Hello, my name is Arnie and I'm new to this forum.

Hello, my name is Arnie and I live in North Carolina. My kidney function slowly degraded over a fifteen year period of time and in May of 2006 I started dialysis. My modality of choice was peritoneal dialysis and it was effective for about seven months.

In December of the same year I experienced stomach pains and thought it was peritonitis, but four hours after being admitted to the emergency room a segment of my colon was removed. The problem had nothing to do with my kidney failure or my dialysis; perhaps it was just bad luck. As a result of the problem my PD catheter was removed, a perm-cath inserted and I was introduced to the world of in-center hemodialysis.

Our local center accommodates approximately 48 people during each session and the environment is hectic and impersonal (I would use other adjectives but this is a public forum). During the next five months I ended up with a blood infection.

My body was now healed enough to have another PD catheter inserted. This catheter worked for about a week and developed a leak so it was back to hemodialysis. In less than a week I had another blood infection from the same bay where I received the first. Back in the hospital and after discharge I refused to go back to the same dialysis center. Another, smaller and more personal center, provided superior care even though it is owned by the same group. After a sufficient rest period we tried PD again and now the catheter would fill but not drain. Back to surgery to remove the growth from the end of the catheter. Another leak developed and I gave up on PD.

I spoke with my nephrologist and several other patients and decided to give home hemodialysis and NxStage a try. Another visit to the hospital to have the PD catheter removed and an AV fistula established. My wife and I attended extremely thorough training for a little over two weeks and were sent home with everything we needed to do home hemodialysis. We have been on our own for one whole week and I love it. I am back to being independent, I’m not afraid of getting another blood infection and I feel much better overall.

On the horizon is the maturing of the AV fistula and learning how to insert needles along with the removal of the perm-cath. My incentive for achieving these goals is the thought of a decadently long hot shower.

Some folks think that I have had a difficult time during the last nine months but I consider myself fortunate. My body seems to tolerate dialysis well. I’ve watched others struggle with almost every dialysis treatment they received along with other related complications. No complaints here...