Kidney Patient Guide

Hi, I’m new to this forum but definitely not to kidney problems! At the age of 18 I was rushed to hospital (way back in 1987!) and it was discovered that I had only one kidney and due to an abnormal junction I had to have an open pyeleoplasty. After that I had problems on and off and had 3 pregnancies throughout the years and during these my kidney problems tended to worsen but I managed to have a relatively normal family life until about 7 years ago when my kidney function worsened and I had to have a stent fitted as I constantly had pyelonephritis and the first of 2 times Sepsis. Unfortunately the stents didn’t suit and a second open pyeleoplasty was performed.Again it helped for a bit but despite a daily dose of antibiotics I was still in and out of hospital with pyelonephritis and for the last 3 years I’ve been under a fantastic consultant at UCLH but I was told by my local hospital that due to scan results etc I would need a 3 pyeleoplasty,however after speaking to 2 consultants I am being urged to wait as neither are willing to do it due to the fact that I may come out with more problems or even lose my kidney altogether. My problem isn’t actually caused by my kidney function but over the last few years my veins have got to the point where every blood test it takes at least 6/7 tries to get blood and normally the tiny bit they get ends up coming from my feet or ankles and once in AE they had no cubicles available and they put a sheet on the floor and went into an artery in my groin which was hardly worth it as they still got very little and I was incredibly upset due to the pain and upset. I have had to have a couple of central lines for ops and also a few pic lines. These things are generally only for short periods and in between times I have to go through the same thing again and have needles in my feet etc and I am dreading blood tests etc or being an inpatient and needing cannulas for meds,fluid etc. Has anyone else these problems ,or does anyone know of any other way that I can suggest to my docs to try before I get so upset that I don’t want any blood tests etc. I’m so sorry that this reads like a very long boring book I think having somewhere to’vent’ for the first time is what’s made me ramble on!

It seems like you need a sit down with whoever is your senior consultant/team to have a 'plan of action' to try and find some solutions. There's usually a way..
This may be tough during covid when appointments are rare as hens teeth, but wish you well.

Hi Tootygirl,
This may help you, and I see there are other sites as well. https://www.ladyoflyme.com/blog/tips-fo ... cult-veins

Drinking plenty of water should work, in fact drinking 2 litres minimum per day should help your problems, that is unless your consultants have told you not to.

Best wishes

I am new to this site.
Had Bladder cancer and 3 organs removed (r.kidney/bladder/prostate)
in order to be cancer free.
So now I am constantly having UTIs
and average going into the hospital every 3 months or so. Comes with the territory. Anyway got diagnosed with CKD STAGE 4 and I go through a lot of blood test and my veins are shot.
One good way is to use a heating pad
for a few minutes before blood is drawn.

I know this an old tread but I found this https://hellovein.com/how-does-a-vein-finder-work/ the kit can be found on Amazon.

The other thought on this is Ultrasound scanners - most dialysis units have them or have access to one.

The unit I started dialysis at, about 12 years ago, had one bought by the patients fund, and it sat in a corner on charge but never used.
Meanwhile, I and other new patients, were going through the usual consequences of missed needling - blown up arms, bruising etc.
When asked about using the scanner, the response ranged from, 'why your not pregnant to we have never been trained, and anyway some people just had bad blood vessels.'

I found one nurse who was concerned about the damage being done, I eventually convinced him the scanner was little more than a computer, and therefore in classical computer operation, if we got it's knickers in a twist we could just turn it off etc.
The final outcome was, he learned to use it, and showed others, and the scanner became the first choice if there was any doubt about the location of blood vessels.
All the miss needling and the resultant damage stopped.
I recently moved, so I have to go to a different dialysis unit, and its back to square one, wicked patients that have 'bad' blood vessels.

That's definitely worth knowing!!