Pus from arterial buttonhole

I’m doing nocturnal home hemo.

I had some pain next to my arterial buttonhole after I came off my session on Sunday morning. I dialysed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night and the pain was still there but was reducing.

Yesterday night (Thursday night) when I removed the scab over the site, a little pus oozed out. I was terrified. This has never happened before.

A little background - I’ve been going swimming recently. Earlier I used to swim many hours after I came off the session and I think the site might have closed up well before I got into the water. But recently, I’ve been going swimming within a couple of hours of coming off a session. Could this be the reason for this?

I anyway called my nephrologist who asked me not to use the site and change it. He also put me on Augmentin 625 mg twice a day.

I’m scared because I don’t have too many options for dialysis access and I really cannot afford to lose this fistula.

Any thoughts/advice would really be welcome.

Hi
I do hope everything is alright. Obviously you did the right thing in getting on to it straight away with the antibiotic but keep an eye on it. Is the area red and inflammed?

I like you love to swim as often as possible usually wait for about 6 hours before I go in and always in clean water.
Stay positive but go to see a doctor if you are worried and have it checked out properly.

Cheers

No, the area is not red or inflamed. And the pus is just a wee bit. So, I’m hoping it is not too serious. But I will show it to the doc if it does not get better today.

Thanks!

I had a general question in this context.

Is it ok for us to swim? Is there a chance that our access can get infected?

If it is ok, how long must we wait after closing dialysis before we can get into a pool?

What about showers? I usually shower within an hour of closing dialysis. Is that ok? If not, how much time should we wait?