise whatsover, so I hope by writing this then I can make somebody else's life a little easier, or certainly a little bit more informed about what is happening to them.

There are several things you need to be aware of as a dialysis patient, one is your weight, you will be given a dry weight which is weight you will aim to be when you have finished dialysis. Your wet weight is your weight just before dialysis. They weigh you before to calculate how much fluid you need to loose whilst on the machine. 0.4 of a litre will be added to compensate for the saline they have to give you at the end to push your blood back through the machine back into your body. If you experience cramp whilst on dialysis, this could be because your dry weight is too low, if this is the case the cramp will also be linked to a drop in blood pressure, which is very unpleasnt, you will go very hot and dizzy and sometimes be sick. If you feel this start to happen try and get help straight away as the longer you leave the worse it will get. If this happens try incresing your dry weight a little, it usually gets increased by half a kilo at a time. Some people like myself just suffer from cramp regardless of your dry weight, if you are one of these people then you can ask for quinine tablets, which they will prescribe for you. The quinine should be taken just before each dialysis sessions, and should stop the cramp.