First of all, I’d like to thank Mr. Peckham for posting updates/summaries of my posts on his page. His page has also connected me with many other blogs/sites that I like reading. Thank you!
http://www.billpeckham.com/from_the_sharp_end_of_the/
Dialysis at night has been going pretty well. But I must admit that I was quite exhausted today. After I woke up, I took myself off and lied down as my machine disinfected. When it was over, I turned the water off and made breakfast. After breakfast, I fell asleep again. I’m guessing it’s just going to take my body some time to get used to this frequent dialysis thing.
Last night I had some issues cannulating one of my button holes. For now, I’ve only been using one buttonhole in terms of my arterial line, but rotating buttonholes where the venous line is concerned. This particular arterial buttonhole always cooperates with me, which is great. The venous is a different story. I was poking and poking, but I just couldn’t get it in the right place. Eventually I gave up and just went with the other buttonhole which was developed first. Since tomorrow is my dialysis day off, I think I’ll take that oppourtunity to cannulate the two buttonhole spots that have been giving me a problem with sharp needles and not blunt needles. Maybe the buttonholes need to be re-worked or something. If I continue to have problems I’ll probably go visit Rose in the hospital so we can possibly work on getting those buttonholes working or perhaps creating a new set.
I also seem to be getting the error message “concentrate error”. It only happens towards the last hour of dialysis.
I know I’m using the right concentrate, I know that the connectors aren’t reversed, I’m assuming the water inlet flow is correct as it was correct for the previous 7 hours…so all I can assume is that it’s a machine malfunction. Today I’m going to set my machine for 7 hours only, then I’m going to call the techs in the morning. I’m gonna see if setting the machine for 7 hours works, or if it’s going to give me the same alarms 1 hour prior to dialysis being done.
Well, that’s all for now. It’s time to set up my machine, then take a shower, then connect!