I'm preparing for dialysis clinic transition for the ease and betterment of my financial and health situation
I just told my current dialysis clinic that I will be transferring soon to the dialysis clinic of my choice which is what I already told them the requirements that I needed in order to make the transition. Those things includes the endorsement letter which would be coming from my current Nephrologist which I think would indicate how frequent my dialysis is and the required medicines that I needed like the number of EPO injections per week as well as other things on how my treatment is being done. A dialysis patient cannot be treated with dialysis without the go signal from their Nephrologist which is why it is a very important document for me to have before I would get my schedule or maybe at the day of the dialysis schedule itself.
I also needed to submit a complete laboratory test results and I am not sure if it would include a chest x-ray, 2D echo, or at least an ECG test. I had both gotten tested for the said tests as a requirement to get a clearance about my AV fistula's surgery and I did passed them because otherwise I will not get that surgery. That is why I was very happy to learn that I do not have a heart condition which means that I might live longer than I am expecting although my liver condition will have the last laugh over my existence.
Anyway, I also needed to submit some common laboratory test results which might include another complete blood count test to see that after a month or so of not injecting EPO anymore would have made my hemoglobin levels back to normal. But it only exceeded a point to get abnormally high which is why I believe that my current hemoglobin now is already within the normal level which is less than 170 unlike before where it got tested to climb as high as 171. What will be bad are the high level of RBC or red blood cells because it that factor happens, it will be a reason for blood clots which is not good if you are getting your blood dialyzed as it would eventually clog-up the dialyzer which in turn will make the quality of the cleaning of your blood to get affected. That issue with blood clots is very bad because you will be forced to buy a replacement dialyzer and it is not cheap, it is very expensive particularly if you are using a highflux type of dialyzer.
That is why I got scared when one of my nurses told me that my AV fistula is getting weak considering that it is visually stronger than ever. She then told me to exercise my left arm where my AV fistula is located in order for it to develop some pressure. I was told that because the bloodlines are getting clotted and it just means that I might replace the dialyzer more frequently which again will mean more holes in my pockets. But I didn't believed my nurse that the arterial part of my fistula is weak and that the dialysis machine had a trouble in getting blood from that part of my AV fistula. So what I did was to just lower my arm to my side and sit as far up as I can without getting discomfort in order to give more blood pressure to my fistula.
Well, it worked! It did worked because I do experienced that if I would raise my arm, the pressure decreases in my fistula, the opposite would happen if I would sit and lower my arm down and I can feel the difference. My worry had dissipated regarding a bad pressure in my AV fistula that would have caused a lot of trouble for me but it is now solved by simply lowering my arm during my dialysis treatment. Now, my RBC count is still in the normal range but it was really the first time that I saw its good levels that high after more than two decades of being a dialysis patient. The improvement of both my Hemoglobin and red blood cells to give me a better quality of life because it contributed to easement of my breathing.
Among the common blood test that I might needed to submit was the result for my Calcium levels which never climbed to the normal level. I can attribute it to the level of Phosphorus that my body currently have which affects the Calcium level in my body. That is why I also have to get my Phosphorus levels to get tested as well in that regard so that I will know if it would be the time to add more phosphate binder in my diet because it will be bad for my bone health if I would continue to have a high phosphorus in my blood and at the same time having a low Calcium level in my blood as a consequence. It is a very delicate balancing act because you could not afford to get a slightly low or high of both Calcium and Phosphorus in your blood because it will give you a permanent bone issue not to mention pains all over your body not to mention Calcification of the soft tissues in the body including the veins and arteries including the skin and causes pain in that part of the body.
I would also like get tested for some other things like the level of sodium in my blood to see if I am suffering from hypernatremia where there is an excessive salt in my body for the reason that my current dialysis center had put me into a "profiling" set-up where they would put more sodium in my blood in order to raise my blood pressure. I think that this kind of set-up will stick to me for as long as I am getting dialyzed for the reason that this new dialysis clinic in our town would require me to get the copy of the last treatment sheet which are the records of settings that dialysis nurses writes to indicate the pre-dialysis and post dialysis weight of the patient and the settings in the machine while the patient id getting their dialysis treatment.
Besides the Hepatitis profile test results to indicate that whether I am positive or negative for both B and C viruses, I might need to see how my liver is doing right now. I am expecting it to be quite bad for the reason that I have both of these viruses for years already especially the C virus which if not very expensive to treat is just impossible to get treated because every tablet to be taken for half a year is costing about $1000 per tablet as far as I know. Treating Hepatitis B in the other had can yield only a success rate of 40%. I have no means necessary or in the condition to get these viruses out from my body due to the cost and possibility to get cured because I am already a dialysis patient and is always exposed in getting infected because my blood is always getting out from my body to get cleaned plus the fact that I use a dialyzer that is pooled with other people's dialyzer before cleaning it for another session of dialysis until it is replaced.
Another test result that I needed to submit as a requirement was the rapid Antigen Test for CoViD, it could be a test where I needed to get tested via taking a sample of my blood or something like that rather than the swabbing my nostrils, but regardless of those I will have to do it but later because its validity period of that result is very short. However the test result can be done fast and it will not be a problem about accomplishing that requirement so it can wait. Anyway, I will at least getting some great benefits from our town's new dialysis clinic and it is now what I want to happen so that me and my parents will not get burdened anymore for going far just to have my regular treatments done and spending money that soon we can use for other things that we need like better food, medicines, and supplements among other things.
