Writer has questions about Dialysis and kids

[Montana]

I'm writing a novel and the story revolves around a young girl (18 months old) with a rare kidney disease who is kidnapped. She must have dialysis several times a week (I randomly chose three times per week).  I know absolutely nothing about kidney disease or dialysis and would like to get the facts right.  I don't want to offend anyone, but have a few basis questions.
How does a child this young get the treatment? From what I've read, the treatments take hours. I've never known a kid to sit still for long. When the treatment is over, what condition is she in. Tired, nauseated, grumpy, weak? Thank you in advance.

[okarol]

Most kids are on peritoneal dialysis, where they are hooked up via a tube in their abdomen and the machine runs while they sleep at night. The walls of your abdominal cavity are lined with a membrane called the peritoneum, which allows waste products and extra fluid to pass from your blood into the dialysis solution. The solution contains a sugar called dextrose that will pull wastes and extra fluid into the abdominal cavity. These wastes and fluid then leave your body when the dialysis solution is drained. The used solution, containing wastes and extra fluid, is then thrown away. The process of draining and filling is called an exchange and takes about 30 to 40 minutes. The period the dialysis solution is in your abdomen is called the dwell time. A typical schedule calls for four exchanges a day, each with a dwell time of 4 to 6 hours. Different types of PD have different schedules of daily exchanges.

[Montana]

Thanks. Do kids ever go to the hospital for Dialysis? What condition are they in when they finish a treatment.

[okarol]

There are young patients, usually teens, I think, who do hemodialysis in-center. My daughter was 18 when she started. You could probably ask for permission to visit a unit at a hospital.

[Stacy Without An E]

One thing I believe we all have in common as Dialysis patients is that we LOATHE when the media gets our condition wrong.  This mostly relates to TV shows and movies that portray someone with kidney failure, and the very next day they have a kidney.

So please do your research or talk to patients directly.  Because if you blow it, we're going to let you know.  Over and over and over again.

[Montana]

The last thing I want to do, is get it wrong. One of the first rules I learned about writing fiction is that it has to be true (monkeys don't talk and dogs don't fly). I will do my homework. Already, by the three post from you all, I know I have corrections to make. Thanks.

[Stacy Without An E]

Talking monkeys?  Flying dogs?  Why aren't we watching that movie right now??

[gothiclovemonkey]

that sounds like a really depressing but interesting story....
Id say see if u can talk to a neph dr, a dialysis unit at a childrens hospital. Be up front about ur intentions, if they arent available and u never get a call back, try writing a very formal letter. I have done the same for research for my own books.

[Riki]

Montana, some young children, for whatever reason, can't tolerate Peritoneal Dialysis either.

A friend of mine, who is about 30 now, began dialysis when he was about 6 months old.  They orignally started with PD with him, but all he was returning was blood, so they put a central line in the poor boy and put him on hemo.  I saw pictures of him being held by his mom and nurses in the old lazy boy chairs they used, when he was probably 9 or 10 months old, hooked up to the dialysis machine.

I met him when he was about 10.  We were in the same children's hospital.  He has a central line then as well.  I haven't talked to him in a while, but as far as I know, that's still how he gets his dialysis, a central line.  He'll be on dialysis for the rest of his life.  They've never been able to get a kidney to work for him.