my in-clinic experience

[babybear1967t]

when i started dialysis in dec 2005 i was in the clinic oneday doing dialysis and two chairs down was another woman fixing to be hook up on he dialysis and her ports explouded, there was blood all over and about a half a inch from me too, i mean it was all over, and there's no nothing in between the people to stop anything from getting on the next person...
i don't do dialysis in the clinic anymore needless to say....

[jmaryz]

in clinic experience

That must have been really difficult to go through but I don't think it is very common for that to happen. Many people have very positive experiences with in-clinic visits. Are you doing HD at home now or did you switch to PD?

[chefnancy]

Exploding ports must have been very distressing to see, but I think they are pretty rare. Some people do have bleeding problems, sometimes even severe ones, but it is very rare to have a problem as dramatic as this. I have been on hemo for a year and have seen a number of people in my center have bleeding problems -- a few even had to be transported by ambulance -- but the bleeding was confined to just the area of that person's chair.

[Adam_W]

My home hemo training nurse told me about a similar incident when she was working as an in-centre nurse. She was taking a patient off the machine, and she started to take the needles out, and suddenly the patient's fistula basically exploded. Blood sprayed all over the place, including squirting all the way up to the ceiling. My nurse said she could literally see all the colour drain out of the lady's face. She got the bleeding stopped, and the lady had emergency surgery to fix her access. After that, she was fine. Fortunately, like the others have said, it's not very common.

Adam

[chefnancy]

These constitute "horror stories" in their worst form. If someone wanted to talk about camping trips, you wouldn't begin by discussing the danger of lightning strikes. These "blood and guts" events associated with dialysis are just about as rare. So if you are anticipating getting on dialysis, please do not be put off by these stories.

[cicero]

My exoerience

I have been on in center dialysis 675 person sessions. That is over a 1.2 year span. Statistically this is not a large sample, but in that time nothing bazaar has happened. We have had minor dialysis side effects, but in general all is well as I expect it to be.
Have faith.

[StansWife]

So what if this happened to you while you were home dialyzing? It doesn't happen often enough to come here and scare newcomers.

[flipw]

I've never heard of it happening on home hemo mainly because most people have buttonholes.

[Mustang2008]

These constitute "horror stories" in their worst form. If someone wanted to talk about camping trips, you wouldn't begin by discussing the danger of lightning strikes. These "blood and guts" events associated with dialysis are just about as rare. So if you are anticipating getting on dialysis, please do not be put off by these stories.

Yeah - thanks a bunch to those posting the "worst". That's real great for already scared to death newbies like myself. Guess I should try another forum...........

[chefnancy]

Mustang, I hope you will come back to our forum. The horror stories are few and far between and your reaction is exactly why I was asking people to cut out talking about the things that can happen but seldom do. Most people go for years on dialysis without having a bleeding event or faining on the machine or any of those things. Dialysis can be a pretty scary proposition if you are new. Our purpose here should be to help you get over your fears.

[flipw]

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I think FDR said that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Don't believe all the BS you hear. The odds are about the same as getting struck by lightning while on dialysis.

[poohcat]

In center Experiences

Yikes..that must have been scary. I remember one day a man and his wife who is also blind got into a cursing match with a nurse. I guess the mans wife was having problems with her access so we hadnt seen her in a week. Usually that means they are hospitalized. Well I have been the lucky ones that didnt have to have a fistula or graff. Because of my lupus my veins are too small and deep so they couldnt find anything. I stayed with the permacatheter for over a year until I started PD.Well she finally came in and she had her access in her neck. I thought wow that is sad but I guess they did it based on her need to get cleaned. There is this other nurse 2-3 that spoil from the apple tree. Well this nurse in particular is soooo rude wtih patients. Very crabby all the time talking in her language about the patients complaining. She is the one that always makes rude comments and she had told this poor blind woman if that was her antenna.!! I was so mad for her and she took her tubes out of her neck from the machine and stormed out hitting the door and cursing her. The husband was so mad that he put her in her place cursed her out too and told her she was so rude and inconsiderate for making comments like that. He said how would you feel if your child had to go through what she is and shes blind. Since I grew up with domestic violence I had just been on my 6 mth when that happened and I get all scared when people argue. I had gotten a panic attack just from seeing that. One time she told me I was getting fat.....!! As a woman we experience so much with ourbodies and self aware of that. That comment really hurt me I said well you know you are so mean thats why know one likes you I said please dont touch me or clean me anymore. She was the one who would also press down hard while cleaning my catheter. i shovedher hand awayand yelled at her. I cried for the rest of my treatment. I cant believe there are some nurses like that. Another incident was the pulling off procedures. Everyone that was in their chair was minding their business and all of a sudden the power went out!!! You can hear all the patientsscreaming I though it was the end of it good thing for the extra power. But yeah my experience was by far horrible. That is why I switched to PD I couldnt stand them anymore talking like parrots all day! And they would have preference with some patients and then theyw ould be rushed to get you off the machine because it was passed their work time.I hate it!!

