Just For Potential Newbies To Dialysis

During yesterday’s monthly meeting with my dialysis nurse, Chrystal, we discussed, inter alia, the current lack of information and/or a place for those in the throes of making dialysis decisions to get the straight scoop from those who have been there, done that. While that is not the complete intent of this site, hopefully, it fulfills at least some of these information requirements.

So today, I will discuss my experience with the time involved in Peritoneal Dialysis, aka PD. Bottom line: I have about six, yes, that’s six, hours per day outside of the PD requirement window. Let me expand on this:

1. Starting upon waking, while I may have been hooked up to the dialysis machine, aka, Cycler, for 10 1/2 to 11 hours, it takes over half an hour to complete the last drain cycle.
2. After completion of the last drain cycle, I have to take my biometrics and enter them into the Cycler, break out two 6-liter bags for the next use of the Cycler, and do the same for the static fill I accomplish in the evening. All of this takes time and energy..
3. After 2 above, all of the medical debris must be collected and placed in the trash.
4. Next is usually breakfast, which for me is cereal and juice, along with the myriad of pharmaceuticals I have to take, while reading the WSJ. By the time I complete the foregoing, it’s 10 AM and time to start my day, and I’m off and running.
5. It’s now six hours later, and I’m tired from all the outside work I’ve been doing. Come in, and turn on the heater in anticipation of my evening static fill.
6. At/around 5/30 PM, I head for the shower, do all the cleaning and prep requirements for a static fill, and start a static fill of 2000 mL. All of this takes about another hour, so now it’s after 6:30 PM. I rest for a little bit, have supper, and have at most 1 1/2 or 2 hours to watch news or other shows on TV. Between 9 and 9:30 PM, I set the Cycler up for the night’s treatment after again going through the cleaning requirements for hookup, and hooked up to the Cycler.
7. It’s now 10 PM or so, I might watch a little, and I mean little TV in bed, and I’m off to sleep to again, God willing, to wake up around 8 AM and start the cycle all over again.
8. This takes place seven days a week, regardless. If you follow the timelines, you will ascertain that I have from 10ish to 4:30- 5ish at best that I can call my own. The remainder is devoted to varying degrees and intensities of peritoneal dialysis.
9. When you are attempting to set a course in PD waters, it’s much like sailing in open waters. Many variables are at work, and a course for one type of sailboat won’t be optimum for another. Likewise, what seems to work for one person may or may not work for another. It’s been my experience that choices in this world are not so much optimization calculations, but minimizing losses.

Set your course and let your circumstances determine what’s best for you.