My home hemo journey - Epilogue

The best part about nocturnal daily home hemo is that there are no dietary and fluid restrictions. Since you are getting 7 to 8 hours of dialysis, you can remove a lot more. 3.2 kgs should be very comfortable. Because that is what the body can easily tolerate. Not many people can drink more than that in about 16 hours.

16 hours - that’s the time you are not on dialysis. So, however much you try, you cannot build up too much fluid and toxins that can make you feel bad.

I have felt 100 times better than what I did when I was on hospital dialysis. There are no ‘crashes’ because there is no rapid fluid removal. My energy levels are much better. I am back to work full time. And I put in about 8 to 10 hours of productive work every day.

I go for a swim every morning and do 10 lengths. That’s the best part of my day. This was something I missed when I was on PD too. I am so glad I am able to swim now.

My hemoglobin has drastically improved. My need for erythropoetin has reduced. I had left ventricular dysfunction before I was on daily dialysis. That has improved considerably and my cardiologist was pleasantly surprised to note this and was thinking it was due to the daily dialysis. He hadn’t seen this at all in his entire career!

I would say I sleep about 80% on weekdays when I am on dialysis compared to perfect sleep on Sundays when I am not on dialysis. But its not bad at all. I feel completely rested.

Travel is an issue. Now that I am doing daily nocturnal, I completely abhor regular 4 hour sessions. So, when I travel, I cannot dialyze. That restricts travel plans to being away from home for a maximum of two nights. Well, theoretically I can be away for more nights but I will need to do one or more regular hospital dialysis sessions when I am away. I don’t like these sessions at all. And I doubt if hospitals and dialysis centers will allow me to dialyze the whole night. So, currently I am limited to 2 night vacations.

Overall, my life has improved dramatically. No one can say I am unwell without actually knowing about my medical condition (except of course if they happen to see my fistula which can give nightmares to kids!).

This has been entirely due to nocturnal home hemodialysis. I must really thank my nephrologist, Dr. Girish Narayen who advised me and encouraged me to try this when so few (maybe no one else?) people were on this modality in India.