My dad just had surgery to have a permanent catheter implanted for his PD. He hasn’t started training yet. The surgery was supposed to be outpatient but there were problems because of the large cysts on his kidneys. (He has polycystic kidney disease which has caused his kidney failure).
It’s been a week and he still has loss of appetite and some nausea/vomiting. Is this normal?
Michelle
If he is having other symptoms besides nausea and vomiting such as chills and fever, abdominal pain and tightness, weakness, pale and cool skin, it’s possible that he has peritonitis, an infection in his peritoneal cavity. If you haven’t already done so, I’d suggest that you report his symptoms to his kidney doctor and/or the home dialysis training nurse right away so they can evaluate what might be the problem and what can be done to treat him.
Loss of appetite and nausea could also be signs of uremia (build-up of wastes in the blood because his kidneys don’t work), if he hasn’t yet started his peritoneal dialysis treatments.
Does he have any other symptoms of uremia like:
– Metallic taste in his mouth or aversion to protein (meat, chicken, etc.)
– Itching
– Fatigue, muscle weakness, dizziness
– Swelling in the feet, hands, or under the eyes
– Feeling cold all the time
– Pale gums, skin, and fingernail beds (these last 2 are anemia symptoms)
If this is his problem, getting the PD going should help.