Haemodialysis Fistula Repair – Branch Ligations and Effects of Anaesthesia

Thursday 2014-03-27 

My initial fistula had limited blood flow which need re-operated to render it workable. On Tuesday, 18^th March the surgeon told me there would be two incisions, one near the wrist to do a turn-down, a little further up a ligation of a side branch.

After the operation I did see two dressings, but the turn-down was not necessary, as it’s already 3 and half months after my ultrasound which detected the narrowness of my vein, I, myself did the turn-down all on my own during that time, the two openings were both ligations.

The story was the surgeon snuffed my idea of twin fistulas saying the arterial flow need to be massive to make it workable. When he opened up my skin, he had found that one of the twins under my theory, Arnold had grown and opened up the narrow of the vein, as a result turn-down wasn’t required and Danny was terminated, the ECG chart turned flat along with his little brother (another side branch of my veins which can be seen from my photo in earlier blog). The surgeon told me that Arnold was still growing, after Easter the fistula should be in working order.

Before the operation the nurses “ooh” “ah” about the purring sound made by my handicapped fistula. Even though it doesn’t work, the fistula matured well in the past 5 and half months. They have never seen such a mature maiden they might have seen plenty of fistulas, all of which would be either newly created or damaged needing repair, nothing like mine, buzzing and alive. Everyone put their hand on it and had a thrill.

After I woke up from the anaesthesia, my mind was in super working condition which couldn’t even remember my own weight right after I stepped off the scale on my normal days, could memorise 5 sets of blood pressure including both systolic and diastolic, the hypertension drug administered, their quantities and names. These figures rolled out of my tongue an hour later for recording purposes and I was drifting in and out of anaesthetic effect when I asked those questions and the nurse lied to me about the number of times I asked him those questions.

I also learned that the young male nurse who looked after me had a son and a mortgage of another 13 years, and had to work from 5am to 10pm 7 days a week and making sandwiches for his 11 year old son before going to work each morning.

When I told him I just bought a house a few days ago, he made fun of me for doing it this late in my life. I kept on pestering him with questions within less than an hour waiting in the recovery room. He must be relieved when I was finally being trolleyed off. In my normal state of mind, I’m not the chatty type. Who would have thought that anaesthesia is such a wonder drug!

I can still vividly remember another incident that last September when I had my catheter operation, afterwards when I woke up another phenomenon occurred, I started mimicking sounds, peoples’ voices, phone ring tones, machine beeps, anything came into my ear I would repeat, my mouth was so busy that day mimicking the cacophony of my surrounds that nothing escaped my ear. The nurses were murmuring above my head, I broad-cast them all, I did make some of them blush. I knew what I was doing, just couldn’t stop it. The supernatural power didn’t last, overnight I was mere mortal again.