chiari angel

chiari angel

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

From the Living Kidney Donor site....

While dialysis can be life-saving, it is only a stop-gap. It is a long, tiring, physically and emotionally draining process that is very hard on the body. Dialysis can do only about 10% of the work that a functioning kidney can do and frequently causes other severe health problems such as anemia, infection, bone disease, heart disease, and nerve damage. Consequently, the average life expectancy of a person on dialysis is only about 5 years.1
A transplant provides a far longer life expectancy. Patients who have a transplant before dialysis becomes necessary live an average of 10–15 years longer than those on dialysis.2 As one physician notes, “Kidney dialysis is an amazing procedure. But it is not yet as amazing as the kidney itself.” 3 Given thefoptions, a kidney patient’s best chance for survival is to avoid dialysis altogether and to receive a transplantffrom a living, rather than a deceased donor.
Dialysis is very hard on the body. When someone has been on dialysis, even if only for a short time, the risk of transplant failure is much greater. The longer the wait, the more extensive the dialysis and the higher the risk of failure grows.

Read more: http://www.livingkidneydonorsearch.com/living-donation/dialysis-a-poor-option
Imagine waking up every day with the possibility of having to be placed on a machine to stay alive.
Scary statistics...but a reality for me. I feel as though the monster is lurking outside my door. I will be starting dialysis when my gfr dips below 10% and stays there. Right now I am at 13%. I have been at 8% and managed to regain a few points. I never know what the day is going to hold for me. I wake up in the morning not knowing if I will need to go to dialysis by the time day is through. Things can change so quickly with this illness. I have accepted this as part of my life and just take it a day at a time.

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