Needing prayers.

#2,282
#2,282
508mikey said:
pray it goes well for him - is he having it done at home ? how often ?
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He is going to do the at home it seems you plug up when you go to bed and it cleans his kidneys it takes 8 to 10 hours he has to have a port put in his belly and they want to go ahead and get it in so his body gets used to it.
 
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#2,284
#2,284
VolNExile said:
— I meant to add that I hope it helps him feel better, although I know that it’s fatiguing.
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His kidney is at 16% function and they want to get the tube in and he plugs up at bedtime then in the book it says he can have a normal day and play sports... I don't know anything about this. Can you explain?
 
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#2,286
#2,286
rocytop2624 said:
Do you know much about that stuff?
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A little.

It sounds like he’s on peritoneal dialysis instead of hemodialysis. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a lot gentler on the body than HD. The dialyzing fluid goes into the abdominal cavity (the body cavity where the digestive organs are), and the toxins in his blood that his kidneys aren’t strong enough to remove on their own move from the blood vessels over into the fluid. Then after 6 hours or so (somewhere around there), the fluid is pulled back out through the same catheter (tube), and his blood is now cleaner. (The toxins are the normal byproducts of metabolism; not external poisons or something.) If he’s doing this overnight, my guess is that the fluid removal is done automatically.

Hemodialysis (the kind where you have a permanent access in your arm) is tough on the blood cells and can be really fatiguing, plus you spend 3 mornings or 3 afternoons a week hooked up in a dialysis center. PD is a lot kinder, that’s for sure.

The one thing is that whoever is hooking him up at bedtime and then disconnecting in the morning needs to be EXTREMELY vigilant about cleanliness and following instructions to the letter. You absolutely don’t want an infection to get started in the belly. But I’ve known of patients who stay on PD for years, with a great quality of life. I hope the same for him!
 
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#2,287
#2,287
VolNExile said:
A little.

It sounds like he’s on peritoneal dialysis instead of hemodialysis. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a lot gentler on the body than HD. The dialyzing fluid goes into the abdominal cavity (the body cavity where the digestive organs are), and the toxins in his blood that his kidneys aren’t strong enough to remove on their own move from the blood vessels over into the fluid. Then after 6 hours or so (somewhere around there), the fluid is pulled back out through the same catheter (tube), and his blood is now cleaner. (The toxins are the normal byproducts of metabolism; not external poisons or something.) If he’s doing this overnight, my guess is that the fluid removal is done automatically.

Hemodialysis (the kind where you have a permanent access in your arm) is tough on the blood cells and can be really fatiguing, plus you spend 3 mornings or 3 afternoons a week hooked up in a dialysis center. PD is a lot kinder, that’s for sure.

The one thing is that whoever is hooking him up at bedtime and then disconnecting in the morning needs to be EXTREMELY vigilant about cleanliness and following instructions to the letter. You absolutely don’t want an infection to get started in the belly. But I’ve known of patients who stay on PD for years, with a great quality of life. I hope the same for him!
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My parents have to go to a 5 hour day class for a week to learn how to do it.
 
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#2,289
#2,289
rocytop2624 said:
My parents have to go to a 5 hour day class for a week to learn how to do it.
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That makes sense to me!

I‘m really glad that they think he’s a good fit for PD. Does he have problems with itching? That’s really common in kidney disease, and dialysis is good at relieving that. It sounds like a little thing, but non-stop itching is a misery that no one needs on top of other things.
 
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#2,292
#2,292
VolNExile said:
A little.

It sounds like he’s on peritoneal dialysis instead of hemodialysis. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a lot gentler on the body than HD. The dialyzing fluid goes into the abdominal cavity (the body cavity where the digestive organs are), and the toxins in his blood that his kidneys aren’t strong enough to remove on their own move from the blood vessels over into the fluid. Then after 6 hours or so (somewhere around there), the fluid is pulled back out through the same catheter (tube), and his blood is now cleaner. (The toxins are the normal byproducts of metabolism; not external poisons or something.) If he’s doing this overnight, my guess is that the fluid removal is done automatically.

