Hi From Sunny California

I'm 62 and was diagnosed stage 3 CKD about 3 and a half years ago. My Neph speculated it was related to renal stenosis, but was reluctant to test at that stage because of the contrast dye issue. I just swooped into the stage 4 category a couple of weeks ago. Times change quickly in available technology. Our hospital now can do a no contrast MRA to confirm his suspicions, and if confirmed I have approved doing a CO2 angiography to stent the clumps of stuff (sorry for the technical jargon). MRA is next Tuesday. I like the idea of moving ahead even if things stay the same or get worse. As a just in case, I started reading everything I could find about dialysis. I am particularly interested in home dialysis.

After all the medical sites and studies, along with the big manufacturer's sites I got a pretty good idea what the options are. I was really more interested in what those who are living with dialysis have to say about things and came across the IHD site. I guess if you say reading every post is lurking, then yep, I was a lurker. What a fantastic forum! The good is informative, and the bad is sometimes even more so. Thanks everyone for being so open.

It made my decision easy. I told my Nephrologist that I would like a combination of CAPD and CCPD that provides the dialysis I need, while fitting the lifestyle I want while undergoing this part of my life. An example of that is that I probably have not slept 8 straight hours in well over 40 years more than a couple of hundred times. More like 6 hours on average. I'm also retired and lazy. My Doc is all for a rolling cart CCPD for those long hours so I can escape the bedroom in the middle of the night and let the cycler do the majority of that work (remember I'm lazy so my ignorance in actual use allows me to see the advantage of not unhooking and rehooking ). He also supports planning and training for manuals for those times when I want to. He's a great Doc and fully supports in home dialysis.

I'm not a guy with much angst about things. My bride of over 30 years will attest to that......if I pay her enough and promise not to complain out loud (yeah, right). You folks have really gone a long way in preparing us for the potential ups and downs ahead. Thanks a bunch.

PS I have made my first decision as a family unit...when it goes good, I did it, but when it goes OOPS, what's her name, etc.