rapsjk33

I live in Canada, so we have universal Healthcare paid by our taxes. So the dilaysis machine and any supplies needed for it cost me nothing. I run the machine myself with no help from a nurse, I had to do about 8 weeks of training at the start to learn how.

I am on a low sodium, phosphorus and potassium diet. Its honestly hard as the patient to feel the differences that it makes. The one that I notice the most if it is high is my phosphorus, I start to have trouble sleeping and get confused easy when it is high.

I had reflux from my bladder when I was 5 years old that damaged my kidneys, so this has been a life long experience for me, I'm 36 now.

So this is actually something that interests me and I have talked to my doctors about. The long term survivability of dialysis isn't great, but you have to remember that a lot of those statistics are skewed because the average dialysis patient is sick with many other health problems. For instance a large number of people on dialysis also have diabetes and heart problems. Plus often people on dialysis tend to be senior citizens. So these people obviously don't last long on dialysis, it can do the work of your kidney but can't fix the rest. So someone who is young and otherwise healthy like my self has a pretty good survival rate.

For the first 2 years I was on home hemo I worked, during that time I missed a lot of days of work. I would often not feel well and be very wore out. My wife got a promotion at work which enabled me to be a stay at home Dad and I have felt much better since.