/sci/ - Science & Math

>>16138363
Here is why i bookmarked your post:
From a dialysis patient:When a patient on dialysis presents...
Ten years is a long time. For those ten years, or just over 3,560 times, I attached
myself to a peritoneal dialysis machine and underwent nine hours and fi fty min-
utes of nightly therapy. I subsequently learned to do a lot of crosswords and read
a ridiculous amount of books. In ten years I had just three incidents: an inguinal
hernia due to thinking that I could move a sofa (I could not), a parathyroidectomy
(my knees were much happier afterwards), and one unfortunate bout of peritoni-
tis (once was enough). Statistically speaking, I am an anomaly: the ‘average’ life
span of a peritoneal dialysis patient is four years.
Admittedly, I did not initially cope well with needing to be on dialysis. After hav-
ing lived successfully with a transplant, a return to dialysis felt like failure. I did not
want the hassle of treatment. I did not want piles of boxes cluttering up our home.
Mostly, I did not want a PD catheter jutting out of my belly. But what I originally
believed to be unacceptable, gradually became tolerable. This took time. It took
care and support. It took experiencing relative health, and seeing that dialysis life,
although diff erent to existing with a transplant, could be lived well.
Natasha Boone , author and illustrator, www.normalnotnormal.com; www.natashaboone.com