Hi followers, I hope all is well with you guys. As usual, I can't stress this enough and of course, I start off all my blogs with that enemy (CKD), which is very seriously on the rise in this country, and around the world for that matter, and it continues to grow, (day by day), and that is mainly because of the lack of education about the kidneys, this truly needs to be addressed in health classes, and high schools, so there can be early awareness to CKD. Please people get a clue, wakeup, get wise, and strongly consider being tested for possible early stage CKD, so that preventive measures can be taken early on in helping to prolong or even reverse the progression in some cases, especially those with a history or family history of diabetes and/or high blood pressure (two of the main causes of CKD), there are other natures of the development of CKD, such as PKD (polycystic Kidney Disease) in which I have, inherited from my father. Now on to some more pressing issues in the dialysis world, mainly the Peritoneal Dialysis World to be precise. I recently had a f/b friend, that was concerned about her ordeal with ER and her PD catherer, and I shared some of my past experience with ER, regarding coming in with possible peritonitits (PD infection). There was this one time about six yrs. ago, I developed peritonititis, while staying in a hotel. Now the scenario around this is, this was my first time, doing PD away from home and in another state. I wasn't wise to the hotel, not having a room, that would accomodate me, getting back and forth to the bathroom, as I don't disconnect once I hook up to the cycler, because I don't want to risk getting an infection, opening and closing my transfer set. This I have followed since starting PD in 2000. Now back to the ER episode. I began to have symptoms of possible peritonitits, I checked my bag, and it wasn't cloudy, so that baffled me somewhat, but I was running a fever and my b/p was steady dropping, so my husband immediately drove me to the closes ER hospital. They immediately took me in, and registered me and admitted me to a ER room. First, they said that they needed to take a sample of my PD fluid, and at the time, I was taught by my PD nurse Tara, who was always precise and thorough with the training and warnings of pertonitits. That nurse attempt to take some fluid from my PD transfer set, but I notice, that there wasn't any mini-caps setup, for after he removed the fluid with this syringe needle of such. I immediately, ask him, where are the mini-caps, and he said what? and I continued by telling him, it is a sterile cap that is designed for my transfer set, and he come showing me some clear cap, that he insist was sterile, but I wasn't having it. I said to him, viciously, then you ain't getting near my transfer set to retrieve any fluid. And he just said, I only need a very small sample for testing, and I told him, that doesn't matter, I don't care if it is a tear drop amount, you ain't getting near me, without any mini-caps on standby. And he had nerve to have an attitude. He promptly went to discuss this with I guess the ER doctor or nurse. Before he returned I told my daughter to go to the car, and get a couple of mini-cap, from my emergency stash in my glove compartment. its's a bag that I keep in my car, with certain supplies, Something I refresh every month, to make sure the mini-caps haven't expired. So he returned before my daughter came back with the mini-caps, and he was still trying to get some PD fluid, and he still had that same clear looking sterile cap, that I am aware won't even fit on over my transfer set, because the bumpy part will be exposed. Just looking at me, with an atti "damn" tude, yeah, that's what I said, which means attitude, but he did have a damn one (lol). He did have a little funky demeanor, while waiting for my daughter, who came back about five minutes later, and then I was comfortable with preceding to allow him to drain some of my PD fluid. Boy, I was watching him like a hawk, I made sure he did it with much precaution and as safely as possible. I couldn't wait to get that mini-cap back on my transfer set. When the results came back, I didn't even have peritonitits. It was my umblicial hernia issue, which had popped out, and needed to be popped back in. Well they gave me some morphine, to make this procedure, as painless as possible, because he said going cold turkey for this, I will truly experience some very excruiating pain. Well, what I am trying to say is, if and when you suspect you may have developed peritonititis, take a small sample of your fluid, to bring to the ER, so you don't have to go through what I went through, as I became aware very early on, in my PD life, that those ER staff don't really have much training with PD patients, and besides at that time, this was a fairly new hospital, and I was the very first PD case, that they had in ER. Besides it is your responsibility, as a PD patient, to make sure you keep your PD catherer safe and always be wise to the fact, that most of the nurses in ER are not trained in the procedure of PD, even on the floor, on occasion, I have had encounters with nurses, who didn't even know how to do manual PD at all. It was all on me, and I am so glad and I commend my PD nurse Tara LaChappelle, for her precise and thorough aspect of my PD training from the very beginning. So I hope you PD patient, take heap of this, it is very important in keeping your PD catherer safe. You may go into ER, thinking you could be diagnosed with peritonitis, and that may not be the case, and then you don't stand your ground, where your safety is concerned, and they try to get a sample of your PD fluid, and that scenario that almost happen to me, if I would have been so confident with the nurse taking over, he could have potentially caused me to develop peritonitits, but I am so glad, I stayed firm and stood my ground, and not let that nurse try to run all over me, and of course, I wasn't feeling so well in the first place, all tumbled over from pain, but I didn't let that pain, destroy my judgement. (lol). Until my next blog, stay compliant and safe, and do what is necessary to keep yourself managing continued good health whatever if it be with dialysis or the stages of CKD. take care and all the best to all my followers.
Glo
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