A few years ago, I was told my kidneys weren’t functioning right and that eventually they would fail. That time was last June. So they put me under, struck a tube in my chest and hooked me up to a machine for 4 hours a day 3 days a week (hemodiayasis). This went one for a couple months.
At that point, I opted for them to put a different tube in my stomach and I did my own fluid changing (peritoneal dialysis).
Currently, I am in the works to get my testing done to get on the list to receive a kidney transplant (this could take a few years unless someone in my family happens to match me, Michigan is a low donor state).
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else is going through dialysis and/or have had a kidney transplant.
No firsthand info here, but I do have a close friend who is on peritoneal dialysis, having had a transplanted kidney fail after 9 years. He has a new donor kidney lined up, and will probably receive it next month.
I gather he has been a good patient - careful to take his meds as directed, and very careful to use proper procedures to avoid peritonitis. I know he would advise you to learn as much as possible about kidney failures, treatments, transplants, etc. He studied most aspects of renal medicine, and the knowledge has been very useful to him.
I’m not a dialysis patient, however I worked as a dialysis charge nurse for over 10 years and became a Certified Nephrology Nurse. Now I train students who want to become hemodialysis technicians. If you would like to e-mail me with questions or just chat, please feel free. It’s a tough disease to manage, and being informed is your best bet.
“Do it yourself” or peritoneal dialysis consists of exchanging a fluid of sugar water in your peritoneal cavity (where your stomach and intestines are).
You basically start by hooking yourself up to two bags, one empty and one full of dialysis fluid. You have a tube implanted in your abdomin to do this. You then drain the old fluid out and then put the new fluid in. The dialyiss fluid absorbs water and toxins just like your kidneys do.
The biggest risk to this kind is infection. You have to make sure everything is clean when you do your exchange and watch your site and fluid for signs of infection.
I’m happy that you’ve managed to keep yourself healthy. WIth any luck you’ll never need to go through this.