On November 11 2017 I started the seventh year of dialysis. This last year has been a complete mess. Four shunt operations in the last 12 months have left my shunt pretty much at the end of its life.
The shunt still works, but I have a very narrow band of skin left that is still puncturable, and I have to keep inserting the needle from further and further away, which means piercing fresh skin (very painful, especially when I hit a bundle of nerves). This will go on for another two years now. To make matters worse, the current shunt is showing signs of weakness, which means I have to go see the surgeon again, which means I might again end up on the operating table.
Maybe I should bite the bullet and get a new shunt; the only downside is that at least currently I plan to get transplanted when my time comes on the waiting list. It seems like a waste to get a shunt now. So my best hope is that my shunt just keeps working another four years. If it fails, I will have to get an emergency catheter and then a new shunt. Let the chips fall where they may.
Dialysis itself seems tolerable; I could go on like this till the end of my life. There are nights with serious pain (when I hit a nerve) but in general, life could be a lot worse. And despite all my complaints about Germany, health care here is the best, one couldn't ask for more. I really dodged a bullet moving out of India when I did.
The shunt still works, but I have a very narrow band of skin left that is still puncturable, and I have to keep inserting the needle from further and further away, which means piercing fresh skin (very painful, especially when I hit a bundle of nerves). This will go on for another two years now. To make matters worse, the current shunt is showing signs of weakness, which means I have to go see the surgeon again, which means I might again end up on the operating table.
Maybe I should bite the bullet and get a new shunt; the only downside is that at least currently I plan to get transplanted when my time comes on the waiting list. It seems like a waste to get a shunt now. So my best hope is that my shunt just keeps working another four years. If it fails, I will have to get an emergency catheter and then a new shunt. Let the chips fall where they may.
Dialysis itself seems tolerable; I could go on like this till the end of my life. There are nights with serious pain (when I hit a nerve) but in general, life could be a lot worse. And despite all my complaints about Germany, health care here is the best, one couldn't ask for more. I really dodged a bullet moving out of India when I did.
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