Monday was not only my first day back at work (in-service) but also the day for my follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Which meant, of course, that we had a stormy day for my 70-mile drive into downtown Houston. Sigh. (Want rain? Just call me!)

The surgeon is pleased with the sounds in the fistula and wants me to start exercising my arm in another week or so. She says that it will help strengthen the fistula and help it mature more rapidly. So now I have a slight bulge in my upper left arm, and a nicely healing incision in the bend of my elbow.

I’ve noticed that I have to be careful not to keep my left arm bent too long or I start to feel tingling/numbness in my left pinkie and ring fingers. The surgeon says this is normal, and to just make certain I stay aware of it.

I definitely need to get a bracelet to warn people not to use my left arm for taking blood pressure or drawing blood. My biggest nightmare right now is that I will have something happen at school and the school nurse will slap a cuff on me and undo all I’ve been through in the past week. I’m not anxious to spread the word at school about what’s going on, but I have told the principal and I guess I need to tell the nurse as well. Oh, how my British “privacy please” is being tried! Now, if someone could just tell me why it’s okay for me to write about it here, but not want people I work with to know…

Next visit to the surgeon is in 6 weeks. Next visit to the kidney doc is in 14 days. Long two weeks coming up.