Chapter 5: Balancing Dialysis and grade school
February 3rd 2007 00:24
When I had Steven-Johnson Syndrome they were not able to keep my electrolytes stable, so I had to go on dialysis. I was nine-years old. My mom would drive me to Cleveland three days a week. There were no dialysis units nearer to where I lived at the time. I went Wednesday, Friday and Saturday early in the morning. I would have to miss school two days a week. To keep up I would just have a little extra homework to do.
For dialysis they used the fistula that was created in my left arm when I was six. A fistula is created by joining an artery and a vein which increases the blood flow in the vein. It feels like it is buzzing when feel the site. Some may even think it is a machine in your arm. I had brought my arm to show & tell when I got it and the kids thought it was kind of cool. One of my mom’s co-workers was convinced there was a machine in my arm.
During dialysis two 17 gauge needles are inserted in the fistula. The needles are on the end of tubes that connect to the dialysis machine. The tubes go through the machine and the machine cleans the blood. It take two and a half to five hours. I was only on three and a hour hours for each treatment. I was also lucky to still be able to irrinate a bit.
A lot of people on dialysis have terrible Charlie horses cramps, headaches and low blood pressure. The cramps are caused from high potassium. Headaches can happen due to the stress dialysis puts on your system. Dialysis pulls fluid and toxins out of your system. If this is done to fast your blood pressure drops. This is the problem I had the most.
My blood pressure would drop. They would lay me back almost upside down and give me fluid until my blood pressure would raise. I just remember being light headed. Sometimes I would pass out, but usually I would tell my mom, who was always at my side during treatments, I was light headed and she would get a technician to check my blood pressure and fix the problem.
I would see other patients with terrible cramps and had one myself maybe twice. I did not eat any foods high in potassium when I was on dialysis. That includes all potato, bananas, yogurt and some other milk products. Cutting out certain foods was a small price to pay for not having extremely painful cramps.
I was lucky. I only had to be on dialysis one year before my first kidney transplant. My dad was an excellent match and he was laid off from work, so he gave me his kidney.
For dialysis they used the fistula that was created in my left arm when I was six. A fistula is created by joining an artery and a vein which increases the blood flow in the vein. It feels like it is buzzing when feel the site. Some may even think it is a machine in your arm. I had brought my arm to show & tell when I got it and the kids thought it was kind of cool. One of my mom’s co-workers was convinced there was a machine in my arm.
During dialysis two 17 gauge needles are inserted in the fistula. The needles are on the end of tubes that connect to the dialysis machine. The tubes go through the machine and the machine cleans the blood. It take two and a half to five hours. I was only on three and a hour hours for each treatment. I was also lucky to still be able to irrinate a bit.
A lot of people on dialysis have terrible Charlie horses cramps, headaches and low blood pressure. The cramps are caused from high potassium. Headaches can happen due to the stress dialysis puts on your system. Dialysis pulls fluid and toxins out of your system. If this is done to fast your blood pressure drops. This is the problem I had the most.
My blood pressure would drop. They would lay me back almost upside down and give me fluid until my blood pressure would raise. I just remember being light headed. Sometimes I would pass out, but usually I would tell my mom, who was always at my side during treatments, I was light headed and she would get a technician to check my blood pressure and fix the problem.
I would see other patients with terrible cramps and had one myself maybe twice. I did not eat any foods high in potassium when I was on dialysis. That includes all potato, bananas, yogurt and some other milk products. Cutting out certain foods was a small price to pay for not having extremely painful cramps.
I was lucky. I only had to be on dialysis one year before my first kidney transplant. My dad was an excellent match and he was laid off from work, so he gave me his kidney.
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