Chapter Two

So Daddy's hospital stay in January was because the time had come to start dialysis. His kidneys just were not cleaning the impurities out of his blood anymore. We were ready!!...so we thought! Daddy had had the fistula in for about a year...it should be ready to use, right? Nope, not the case! They drew the blood out, but when they routed it back into his arm, it blew up like a balloon in his vein! Stop the train, we've got to go with plan B! The doctor scheduled a procedure the next morning to have port put in his neck area. As the dialysis doctor was checking on him before the surgery, he was explaining what they were going to do. How they were going to put the catheter in that they will use temporarily until the fistula is usable. Well all Daddy heard was "CATHETER" and his eyes got as big as baseballs and he looked down. The doctor noticed the body language and quickly says, "No, no!! Not that kind of catheter!!" Daddy's room was full of our family and I wasn't sure who all was listening to the conversation between them, so I just snickered to myself and let the doctor finish explaining. Later, after Daddy came back to his room after the surgery, we were sitting around talking and my brother starting reminding Daddy about "catheter" story and the expression on his face, but he got SO tickled he couldn't even talk!! I haven't seen my brother laugh that hard in a very long time. We were all crying from laughing so hard before it was all over with!!

To give an update on the fistula, they have been using it for about 3 months or more. They removed the catheter at the end of March and he is doing well.