Six years of normalcy - Peritoneal Dialysis - Epilogue

That was the end of PD for me. Six years of near normalcy. Too bad it had to end. I had to now go back to hemo. I went and met Dr. Girish Narayen who asked me not to worry. He recommended that I do daily home hemodialysis.

The six years I spent on PD were by far the best during my entire time with kidney disease. And I am also including the last 2 years or so of daily nocturnal home hemo.

The whole process of hemodialysis is so violent. Blood is drawn out of the body and passed through a machine. PD, in contrast is much less risky as a process. There are concomitant risks of infection which can sometimes be fatal. But if all the procedures are strictly followed and you steer clear of tsunamis, PD can be really good!

I do not have as much freedom even now as I did when I was on PD.

I am a travel freak. With PD, I could travel unfettered. No worrying about getting back home in time for my hemo session. I could carry my bags with me or have them delivered to a close by place. And then I could stay there for as long as I like.

Now, I can go to a place for more than a couple of days only when there is a dialysis center there. Even if there is a center there, they will not do nocturnal. I can only get 4 hour sessions. And they will not do at night.

In the circumstances, nocturnal hemo is great. But PD was better for travel.

There was however one problem with PD. I could not swim! The risk of infection was too high.

So, there. Everything has a good side and a bad side.

But if you asked me what I would have preferred, I would say PD.

Comments

Roshan Varghese said…
Hi Kamal ........ Was a revelation going through your blog and experiences on PD . I work with Baxter PD and throuughly have seen patients earound enjoy the kind of quality of Life that you have articulated. Just wondering whether you know any more patients on dialysis therapy who share their expeinces or some form of online discussions on the sme ..
Kamal D Shah said…
Hi Roshan, I am actually no longer on PD. I switched to home hemo more than two years back.

There are a lot of resources for this online. You could visit www.billpeckham.com and go through the posts on CKD Blogs (Saturdays and Wednesdays) and the forums (Sundays).
Premkumar said…
Hi Kamal

I am Prem Kumar - ex Baxter Sales Manager and I am not sure whether you would remember me, but I remember having visited your home and also having taken the Photos in your office for Baxter in house PD Journal.

I am now with Apollo Hospitals group and handling the project of setting HD centres across the country through different models.

I understand you are on home hemo dialysis and I am currently staying at Hyd.

Can we catch up sometimes if you are free?

My contact number is 99401 62163
TsrMaster said…
Dear Kamal.. I was reading your blog about PD for last one hour or so.. it is really helpful for the peoples like my father who is about to go for dialysis in near future..
it would be really great if you can add the "Cost factor" also to your blog. like what is the cost of a cycler?, how much the fluid cost per day/month? etc..

Thanks..
Kamal D Shah said…
Hi TsrMaster,

I maintain another site called 'Dialysis in India' that has this information. You can check: http://www.dialysis.org.in/2010/06/cost-comparison.html
Shilpa said…
Dear Kamal,
I am so glad to have come across your blog and read your experience on dialysis. My Dad is starting PD and I was surprised there is so little info as far as patient forums/ support groups for it. It was really informative to read your blog - I appreciate your honetsy and down to earth spirit. I'm sorry that you miss the freedom of PD - but you have your chin up and are forging ahead with Hemo. Kudos! All the best!
Shilpa
Kamal D Shah said…
Thanks Shilpa! You can also visit http://dialysis.org.in for more information on PD, HD and the costs and comparison.
Shilpa said…
Your website (dialysis.org.in) has a wealth of info! Thank you. And thank you for having Caregiver suggestions on the Home page - so important. Fyi, I found a few groups discussing PD on FB pages.
May I ask a question on diet? Protein intake while on PD is very much emphasized - especially from meat sources. Well atleast here in the US. I was wondering if you are vegetarian - and if so how you handled your protein intake while on PD. We are mostly vegetarian.
Thank you very much.
Kamal D Shah said…
Hi Shilpa,

I am entirely vegetarian. I used to gorge on soya bean while on PD. I also had moong dal, rajma and basically all pulses. I also would have a lot of paneer and tofu.

But soya is probably the best source. You could try putting some soy flour in the dough to make rotis.

The key is to try out different things with these options.

All the best!

Kamal

P.S. Please send me email at kamal@kamaldshah.com for any further questions. Thanks!
Atul Jain said…
my father is too on pd. We are doing it from jan 2010.
the worse thing in pd is that every company providing pd fluid is making their product of such type you have to replace transfer set when you want to switch company. Govt. Should interfare in such things.
Anonymous said…
Hi Mr. Shah!I am a student of Dr. Georgi Abraham and have seen so many kidney failure patients, but am impressed by your zeal for life! By the way, the blog is well written and am sure will help a lot of PD patients!Kudos and Good luck!