First of Two Surgeries

This morning I had the first of two surgeries scheduled for this week. A temporary shunt was placed in my neck--yes, my neck!--for a hemodialysis treatment tomorrow following the angiogram and heart stent placement. Tomorrow's procedures use a dye that is damaging to the kidneys, so it is important to rid my body of the dye as soon as possible following surgery, hence the need for hemodialysis, which takes the blood from the body, cleans it, and puts it back where it belongs. This can be done in two hours or so, compared to the peritoneal dialysis that I do every night, which takes between 8 1/2 and 10 1/2 hours.

Today's procedure went well, though it feels creepy to have two cuts in my neck artery. It's a bit sore, and I am reluctant to move my head too much. I'm also a bit tired and cold. Otherwise fine.