So I went to have all of this done.
First of all, the doctor at the CDC Center said he didn’t want to take the catheter out today, because he wanted me to have at least one good treatment using the graft after he unclotted it.
So the catheter removal was rescheduled for Thursday.
HOWEVAH: when he looked at the graft, which was all red and felt warm, he said it looked infected. Without doing any kind of surgery or procedure—just looking at my arm—he said that it looked infected.
At Fresenius, they told me it was red from the EMLA cream, which I have not used since last Friday.
Well, DAMN!!!!!
And because it was infected, everything—catheter removal and all—was again cancelled. Nothing happens until we treat the infection of the graft.
This goddamn graft was supposed to be the 8th wonder of the world!! My life was supposed to be free of infections, free of trouble, this graft was supposed to be the next best thing to having a transplant!!!! DAMN IT!!!!! So after all of the catheter infections, I finally get a graft, and it too is infected!!!!
DAMN IT!!!!
Not only that, but over at Fresenius, don’t they know shit???????!!!! I guess not!
My blood pressure would drop low during treatment, and I kept saying, there’s gotta be something else going on, but what… All that they would do was to put the fluid removal on hold, and then I’d leave treatment with the same puffy chipmunk cheeks puffing up over my eyes, as I had going in to treatment. So not enough fluid was being taken off of me because my blood pressure was dropping. NEWS FLASH: my blood pressure was dropping because of this INFECTION!!!!!!!! Just like it always has. Over the last two years…when I was on “PD” and got peritonitis, same damn thing. Same thing with every single catheter infection. Now, the graft is infected. So of course my blood pressure is going to go down!!!
Damn it, I hate having so many medical problems!!!!!
Today or tomorrow should be the day that I hear a definite “yes” from the Transplant Committee. I hope so, because I can’t keep doing this “emergency run to get a graft and/or a catheter” taken care of!!!!!!!!! I can’t keep doing this at all!!!
So I must remain optimistic about my transplant. It’s gotta happen. They’ve gotta say yes!!!!!!!! They’ve just gotta say yes!!!!!!!!!!
So at this point, I have NO idea when the graft will be repaired, and I have NO idea when the catheter will be taken out...which means, it might be longer than I thought before that visual of yours, of me taking showers again, can come true!! (BUT--hang on to that visual--it couldn't be THAT bad!!)
While I'm at it...that damn chair over at CDC made my tailbone hurt again!! Damn, it hurts again!! If it gets better, I'd prefer that, because if it gets worse, I won't be able to walk. I'm walking OK so far--THIS time...but last September, I couldn't walk for a good month or two until I got myself a pair of crutches, which are now essentially useless, because of the graft in my arm.