Hemodialysis (the kind where you have a permanent access in your arm) is tough on the blood cells and can be really fatiguing, plus you spend 3 mornings or 3 afternoons a week hooked up in a dialysis center. PD is a lot kinder, that’s for sure.

The one thing is that whoever is hooking him up at bedtime and then disconnecting in the morning needs to be EXTREMELY vigilant about cleanliness and following instructions to the letter. You absolutely don’t want an infection to get started in the belly. But I’ve known of patients who stay on PD for years, with a great quality of life. I hope the same for him!
Click to expand...
How long can one be on dialysis?
 
#2,293
#2,293
VolNExile said:
That makes sense to me!

I‘m really glad that they think he’s a good fit for PD. Does he have problems with itching? That’s really common in kidney disease, and dialysis is good at relieving that. It sounds like a little thing, but non-stop itching is a misery that no one needs on top of other things.
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So what do you mean Exie? Does not all people have the opportunity for PD?
 
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#2,295
#2,295
rocytop2624 said:
How long can one be on dialysis?
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I think that PD can go on indefinitely, as long as they can purify the blood enough and avoid complications. HD generally not so long; I don’t know how much is because of the side effects associated with the HD, vs how much is because HD is used for stage 5 renal failure and for end-stage renal failure, meaning that the patient is already in pretty rough shape. And sometimes dialysis is used as a bridge in acute (not chronic) kidney failure in hopes that the kidneys eventually recover, and they do.

This is definitely a question for the doc, as there are so many different situations, and each patient has his/her own things going on.

Side note: back when my mom was still spry, late 70’s (age) or so, she had a rescue cat named Kitty Sam. A year or two after she adopted him, he went into kidney failure. He was maybe 4-5 years old at that point. Unlike humans, cats have really tough skin that fits loosely over their innards, making it easy to give sub-Q (sub-cutaneous, meaning under the skin but not into muscles etc.) injections and infusions.

For 8 years, she stuck that cat and gave him sub-Q fluids twice a week, with a giant bubble of lactated Ringer’s fluid sloshing around under his skin, which was his equivalent of peritoneal dialysis. She did this on the bed in the guest room, aka my bed when I visited. I would lie in bed, looking at the plant holder screwed into the ceiling where she would hang the bag of fluids, and noting the tiny blood stains on the sheets from where she stuck him.

Kitty Sam put up with this pretty good-naturedly for 8 years, until he apparently decided “enough already” and began to fight the treatments. They were still working in terms of his physical health when she made the difficult decision to let him go.

So they worked for a good long time for an orange and white tabby. I’d like to think that they could work as well for your dad. 🐈
 
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#2,296
#2,296
rocytop2624 said:
So what do you mean Exie? Does not all people have the opportunity for PD?
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I *think* that PD works for patients who have some residual kidney function, as opposed to those whose kidneys are completely shot. It’s helping the kidneys out, as opposed to completely replacing their function. And maybe they do it as a trial, to see if it works well enough to avoid HD.
 
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#2,297
#2,297
rocytop2624 said:
And I thought it was PCCD
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That’s a new abbreviation for me, but I’m out of the field for two years now. Maybe we’re talking about the same thing, or this could be a completely new innovation. I couldn’t find a link for PCCD, but I did come across this (Fresenius is a for-profit chain of dialysis centers):

Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD)
What is APD? APD is an automated process that uses a machine called a “cycler” to perform your exchanges. With APD (sometimes known as CCPD or continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis), you can choose between a variety of different times and places for dialysis sessions. APD can be done as a longer single session while you sleep, as multiple shorter sessions during the day or night or as a combination of these options. Everyone’s treatment is different, so talk to your nephrologist about what works best for you.
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Types of Peritoneal Dialysis | Fresenius Kidney Care
 
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#2,299
#2,299
rocytop2624 said:
It's PD in the book and also abbreviated CCPD.
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Yeah, that sounds right. “Continuous cycling PD”, meaning that in his case, it’s just quietly doing its thing in the background while he sleeps. It’s a very impressive technology.

I apologize, I can’t remember: did this happen to your dad after something else, heart attack or Covid? Covid can do a number on the kidneys, although we always tend to think about the respiratory stuff.
 
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