Today is a dialysis day

By TinaMarie Cerreta



HELLO EVERYONE!

Today, I go to DCI, Inc. in Hawthorne, NY for my scheduled dialysis. This procedure involves the insertion of two needles into the prepared fistula in my right arm. (I'm left-handed) One needle will access the vein, and the other will access the artery. Subsequently, I will be connected to a dialysis machine for approximately 3.5 hours. During this time, the machine will gradually withdraw my blood, purify it, and then return it to my body. Additionally, the process will remove excess fluid that my body has retained and is unable to expel naturally. I am fortunate that I can still produce a significant amount of urine and experience minimal fluid retention. Furthermore, I diligently adhere to my prescribed fluid intake limit of 46 ounces per day


The Fistula:Its where a vascular surgeon finds a good vascular access area on either your forearm or your bicep location to use. They will then (if they cant find one they will put in a graft.) divert a vein to an artery and together they adapt and grow. Here's a better explanation of how, generally, dialysis work

The Arterial Needle: Removes dirty blood from the fistula and sends it to the dialysis machi

The Venous Needle: Returns the freshly cleaned blood from the machine back into the vein

*Because the fistula is a surgical connection between an artery and a vein, both needles are technically inserted into the same enlarged, strengthened blood vessel. The machine pulls the blood out on the artery side, cleans it, and pushes it back in on the vein side so it can circulate normally through your body.

Here's where I'm coming from:

Because of the physical demands of my three times weekly (3.5-hour) sessions, you can see why I experience significant fatigue upon returning home. My post-session routine typically involves a light late lunch, often consisting of either 4-8oz of soup, a half sandwich, or a small salad, given that my last meal was around 4 AM. Following this, I usually take a nap, waking around 4:30 PM. My evenings then involve engaging with my "Lyric Challenges" and "Theater 'Lyric' Challenges" (on Facebook and Reddit) before dinner. I am generally exhausted and ready for bed by 6:30 PM and often sleep until 2-4 AM, a period I find particularly calm and conducive to journali

I'm done rambling for today! Have a fabulous weekend and we'll meet again tomorrow, if you'd lik

Tina

My quote for the day:

"Just because you experience a life-changing diagnosis like kidney failure, doesn't mean you can't live your life with joy and passion." — Dione Bullard


**Come check out my personal National Kidney Registry microsite...its free and won't sell or ask for your information. Its just a place where people, like me, can post about their journey finding living donors for kidney/pancreas transplant. Come and see the faces and lives of those of us on the search for our lives. Also, there are links to this blog and the main site. Check them out and please, share, share, share!

My Links:

My Blog

 My NKR Microsite

National Kidney Registry

(Please, please, please, share these links with everyone!)

Thank you for reading my posts.

Comments

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Thanks for your comment. I will try and get back to you in a couple of days. If I do notcontact you by then, please be patient. Have a great day!

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