Dialysis, The things I missed!

After a few days of exploring other aspects of our lives I would like to return to dialysis.  There was a few things I hadn’t discussed as far as the differences in length of time and some other options as far as getting dialysis done.  My husband is a bigger guy, I wouldn’t describe him as huge, but he is bigger built! When we started PD we were told it would be around 8 hours at night, so we were pretty shocked when 8 hours turned into 10 hours.  The reason it was 10 hours instead of 8 is because he needed longer “Dwell” times.  Dwell times is the length of time the fluid is left in the peritoneum! Peritoneum is described as “The peritoneum /ˌpɛrᵻtəˈniːəm/ is the serous membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal cavity ” I would like to say that I know exactly how long his dwell times were but I don’t remember but I believe it was around 1 hour 30 minutes with about 5-6 exchanges per treatment.  Exchanges start when they fill your space with fluid, dwell time and ends when they drain the fluid.  Weight has a big influence on how long of treatment you are expected to do. This is the same for PD and Hemo-dialysis (whether it is done in-center or at home). 

On my other post I had a comment about the person using the in-center machines at home. That was something I didn’t realize was an option. I would like to thank my viewers for making comments about some of the things that I had missed.  One of the things that I had missed was that there is a nocturnal option as far as Hemo-dialysis in-center and at home.  This is done while the patient is asleep and is a longer treatment time.  The longer the treatment time, the easier it is on the patient as far as recovery and how they feel afterwards and the better the dialysis is. Not everyone can, or even wants to do nocturnal but it is a great option!  Nocturnal is best for the patients that don’t move around a lot while asleep, this is the reason why we feel it isn’t a good option for my husband.  I love that there are so many options as far as dialysis because it allows Kidney failure patients the freedom to choose what best fits their lifestyles, allows them to work if they choose to or if they must and it just makes it easier (not easy, but easier).  

This video really shows how PD is done! In the video you will see a manual exchange.  The machines basically do this over and over again throughout the night.  (Sorry about the poor quality)