Dialysis begins

Today, January 28, 2025, I checked into the hospital to begin my first ever dialysis treatment. I chose to start dialysis today because I had been feeling very poorly. Dialysis is a life-sustaining treatment for individuals with kidney failure.

How hemodialysis works

I had prepared for this day several months ago by having had a surgery to prepare a fistula in my left biceps area. A fistula is a connection between two parts of your body that don't normally connect. In my case an artery and a vein were connected to make a sort of superhighway to conduct the dialysis through.

The dialysis machine acts as an artificial kidney, removing waste product, toxins, and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys can no longer do so. I am doing hemodialysis which involves placing two fairly large needles into my fistula so that one can take the arterial blood flow to the Dialysis machine, pass it through the machine's filter, and then the other needle can return the veinous blood flow to my body from the machine.

The process is very long and takes four to five hours just sitting scrolling on the phone, watching tv, or staring at the wall.