u/tealoflavender

I've had 3 needle infiltrations since May, when I started dialysis. My left bicep looks like I've been doing weights compared to my right & the bruising finally came out today, after it happened Saturday. I was supposed to get my catheter yanked this week & I feel bitter that it's not.

I have small veins & I don't understand why they're not using ultrasound or a vein illuminator to find my veins more easily rather than what seems to be using blind luck. I only see my nephrologist or her nurse at the clinic, the doctor once a month & nurse on Thursdays, so no office there. I did leave a message for her at her main office, on my vascular surgeo's suggestion, but I don't know when I'll hear back.

It's frustrating. I worry that my vein will be permanently damaged with all of the difficulties getting/keeping a needle in my vein & that it'll affect the health of my fistula. I also have fibromyalgia & the pain from the infiltration is feeding into the fibro, so that I'm having a major pain flare. And so freaking tired from all of it.

Although I did come up with a dialysis joke- how many tech/nurses does it take to put avneedle in a dialysis patient?

4, but they have to be really close!

I saw a tshirt on Etsy that said "My Kidney Got Run Over By A Reindeer." My therapist & I decided we had to write the song. The Vaysa mentioned in the song is my cat Dubheasa, pronounced Du-vay-sa.

My kidney got run over by a reindeer,

Walking home from the hospital,

Christmas Eve

You can say there's no such thing as

transplants

But as for me and Vaysa, we believe

She's been filtering too much eggnog

And then she started towards the door

But she forgot her medication

And she staggered out before...

My kidney got run over by a reindeer,

Walking home from the hospital,

Christmas Eve

You can say there's no such thing as

Transplants

But for me and Vaysa, we believe

I'm sure we'll come up with more lyrics, but here's a star.