Babygirl has been doing home dialysis since just after Thanksgiving. She has had some assistance once in a while from the dialysis team but has been largely independent with it all. However, a couple of weeks ago, she began having issues with her needles clotting before she could get the system hooked up. She'd have to take everything down and start over or wait until someone from the team could come and help her. Sometimes the team COUDN'T help.
Ultrasound of the fistula revealed some stenosis (narrowing) that was likely impacting blood flow, leading to increased clotting. She needed to have a fistulogram and probably some angioplasty.
The nurses notified the vascular surgeon. "We'll get back to you." And again. And rinse and repeat.
She was finally scheduled but not until January 18th. For someone who is supposed to be doing dialysis at home four days a week, and was barely able to manage two, this was....unacceptable.
Her nurse finally advised her to contact the other vascular surgeon (the one who works for MY hospital LOL) to see if he had any availability. I think she told Babygirl's usual team that we were going to do that, because before I could make the call, she was given two days' notice that she was bumped up to yesterday.
I rearranged my work schedule, and we went to the hospital as ordered at 11 AM. No preop testing had been done because of the short notice, so we had to have the Covid test, the obligatory pregnancy test, and a check on her potassium (since kidney failure patients frequent run very high, which can be dangerous with the anesthesia) and the current status of her anemia. Everything was within acceptable parameters, which we knew by about 1:30. It was nearly 5 PM when they wheeled her off to the OR.
FYI: I will NEVER, ever get used to seeing her go.
She apparently woke up during the procedure (when I told her about it, she said "I thought that was a DREAM!), so they gave her some extra juice. Recovery took a bit longer than expected.
We didn't get home until after 7, stopping to pick up a sub for her and some Chinese for me.
She's fine. The procedure was a success, and dialysis today went well.
But here's the thing: I never let anybody know that there WAS a thing. I mean, usually I tell the family, let the prayer chain know, put up a blog post or a Facebook notification, something. I didn't even tell her sisters. I've reached the point where this is just another day in the life, which is absolutely the lowest estimation of my mental health that I can imagine.
So, to all the family and friends who faithfully pray for us, keep praying. I'm sorry. I'll do better, I promise.
DeeDee