[dennis]

Re: my in-clinic experience

My only experience with dialysis has been in-clinic. You can say the travel time is a bit of a hassle but for me, I felt that I'd rather let the pros do all the wiring and monitoring.

It wasn't a happy experience, only because I knew I was sick, the people were great though, I was actually surprised that people in that hospital were nice and fun to be with, and after it all, the dialysis guys became friends and would would do a lot of chatting and talking while dialysis and watching TV. The technicians and nurses were great too, we were like a bunch of kids back in school.

[M3Riddler]

Re: my in-clinic experience

BabyBear,

I think many of us that have experienced in-center dialysis have witnessed things we would rather not have seen. Some from the lack of attention and others of non-fault from anyone.
I have not had many good experiences when I was in-center. The place was a rotating door with new employees. This was a major factor in deciding to switch to Home Hemo with NxStage. No more living off someone else's schedule.

///M3R

[jeffmoore]

Re: You can learn from past pts. experiences

I have read some of these in -center experiences, and I am in my 20th year of dialysis, as we speak. I was previously on Hemo for ten years, before transitioning to PD. And although I didn't experience any of what you guys have experienced at your various units, I did have a bleeding incidence at home, because of the numerous AV Grafts, as well as repairs, and numerous angioplasties. I had four Grafts in all, and the last Graft that I had placed in my leg, the arterial was so powerful, that I had an episode in the shower, where it burst and the bleeding was so out of control, that paramedics had to be summoned to try to control it, and transport me to the ER for a repair job, but this repair didn't last a good day, because I returned the following day for my scheduled hemo treatment, and when the tech removed the bandage, the Graft burst once again, (it was a very blotched up surgerical job, done by an on call surgeon). Blood was shooting straight in the air, as though I had struck oil or something. Yes, numerous Grafts have the potential to become a problem, but fistula lifespan is far more promising than a Graft. That is one reason why I can't stress this enough, if you can't have a fistula, because of small vein issues, like I had while on hemo, and if you get a second Graft, don't choose to get a third, because you will regret it, because the more of those Graft that you get, it effects the veins in a very serious way. I sure wish I would have not gotten all those Grafts in the past, because since I have been on PD, the treatment is going well, but when it comes to having my blood drawn and of course IV, they are very difficult for me, most of the time it takes three tries, and two nurses to finally have success in getting my blood drawn. And as far as an IV, I usually get them in my foot, because those veins haven't been damaged by hemo. At one time, when I was on hemo some ten years ago, I was having very serious edema of the upper part of my body, that my neph, thought it would be better if I had two Grafts in usuage, to rotate every other treatment, but it didn't remedy my swelling whatsoever, that is why I resulted to a leg Graph. I am not trying to scare anyone on this forum, but knowing some of what others and myself have experienced in the past, this could help other dialysis pts, or pending dialysis pts, prevent themselves from having this problems. I didn't have the luxury of knowing anyone like myself, to learn from their experiences. My dialysis journey would have been less taxing on my body, if I would have been fortunate enough to know, it seems in my years of dialysis history, when a patient would experience something new, then they would address whatever problem that would arise, and in my opinion, I think that a person should have knowledge of various experiences that other past patients might have experienced, and it could potentially help that new person have a better insight on how to manage good health with dialysis, because knowledge is key in all aspects of living your life on dialysis. whether it be diabetic/dialysis or non-diabetic/dialysis. That is one reason why I decided to publish my book to share my experience and knowledge with others that may have uncertaintities about life on dialysis. I really don't won't to see anyone go through what I went through, while on hemo.