A couple of weeks ago we noticed that the sealed wrapping which the dialysate bags come in had changed. Previously, they had been very clear so you could see what the colour of the dialysate bags were like. Suddenly, they had a marbled opaque look to them. We threw a couple of bags away, as we thought that there was something wrong with them. All bags are normally clear and easy to see. We hadn’t been warned that the wrapping was changing so we just assumed that there was something wrong. It looked like there was definitely something wrong with these bags. Finally, when it seemed like the whole batch looked like that, we rang up our unit, then we rang up Baxter who makes the bags, and then the ward, and no one really had an answer. This was a shame as normally Baxter are quite good at informing our nurse clinician if there are any changes at all.
So we got used to the idea of ripping open the wrappings and then inspecting the dialysate bags to check that they were ok. Then, we got another batch of dialysate and the bags seem back to the way they were. So who knows? Baxter certainly, didn’t but then when we ring them, we ring a call centre and the people in there have nothing to do with bagging or anything so of course wouldn’t know.
Anyway, the whole thing got me thinking about how my attention to detail, which was always pretty good thanks to doing a PhD, is now getting out of hand. Because hygiene is paramount when doing dialysis, I am now obsessed with clean hands. When the community nurse came round to add antibiotics to our bags, she brought a student nurse, whom she asked to hold something. He hadn’t washed his hands on arrival, so of course I wouldn’t let him touch anything. I didn’t know where he had been. And now I notice what other people do with their hands all the time. I see people in the street touching their noses and then shaking hands with other people.
And on an evening when I am setting up the machine, I notice exactly what my hands touch, if I have an itchy nose or hair in the way or glasses slipping down my nose, it just all has to wait, until these bags are connected. I notice the exact colour of each bag, the condensation on the wrapping and the blue connectors, how sometimes the drain line steams up a little bit when I connect it to the drain bag, where the lines from the machine touch the cot, and the cabinet we have the machine on. It is neverending. But is it healthy?
I guess it is a good thing because this attention to detail is the thing that prevented Jasmine getting an infection two weeks ago when she kicked Neil’s hand so that he touched the catheter, but I do wonder when Jasmine gets a kidney, will we recover from our OCD?
Just thought I’d post this link here, even though your blog is a few days old. It’s somehow appropriate:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081103/ap_on_sc/sci_dirty_hands_2