Login
Forgot Password?

OR

Login with Google Login with Twitter Login with Facebook
  • Join
  • Profiles
  • Groups
  • SuicideGirls
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Shop
Vital Stats

pwndcake

There

Member Since 2004

Followers 37 Following 39

  • Everything
  • Photos
  • Video
  • Blogs
  • Groups
  • From Others

Thursday Apr 06, 2006

Apr 5, 2006
0
  • Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Email
And here's another story of idiocy and stress from the dialysis unit:

My dialysis access is a little old. They've been using the same vein for the last 10 years, and it's starting to show a little wear and tear. Some of you may remember that a few months back I had surgery to fix some of the damage, but that hasn't made it any more durable. Lots of scar tissue + damaged immune system = problems. It has problems with clotting, and the area that has had the most use tends to bruise, or worse.

After dialysis on Monday I noticed something on my arm - a small yellowish dot. This wasn't a bright, sunny kind of yellow, but that greenish icky type of yellow that most of us call puss. Mmmm, puss. I know that color well. It was a small dot, maybe the size of the tip of a ball point pen, but I don't fuck around when it's come to infections. Especially when they're about 1mm of weak flesh away from a major blood vessel. I called over the tech to take a look at it, and she in turn called over the on-staff nurse.

Our cast of characters is Me (played by your lovable narrator), Tech (played by Rita, who is awesome), and Nurse (played by the nurse whose name I never learned because I dislike her so much).

me: Hey, does this look infected to you?
tech: It kind of does, yeah.
nurse: Yeah, that looks like an infection. If that gets into your bloodstream, it will eat your dialysis access all up. It will probably lead to cepsis, and that means death.
me: *frown*
tech: oh that's not a happy face
nurse: Have you ever seen an infected access. It's horrible. It literally eats you alive from the inside.
me: So when are you going to tell me what I can do about this?
nurse: Well I'll call your vascular surgeon, and see what he says.
*wait*
nurse: Oh, it's late, and he's not answering. You should call him soon though. If an infection gets in your blood, well, you know. You probably need to get on antibiotics as soon as possible. They might want to do it IV.
me: So I should go to the ER?
nurse: Oh, it can probably wait until you talk to the doctor. Call him sometime tomorrow.

So I couldn't sleep that night, or the next. Every time I got a glimpse of that little yellow dot I could see it growing and pulsating, spreading it's gangrenous putrification into my veins, up my arm, slowly making it's way to my heart. I try not to worry about things much, because when I do, well, my mind kind of runs away with me.

I called the doctor the first thing in the morning. His assistant scheduled me to come in the next day (which was Wednesday). I couldn't sleep that night either. I was packing a bag, and getting the laptop ready - all the things I would normally do for a hospital stay. Mostly I played EQ2, and posted on SG to distract myself from the creeping fear that my arm was slowly rotting away as I typed.

So let me cut to the chase, because the rest of this story is just as boring as the beginning. It was nothing. A surface infection, the doctor said. It might as well have been a zit on my arm.

doctor: See all that scar tissue? It would take a while for an infection to tunnel through that. It's like armor.
me: So, what should I do?
doctor: Go home. Keep it clean. Keep an eye on it. Give me a call if you get a fever.

I left the hospital relieved. That didn't used to happen nearly often enough, now it happens almost every time I visit a doctor. Portland's been good to me.

Even though some of the nurses are still morons.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
paaacc_raz:
Geez tongue
Apr 6, 2006
naeon:
blech
Apr 7, 2006

More Blogs

  • 07.06.09
    0

    Monday Jul 06, 2009

    I'm home, and I'm fine. They sent me home last night after a quick su…
  • 07.04.09
    1

    Saturday Jul 04, 2009

    It seems many people long for excitement, but not me. I long for many…
  • 07.04.09
    0

    Saturday Jul 04, 2009

    It has been many long months and 7 lackluster episodes, but Kings has…
  • 06.30.09
    2

    Tuesday Jun 30, 2009

    Read More
  • 06.24.09
    1

    Wednesday Jun 24, 2009

    Southern California does not agree with me. I'm laying in a hotel …
  • 06.21.09
    2

    Monday Jun 22, 2009

    Today I am reminded of the immortal words of Homer Simpson who said: …
  • 06.15.09
    2

    Tuesday Jun 16, 2009

    I might have a writing gig. Like, someone might actually pay me to ty…
  • 06.14.09
    1

    Sunday Jun 14, 2009

    In my search of video entertainment I found an amazing thing. It's Bi…
  • 06.12.09
    0

    Friday Jun 12, 2009

    I have had Vista since 9 this morning. It's been installed and workin…
  • 06.07.09
    2

    Sunday Jun 07, 2009

    I know that it's not a party if it happens every night. Pretending th…

We at SuicideGirls have been celebrating alternative pin-up girls for:

23
years
10
months
19
days
  • 5,509,826 fans
  • 41,393 fans
  • 10,327,617 followers
  • 4,599 SuicideGirls
  • 1,114,448 followers
  • 14,944,928 photos
  • 321,315 followers
  • 61,453,983 comments
  • Join
  • Profiles
  • Groups
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Shop
  • Help
  • About
  • Press
  • LIVE

Legal/Tos | DMCA | Privacy Policy | 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement | Contact Us | Vendo Payment Support
©SuicideGirls 2001-2025

Press enter to search
Fast Hi-res

Click here to join & see it all...

Crop your photo