I finally found a local dentist that would remove my four bad teeth in my mouth. It took a blood test to make sure my platelets were high enough. In the end they said they would remove the teeth. This doesn’t sound like much but I’ve been turned down by University dentist and a couple of local dentists. After the procedure I bled for about four days. I even had to cut one of my dialysis treatments by a couple of hours because I couldn’t take the blood rolling down my throat. Finally at the end I found it easier just to keep my mouth shut. That means no talking; not much eating; and very little to drink. Once I did this the bleeding did stop. The bleeding was the only real issue they had with taking out the teeth hopefully I will not have to to have any other teeth taken out any time soon.
Still trouble with fistula
Now the hospital had stitched up the fistula and had dialysis treatment I thought it was safe to go back to the dialysis center. On my next treatment I went and had the dialysis done. The only problem that happened was that a golf ball sized lump that appeared. There was also a little blood on the outside of the lump. Dialysis told me not to worry that it would go done in a day. We let it go for about a day but my arm kept getting tighter. My wife was nervous about my arm and sent me to see my primary physician. We were given antibiotic just to make sure it did not become infected. So finally we went to the hospital again to have the doctor look at it. We were sent to the ER room. She looked at how tight the skin was and before she could look away it started to bleed. She quickly tried to put some gauze on top of it to contain the blood. Once she touched it the stitches gave way and there was blood everywhere. This time it opened up even bigger than the time before. So once again they held above and below and stitched it up. The doctor said enough is enough. Tomorrow we will take you into the operating room and fix it right. They ended up giving me a hybrid fistula. This either means I have a fistula with a graft sewn in the middle or I get 50 miles to a gallon.
So once again I stayed in the hospital.(The fourth admit for this glitch in dialysis). For those of you who have a fistula you know they can’t run an IV in that arm. I’ve also had a lot of other treatments in my right arm. After all these days in the hospital and all the IVs and blood draws they’ve already run my right arm they were running out of space. They put a port in my chest so they could do dialysis treatment there. They were also able to take some blood tests through the port. This was an operation so they had to have an IV so for the third time in two weeks I had to have an IV in my wrist. My right arm was decorated up and down and on both sides with black and blues.
After they did the operation and I was home for a couple of days I tried to go bowling. Right-handed bowler with my fistula in my left arm so I thought I would be okay. During the second game my left arm started to bleed so I grabbed it to put pressure on where it was raining blood and called 911. Once again they took me to the hospital. When the doctor looked at it this time he said it was old blood. I’m not sure with old blood means but it did mean that the stitches didn’t give up or break.
There are a couple of lessons I and my wife learned from this roller coaster ride. Pay attention if your arm starts to feel or look different. If you are concerned, have a professional look at it. It could be an abscess or it could be a pseudo aneurysm. Bleeding from the fistula area is not to be played with. Call 911 and put pressure on it. Do not panic.