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August 2024

Another consequence of my immunocompromise has reared its head: a badly infected cyst right on my tailbone making sitting virtually impossible and sleep very difficult. GP says it may need surgery but starting with antibiotics.

A day off today to go to hospital for more dialysis needle learning and then to do some dog training with Luka this afternoon. Might get some writing done too.

I've now had time to assess the impact of my fall on Monday - I've badly sprained my back, which makes almost everything difficult and painful. Fortunately, it wasn't worse and the dialysis fistula is safe, if bruised. A bit of a setback in my hip surgery recovery.

Urgh. I just had a bad fall and am all shaken up and bruised. The main danger here is damage to my fistula and wrecking my dialysis access. I think it's OK, although it's very bruised. I was trying to lift a tray of shopping delivery stuff and something twinged in my back.

A hardcore morning of physiotherapy awaits me, where I will writhe with pain from a sports massage and futiley attempt basic movements that a kindergartener could manage.

Just finished Amor Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow and though I greatly enjoyed it, I have little to add except that "Amor Towles" sounds like an improbable pseudonym from an anagram.

I am in hospital once more. Sadly, I messed up the needling today and we had to fall back to the central line instead of that needle.

The dialysis nurse says not to worry and it's just the way it goes, but I feel disappointed/downhearted that I didn't manage this today.

A sharp reminder of how precarious things can be on dialysis.

Renal tech came to fix the softener. He left & I disinfected the machine. But the reverse osmosis unit wouldn't start.

Suddenly: panic. Without it, I need hospital. It is now fixed, but for a while it was a big worry

Watching the TNG episode where Wesley gets the death penalty for walking on the grass on the sexy naked people planet. God season one is bad.

Can't reply directly but: yes, I have learned subcutaneous injections and am currently learning to needle an AV fistula, IV, in the arm for dialysis. A lot of it is psychological, but if it's subcut there's not much to it except stab & go. If IV you need training with a nurse. https://x.com/SusanTheSilent/status/1819646764690952375

There's a sort of "feel" for it that you learn, but you can only learn the IV stuff by *doing* it, with oversight.

One of the more frustrating aspects of haemodialysis is that I feel so exhausted and fatigued during the session, so I usually fall asleep reading my book before I've got very far. I'd hoped I would adjust to this and have loads of reading time every week.