CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

Since Grandmommy (Janell's mother), has lived with us, we have stored her kidney dialysis supplies in the our living room. Although this room is not used frequently, the boxes took up a lot of room and were in the way if we wanted to do anything in this part of the house. So, just before Thanksgiving, I began construction of a climate controlled closet inside our garage. I completed this a week ago, and we now have a little room in which to store all the paraphernalia. If you are interested in more, you can take the attached video tour. Also, if you are interested in dialysis basics, read on.

Real Basic Dialysis
The method Grandmommy uses is called peritoneal dialysis (PD) which can be done at home. The most common type, hemodialysis, requires actual filtration of the blood three times a week at a dialysis center. PD is more convenient because it can be done automatically at night while the patient is sleeping. Basically, a dextrose (a sugar) solution is pumped into the abdominal cavity through an implanted port. The material remains for an hour or so and then is pumped out. This cycle is repeated several times during the night. The last input remains in the abdomen until the next night. The cleansing of the blood uses a process called osmosis, where the impurities in the bloodstream transfer across the peritoneal membrane due to a concentration difference between the blood and the fluid in the abdominal cavity.

While PD is more convenient to do, it does require keeping a supply of solutions on hand. The process requires about 10 liters (about 2.5 gallons) of solution every night. We keep a little more than one months supply on had, so this translates to more than 30 boxes of solution at 10 liters per box. The process also requires other supplies, such as tubing, which we must also keep. What you see in the video clip shows what we have on hand midway between deliveries.