Emergency Dialysis

[mamasusan]

My 88 year old mother is in end stage renal failure. Although her nephrologist has apparently been telling her for a year that dialysis was coming, she didn't hear him. He finally called me in Dec. (with her permission). She dragged her feet and finally had the fistula put in just over a week ago. It takes about 2 months to mature to be used. The surgeon wanted to put in a graft that would be usable in 2 weeks but mom was concerned that the graft had greater chance of infection. Four days ago, we had to rush her to the hospital cause she couldn't breathe. The doctors there tell us that she needs to start dialysis immediately - this means the catheter in the chest which we have been told gives the highest chance of infection and not good outcomes. She has no confidence in the doctors cause she lives in PA but had the fistula surgery done near my house in NY, and is hospitalized in NY. All her doctors are in PA. Her neph. in PA told her that her "numbers" are terrible but she didn't need dialysis yet, but now she's had heart failure, pneumonia, and now needs oxygen. I think the situation has changed since he last saw her, but she doesn't believe it. Most important, has anyone out there had the catheter in the chest kind of dialysis? How did it work out? Any thoughts?

[karena]

My Bf had a chest cath for about 6 months..and he did well with it, he did however develop an infection, but it was more because of his neglect in taking care of it correctly, he says dialysis is much easier with the chest cath. with proper care the chest cath is a good option, is his view.

[LB61]

Dear Mamasusan, I can sympathize with you because my mom's story is very similar. She is 84, and her kidneys were failing for the past couple of years. She finally had to start dialysis about a month ago. It was an emergency situation similar to your mother's. But I can tell you that so far the chest catheter has worked. She had five dialysis treatments over a week's time in the hospital, and has been going to DaVita dialysis 3x/week for about 3 weeks now, with the chest catheter, and she is doing fine. She goes in next week to have a graft installed, and can't wait to get rid of the chest catheter. But it takes about 2 weeks for the graft to be ready, so she's looking at another 3 weeks with the chest catheter. The nurses at DaVita are very careful, and everything is sterile, and as long as she keeps it covered and doesn't get it wet (i.e., do sponge baths), there has been no infection. I want to reassure you and your mom that it will be OK!

[mamasusan]

Thanks so much for your kind and helpful comments. She had the catheter put in this morning and then had her first dialysis treatment. The change was nothing short of a miracle! Her breathing improved dramatically as did her "awake-ness" and "alert-ness" and all of her numbers are so much better. Hopefully the catheter will stay clean, clear and infection free! And good luck to you both!

[LB61]

So glad to hear it went well! Yes, the first treatment can seem like a miracle! All those toxins are being removed. Hope your mom continues to do well and can use her fistula soon. My mom is going in this week for the graft - - hope the surgeon can find a strong enough vein.

[mamasusan]

Thank you! Good luck with the graft. Did they do vein mapping? We had that prior to the surgery.

[LB61]

Sorry for the delay. Yes, they did the vein mapping. Hope your mom is doing well. My mom just got her chest catheter removed yesterday (yeah!) since the graft in her arm is working well. She had it in for a little over 2 months and no infection.

[leorasy89]

This blog post is very nice and accurate. With these tips, you'll know what areas to focus on first and even have an action plan to implement these ideas in your work. Improving your quality of life is not easy, but the sharing in the article has helped me a lot.
basketbrosfnaf 2