August 23, 2008

What can I say? The fun just doesn't end! At 4:00 this morning I put my hand on my graft to check the bloodflow and....nothing. Not even a little buzz. I called my vascular surgeon around 8:00am and he let me know that he's going to replace the graft on Tuesday. I'll have to have a chest catheter for a week as my dialysis access while the CryoVein matures and heals. I'm not happy about it, but I have to have dialysis. The doctor feels the CryoVein won't clot like the graft does because it can tolerate lower blood pressures such as mine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

The surgery to replace the graft and place the chest catheter is a same-day surgery, so I will be home Tuesday night to sleep off the anesthesia. You can be sure that both Kasey and Chet will paste themselves to my side to keep an eye on me. Chet especially tries to keep me immobile when he thinks I'm not feeling well.

I won't know what time the surgery is until Monday afternoon. The doctor can't submit the orders until Monday morning and then he has to wait for the hospital to set the surgery schedule.

Stitching-wise, I finally started working on Golden Puppy (AKA Baby Kasey) around 9pm. Debi kept me company online and we stitched "together." I did some more fill-in on the muzzle, so Baby Kasey will have a full face pretty soon!