[EJ711]

Has anyone had any experience or exposure to getting dialysis?

My friend's sister, Dolly, who is fighting for her life right now may need dialysis.

Dolly is not able to make this decision, b/c of her condition. Her son is feeling that giving permission for his mother to have dialysis is going to cause her more pain.

[Perna]

Dialysis is painless and if that is all one needs, one can live "forever" just going to dialysis every few days. I worked just down the hall from a dialysis center for 6-7 years (regular business/office building in an office park) and "knew" several of the "regulars". But if one needs dialysis, one has to have it or one will die.

http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=39

[EJ711]

Thanks, Perna!!!

[bebop]

death will be pretty soon without it hon. if it is long term they will put a port thing in. still praying for your friend hon

[SweetSunshine]

Jane~

My mom was on dialysis (peritoneal ) for the last 5 months of her life. I should say she started out on hemodyalisis then had a tube put in her stomach by her belly button for the peritoneal. Hemodialysis seems to drain a person quite a bit. You go about 3 times a week and you start feeling better the next day then have to go in again.. back to drained feeling. The Peritoneal is a more natural way of removing the toxins from your system. This is done about 4 times a day. The exchange ( draining out a bag of fluid and then putting a new in) takes about a half hour 45 minutes. A person can be more active this way .. and can do this on their own or with someones help. She did very well with this. But eventually her heart just gave out and that is why she died. I agree with Perna that people can live by doing dialysis forever. Make sure she knows her choices. And her son knows them too. I hope the best for all. Take care.

Hugz
Bethy

[sunrise]

EJ711, my father has been on dialysis for close to a year now. It has changed his life!!! Before dialysis, he was so sick, could hardly move around, was just getting worse and worse. They keep them off dialysis as long as they can. He had to have 3 different surgeries to put the port in his hand (it just would not grow right) and this took close to a year. Meanwhile he got sicker and sicker. Finally he got to go on dialysis. During the first session he lost 35 pounds!! He felt so great. All that weight was fluid that had accumulated in his body because his kidneys couldn't process it. His legs had been swollen like sausages and in some cases the skin was splitting. Oh, so painful. Now he gets around much more easily, has lost weight, sleeps better, everything is better! He can also eat a greater variety of food. Before, he was on a very strict diet that was almost no salt because of his high blood pressure. Now that he is on dialysis, his BP has dropped way down and he can eat salt again. Boy, is he happy about that!

He has dialysis 3 times a week. It takes about 4 hours each time. The first day after each dialysis, he doesn't feel that great, but the second day after, he feels marvelous.

This has truly changed his life. Tell Dolly not to be scared of it. The other factors causing her poor health will of course impact her decision. Best of luck to her and her son.

[ECHOES]

EJ I'm sorry about your sister's friend.

My brother was on dialysis for a few years and has come off it recently.

Perna thank you for that link. My brother would never share the reason why he was on dialysis and when I heard recently that he no longer needed it, that puzzled me. Now I see that sometimes the kidney(s) can recover after treatment via dialysis. Amazing.