Ugh!

I don't get home until 7 o'clock and then I want to eat because I'm starving!!
Because...it takes so long to hold my arm after till it stops bleeding...not my idea of fun but here's hoping we all get better at it!

So...

From May until the 15th I waited for a surgery appointment On May 15 I had surgery to have a graft put in my arm. So I waited for the graft and my arm to heal for WEEKS! It was swollen a long time and sometimes even still my hand is full of fluid and swollen so I haven't put my rings back on :( but I found one that actually fits so my hand isn't naked! lol
I have since been to see Dr. Gowing twice for check ups and today I will do my first hemo treatment using my graft.
From now on I will be going to hemo 3 times a week again and I am now done with PD ...eventually I will get my pd catheter taken out so at least I can be somewhat back to normal again except for having to go 3 times a week for dialysis...however, I am STILL here!!
It has been a long couple of months but I have had time to breath and I'm still unsure about home hemo but for now I will get used to hemo 3 times a week and see how it goes.
I can tell you today that I have MUCH more energy right now than I have had on PD and I feel pretty good :) Keep on keeping on!!!
   

And On it Goes...

So...on Mon I have an appt in Barrie to get my arm veins mapped and I'm not sure if I have to get surgery or I have to wait longer for that part.
I have been doing 2.5 bags and getting off fluid that way but I don't have anymore and this morning I'm back to 107.2 kg weight...it's fluid and I seem to need 2.5 bags to get it off but then I may get dehydrated so I can't just do 2.5 bags... it's always something isn't it?
The struggle goes on...and on and on...but I am here and still fighting!

The adventure continues...

So...i went fri to get my line change...sat from 1130 to after 2pm...finally got the line sorted and went to dialysis to check in supposedly for 2 hrs but then they said 4! So i had to call hubby to come get me so pop could go home and then my line worked well enough for 2 hrs but doesn't really work better than it ever has so they wanted me to do bloodwork today and then they will let me know but i think i have to go get a graft put in and i have no idea where they are going to put it if i also have to have a fistula which im supposed to be doing soon also. .so the reality is since xmas everything has been out of whack and its hard to settle down because it seems that out of whack is actually just my new reality but i havent sorted out how to roll with it yet! Stress, stress, stress all day long!

Ongoing Adventures...

Well, I've been home on PD again since end of Feb. but it's not working that well so I'm going to be doing hemo once a week on Thurs. (I just got off the phone with someone at Red Cross and have a driver to take me every week so phew that's dealt with!) and they have talked me into at the very least having a home visit to see if our house will be ok for home hemo and the work needed to fit the machine into our lives. Fun wow! Suck it up and get on with it girl! ....I'm not that sure I can handle home hemo but hey I didn't know if I could handle PD either and yet I'm still here just living day to day and getting through it. Just gotta get on with it....

The Adventure Continues...

Well, I finally got to the surgeon and was told I can go back on PD but apparently there are lots of hurdles to jump through before that can happen. Was supposed to go to Orillia on Thurs. this week but apparently I need Iron so I have to have 3 more sessions of Hemo dialysis and then NEXT week can go to Orillia and PLEASE GOD after that I can go back on PD...I feel like they want me to stay on hemo and I'm arguing the point. I want to try PD until I can't and I'm gonna have to get mean and aggressive if they want to argue with me!! Anyway...one day at a time and today I'm TRYING to fix my comp which had a ransomware program attacking it and has decrypted all my files :( bahhhh if it's not one thing it's another!!
Still here.
Still fighting!!
:)

Still having adventures!

Went for dialysis today and it worked for a bit and then it just quit so I didn't actually have my dialysis...they put some stuff in the line and said go back to orillia at 10am mon to see if they can get it to work...OR get yet another line installed! Out! Can you just please put me back on PD??? So we'll see what's up mon....

Adventures

Well, I have not checked in here for a long while and I was going along doing my thing for awhile and then...
I had a bowel blockage in a hernia under my belly button and as of Dec 16th 2017 I got sick to my stomach and it only got worse from there! I checked into Bracebridge hospital on the 18th (not by choice but I had to because I was very sick) and I was instructed to bring my cycler in there and do my dialysis there until Orillia could get me transferred. On the 19th I was given a tube in my nose to help suck out the stuff in my belly and help stop the puking all day. Unfortunately the tube bothered me and I still puked a time or two (excessive yuck in my belly :( ) Then on the 20th I was transferred to Orillia hospital . That evening I had emergency surgery to correct the hernia and blockage (they said they were going to take out my PD catheter and I would have to switch to Hemo dialysis) but when they did the surgery it was a simple problem and they did NOT remove the catheter after all. So I had staples in my  belly, a PD catheter still attached and then they installed a permanent access line for Hemo dialysis in my chest and sent me down for 3 hrs of dialysis. At this point I still had the tube in my nose and I still hadn't eaten anything ...I hadn't eaten anything but a few crackers since Sat the 16th. I can't remember if it was the 22nd or the 23 when they started giving me liquids and I had chicken broth, jello, and tea and the chicken broth tasted like heaven! (It was just standard chicken broth you know...hospital chicken broth...) but I hadn't eaten in a LONG time by then so it tasted pretty darn good!!
I think actually they started liquids on the 23 because in the night of the 22nd my nurse let me take the tube out of my nose and I had already had two 3 hr sessions of dialysis by then so having the tube out made me feel a hundred percent better!
So I was there until Xmas eve and I had another session of Dialysis and then they allowed me to go home for Xmas!! I was very weak and didn't do any of the things that I planned for Xmas but I was at HOME with my boys and couldn't have been happier to be anywhere else!
Even pop and Denise came by to see us and say hi!
Since then I have been going back and forth to Orillia for dialysis 3 times a week. I was waiting to be able to go to Huntsville which is closer but they had to know things were all good first before they could send me. My access line was NOT very good though and as of Jan 11, 2018 I had another surgery to replace it. Without checking it I started dialysis in Huntsville on Sat Jan 13, 2018 and...my line worked!! I have been going there Tues, Thurs and Sat every week and hopefully after I see the surgeon again in Feb. I will be able to go back on PD again.
In the meantime this is just a speed bump in the road (or if you like an adventure) and it too will pass!
After ALL of that I must just say that I am grateful to be here, alive and still kicking!!