I was able to do both needle sticks today...and, in a timely manner...and, Woody said there was only a tiny sting...so I passed today's test. Now, no nurse here didn't mean totally smooth sailing...I did have to call her, but a quick answer to my question sent us on our way. I made a couple of missteps, but remedied them fairly easily. The main problem came at the end when we were taking the needles out. Woody is to press gauze down on the needle place as I pull the needle out...I count to three...I pull the needle out and he presses gauze down on the spot. I don't know if he just didn't press in the right spot or not, but he did bleed from his venous stick site and we used up quite a bit of gauze...and, I had some of his clothes to wash as soon as he was totally disconnected from dialysis. The arterial stick site stopped bleeding easily...and, that is the one that has the more forceful "pulse." The rule of thumb is that he puts pressure on these places for 5 minutes and thrn Incheck tonsee if the place has clotted. I really think that he just didn't press in thr right spot today. I grabbed larger gauze squares and he held them in place for closer to ten after the we got the bleeding under control. We are both relieved to have gotten through another day, which puts us through another week, which leads us into a weekend of NO dialysis! Yay!!! Lots to do or at least try to get done on these days off. I'm hoping to see our big Christmas tree, again, after not putting it up for quite a few years now. Today, I just put a few more small Christmas things out. During dialysis I retyped the directions for ending treatment and disconnecting. I had made many notes on the sheets that were given to me by the nurse, while the tech was here. Plus they werr given to me in portrait orientation and the notebook is set up for landscape. So I now have them in my notebook in the correct orientation with new notes added. Today was another day to give Woody iron...the trick that the nurse showed me worked even on this even smaller vial. At the moment Woody is only having to get one small "dose" of iron each week on Fridays...that happens for the next two weeks and then they will evaluate again after the next labs which are done the first of each month. They are also pleased with the way his blood is being cleaned. I guess we just keep on keeping on. I thought that I had finished an ornament earlier today, but realized that I still have one snowflake to stitch. I will go do that and then start another ornamrnt. Stitch! Stitch! Stitch! 'Tis the season for stitching and sewing...must get my machine revved up as I have a project in the wings that will end up being several Christmas presents. Not enough hours in the day at this time of the year! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!
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