Having the haemodialysis catheter fitted...

After the whole drama llama of having my peritoneal dialysis catheter replaced again in January I was told I would not be able to use the catheter until it had fully healed from the hernia operation. So as a temporary option I was fitted with a long central line running into the juggular vein in my neck. Extremely uncomfortable and not the nicest looking of things.

However things were about to go to a whole new level when I was woken up one morning at 7:30am by a nurse telling me that I needed to "go have my line changed." At this point I had no idea what she meant. Until she explained to me that the uncomfortable central line in my neck was temporary in the sense that it could only be kept in for 5 days maximum...

Now, I still to this day do not know why they didn't put a more permanent haemodialysis catheter in, seeing as they knew my peritoneal dialysis catheter would be out of action for at least 4 weeks. Not 5 days!

Either way, I was wheeled down to the Vascular Laboratory to be told that the one I had in had to be removed first before they inserted the new one in. A renal registrar from the ward came down and pulled this line out of my neck. An extremely bizarre unpleasant feeling and then obviously cause it was my big juggular vein, I pretty much bled quite a lot and the doctor had to put so much pressure on my neck that I thought he was going to strangle me. It was very sore afterwards from the whole ordeal.

I actually thought that was bad enough but I was in for a shock when the new one was being put in. I was awake for this procedure. Using just local anaesthetic to numb the are they shoving a needle/tube through. However you cannot numb your veins and arteries inside so the whole procedure had me hysterically crying and pretty much screaming.

Also, because it's me and I'm extremely unlucky... I had to have the procedure done twice as it did not work the first time due to blood clotting after removing the first temp dialysis central line.

The whole experience was very traumatic for me. Almost like someone quite forcefully plumbing my veins/arteries and trying to feed a tube down a small narrow hole.

I could go into detail about what actually happened but I figured I could show you a video instead. SEE HERE. (Not really for the squeamish!)

Afterwards I certainly felt very sorry for myself. I was starting to feel better after the second peritoneal dialysis insertion and was just getting used to the central line in my neck... However this was just the icing on the cake for me. I ended up being in hospital another 4 days after this and my neck remained incredibly sore for a few weeks afterwards. 

Here's a photo of me a few hours after the insertion of the tunnelled haemodialysis catheter. Feeling rough is an understatement.