Catheter Photo

This is the first time to see the tube while the exit wound was being cleaned. This happens once a week now. You can see the valve that will transfer the dialysis fluid to and from the adominal cavity. The section exiting the body must be keep very clean to prevent any infections that risk illness. Any day now I may start dialysis and some time during next 5 weeks.

Peritoneal Catheter

Here is the exit site with dressing ready for healing. It takes 6 weeks to heal.

The operation was done with local anesthetics so i could feel what was happening. It is more painful operation than the biopsy operation.

After the catheter was inserted in the abdominal cavity they tested the pipe with half a liter of fluid. It worked nicely. After my recovery I will be trained how to do peritoneal dialysis by machine overnight. The training takes a week.

PD Dialysis

Peritoneal Dialysis

Got the call from the nurse today saying I must visit to prepare for PD on the 4Th January.

Basically you get a tube inserted into your tummy.

The peri-toneum is the lining of the abdominal cavity that has a large enough surface area to do the same job as the kidney, the dialysis solution fills the large cavity and the dangerous toxins are leached into the solution over some time. After the treatment has finished the solution is then flushed away.

The solution used to clean your body is quite a large volume(2-2.5lt) for each dialysis session. The treatment is a daily treatment that is psychologically better than the normal blood dialysis so I am one of the lucky few allowed PD dialysis.

My dialysis is planned for only a few months so I may not be given the automatic PD machine.

Problems with PD

Anyone with injuries to the abdomen, bowel problems and infections would not be allowed PD because of the risk of peritonitis.

Healthy people who have the option of PD still run a high risk of peritonitis, treatment for this will have to be carefully administered at high cost.