What a week
On Monday, the nurses decided to try a different spot for my needles, to avoid aneurysms. It was also a blood work day. They did get the needle in, and were able to get the blood out, but the second they began to flush the line, my arm started to burn. The one good thing, the nurse who got the blood is one who’s known me for six years, even though I’ve only been doing hemo for a little less than two years, so when I said to take it out, she did, no hesitation.
While she was holding, I could feel it swelling. She can be rather rough, so at first I thought she was putting too much pressure on the site, but once I reached over and touched my upper arm, I knew that it wasn’t her causing the pain. My arm had swelled to almost twice it’s size, and the tissue was hard and tender to the touch. I went home Monday without being dialyzed.
I went back in Tuesday, and cringed when I saw that there was more blood work to be done. They were able to get the blood without any real issues, and they set me up with a single needle. They did the same on Wednesday and Friday.
Today is Saturday (technically, it’s after midnight, so it’s Sunday, but whatever) and my arm is not as swollen as it was, but it’s still rather hard and tender to the touch, and I haven’t got the mobility in it that I did Monday before dialysis. Because of the loss of mobility, I’m afraid of other damage that might have been done than just infiltration. I’m going to leave it till the end of next week, and if I don’t see any improvement, I’m going to ask to have it looked at for nerve damage..
