During the early morning, Sabine had some nausea and vomiting -- we thought it was from the anesthesia. She slept in bed with her arm elevated as we were told to do. And we periodically checked the fistula sight for a "pulse" (or what is called a bruit) with a stethoscope. When I checked it at the hospital with the nursing staff, I could clearly hear it. Later and just before bedtime we checked it again and it was becoming more faint.
This morning, when Sabine woke up we could not hear the bruit at the fistula site. We called the on-call staff and they told us to go to the emergency room. By this time, Sabine was experiencing a lot of nausea and vomiting -- even though she was only eating crackers and ginger ale.
At the ER our suspicions were confirmed. The fistula graft had gotten plugged up and had failed. We got home late morning and have to make an appointment for another surgery. The surgical resident who works for Dr Becker examined Sabine at the ER told us that she would probably have to have an artificial graft put in in lieu of a fistula.
It is a setback. But we are still going forward. Anything is better than the tunnel catheter she now has in her neck. Stay tuned and keep us in prayer. At least the cancer isn't kicking back.
