As of last week, I have officially transitioned to a new life on dialysis. It was a rough month getting through catheter surgery and adjusting to dialysis but everything is going much more smoothly now.
I’m on a type of dialysis called peritoneal dialysis. Unlike the more familiar hemodialysis, blood never leaves the body. Instead, a soft plastic tube (catheter) is placed in the belly by surgery. A sterile cleansing fluid (dialysate) is put into the belly through this catheter. While the dialysate sits in the abdominal area (peritoneum) waste products are absorbed into the solution. Hours later it is emptied back through the catheter and out the body. Then the whole process is repeated.
So for a week now I’ve been busy dialyzing every day, throughout the day. I don’t go to a center. Rather, I’ve been trained to do all my sessions at home, 5 times a day, for about 30 minutes each time. In the morning, I connect my catheter to a drain bag, I empty out the fluid, refill, then repeat hours later. So at any given time, I’m walking around with a belly full of fluid, and I actually now look and feel pregnant. Breathing is a bit harder, I cradle my belly and my back sometimes feels strained. This week, my girlfriends and I are going shopping for new clothes – anything without a waistline!
And what about my kidneys? Well, kidney disease is irreversible so they’re not doing any better. Dialysis doesn’t improve kidney function. It just does some of the work that healthy kidneys do. In the last few weeks, my body finally came out of denial, and my uremic symptoms have caught up with me: Headaches, dizziness, nausea, metallic taste in my mouth, and absolutely no appetite. Eating has become an exercise in force feeding my body some nutrients just to curtail the hunger pangs and nausea and to sustain it until the next feeding. For a while I was itching all over as well. My doctor says it means there’s too much phosphorous in my body, which made me laugh. I thought it was because I wasn’t allowed to shower for the two weeks after my catheter surgery. I felt like Pig-Pen from Peanuts. But the doctor and nurses all assure me dialysis would make me feel better, which after a week of it, I do have fewer dizzy episodes and food looks a little more appetizing. Marty also picked up a Vitamix, and we’ve been making fresh smoothies which help a lot.
Dialysis has been tougher than I anticipated, but it’s all do-able. The occasional cramping that happens during the fluid exchanges has subsided. I’ve carved out a cozy (and sterile) little dialysis corner in my guest room that has become a peaceful retreat for me. The main purpose of dialysis is to remove waste and relieve some of my symptoms, and that it has. I do feel better every day.
Some people have asked about kidney donation. While I’m on the transplant wait list, if anyone would like to be tested, or learn about living donation in general, below are some good resources about kidney donation. Even if you don’t donate to me, becoming a living donor is an amazing act that will save a life. Or consider becoming an organ donor after you pass. There are over 100,000 patients on the transplant list in the U.S. Only 30% will receive a kidney because there aren’t enough.
Hello Kidney! 