Sunday 2014-05-18
BVM
questionably used on me again, trying find facts to fit fantacy (#TFFTFF).
Lately not
only did I walk out of dialysis room like a zombie, but a zombie with a massive
headache. Nurse S is very concerned that she booked me an extra doctor’s
appointment coming Monday.
On Friday I
was put on a BVM machine again in order to find out once for all what is wrong
with me. Last time after used BVM on me, they decided that I was dehydrated and
was given extra saline every session between 100 - 350ml.
Months
passed my blood pressure remained high and for the last couple of weeks I developed
this monstrous headache which starts one hour on the machine as a slow drowsiness
and in the next 2 and half hours fully blown into a massive headache
accompanied with nausea. From the last half hour on dialysis up until late in
the night I was useless.
These spells
of drowsiness, headache, nausea and hypertension made the nurses doubting
themselves and doubting my previous BVM result. Have I or haven’t I got excess
fluid in me. The BVM will tell them everything this time.
When setting
the machine’s UF nurse S tried pushing the button from 100ml upwards to 150ml
while saying that they could give me back saline to compensate what’s taken, my
husband guessed that she was aiming for the proverbial base amount of 500ml. We’ve
been through this countless times at various places. After some eye exchanges
between S and my other half, she also murmured that this machine wouldn’t
permit anything less than 100ml which both of them knew wasn’t true, and eventually
she set the UF at zero. All this was happening while I was sweating on being
double needled for the very first time and copped a swollen bruised arm from
manager L and learned about the story afterwards.
One hour on
the machine later, a glimpse at the BVM, I overheard manager L said to S
something like,” We can’t get anything today, forget about it.”
Nurse S did
find something from the chart and pointed out that my haemoglobin was too high
and wanted to take blood test at the end. For dialysis patients haemoglobin higher
than 120mml/L was highly discouraged. She was reminded that only 2 weeks ago
test was done that I could skip my next Aranesp which was due in 3 days and
that I was already holding back iron as she prescribed. Nurse S is a very good
person, in the end she did ask again about the blood test which we declined.
Since it was
the first time my vein in the arm was receiving fluid back and while swollen, a
complete wash-back wasn’t possible, the lines were deep in colour when thrown.
Furthermore, after S pressed for 15minutes at the point where the needle was
withdrawn blood still flew out and needed repressed longer. I said to her that there
and the lines solved her haemoglobin problem.
When everything was done and
finish I had to ask her the reason for the BVM, to which she said was to check
my fluid. Before dialysis started that day she even asked me if my legs were
swollen.
One other
thing I found out that day was, if I started with a fistula instead of a
catheter I would not have run into so much trouble with heparin, no one wanted
pressing the needle exit point for a long while.
Friday
actually turned out to be a good run, after dialysis I even walked a whole
block to where the car was parked, 900 metres no less (hospital parking costs
an arm).
My fistula
is finally in order and as it was the maiden run for two needles the blood pump
could only be set at 150ml p/m which suited me just fine. There was no need to
give extra saline; there was no urge to run to the toilet. After I got home
that day I passed only 250ml of urine which was just like any day not on
dialysis and did it at ease. Even though I was bruised when the needle was in
and bled when the needle was out, I wasn’t alarmed, as I already saw plenty
when I was a roving patient.
Below is my BVM graph of 4 hours dialysis, with sodium profile.
Below is the aftermath of my fistula maiden run (that's how a high haemoglobin problem is sovled).
