My Dad is 83 years old. He has been in the hospital for a week now and they have pulled off over a gallon on fluid. He is so weak. The Dr. Said that his kidneys are working 20% and we are now looking at dyalasis.He also has dementia and is confused allot. His B/P is low now so I am concerned about the dyalasis. We don't know what to expect. Does anyone know anything about this? I know right now we don't have very much choice in the dyalasis because his kidneys are not working well enough to pull off the fluids.

I was on dialysis for just over 9 years. My situation was much different than your fathers. I was only 21 when I started and had my entire life ahead of me. Dialysis can be scarry, painful, and emotionally difficult for everyone involved. All I can do is offer my advice on how to deal with diaylsis, if this is in fact the path you and your family wish to take. The best thing to do is make your father comfortable. If you can try to make sure that someone he knowns is there for the first few weeks until he is comfortable with his surroundings. If he continues to feel uncomfortable after that time, then try to get anyone that he knows to just come and sit with him. Most of the dialysis units have Cable TV and sometimes even have a DVD player or a VCR. Typically dialysis patients get very cold, simply because of the fluid being removed from their body, so take blankets and even a heating pad if you can. The ideal thing to do at diaylsis is to avoid watching the clock, so if you can keep occupied even by sleeping do it.

In terms of thing to do outside of the dialysis time, i'm sure the doctors will bombard you with a million things to do and not to do. Until you have a good grasp of everything just remember the two most important things are limiting fluids and potassium. Fluids tend to be difficult in the begining, try to get some small child size cups if that helps. Potassium can cause a number of problems, watch the potatoes, oranges, bannanas, and beans are the worst culprits. If your father is still able to move or exersize, get him up moving! Even if its just lifting his legs and arms in bed.

Finnally the most important of anything i can tell you is to be positive. People tend to feed off negative energy. If there is nothing there for them to feel sorry about they have no alternative but to stop feelling sorry for themselves. This applies to everyone in the family. I know this is a lot of information but I hope it helps alittle.

hi red panda,
I am new on this site and I want to thank you for that uplifting information. My son has Been on dialysis since last year he is also 21 yrs. old. This was due to Lupus. He is now being placed on a kidney transplant list and is starting to understand and accept that his life is what it is. You gotta make lemonade out of lemons. Thanks for the lemonade. take care :wave:

Sadie, my grandfather is 83 years and going through the exact same thing. I came across your post and I'm really interested to see how your Dad is doing.

What is the cause of dementia? Is it Alzheimer's, or the kidney disease, or depression??

I have kidney disease, and I'm 46. No dementia, no heart disease, diabetes or hypertension. Just my kidneys started going belly-up. They were functioning at 15% at one point and my main symptom was incredible fatigue (kidney disease can cause severe anemia). So far the medications have turned them around and they're functioning better. But if I'd been told I should have dialysis, I would do it!! Of course, I have a lot of life in front of me, I'm still young and relatively healthy. Dialysis is not as awful as it was in bygone years. You can get a home unit and do it yourself, a few hours every morning, or while you're still asleep. They give you a surgical implant to insert the needle so you don't have to poke a vein every time you do it.

I just think of dialysis as "cleansing". When your kidneys aren't working, all that toxic stuff backs up into your bloodstream and you have dirty blood and you feel lousy. Dialysis cleans it out and gives you a fresh start. Not an ideal way to life your life, but better than nothing!

I hope there's something they can do for your Dad. But every situation is different.

My Grandfather died Oct 11 at 12:35am. Kidney disease is a terrible illness that affects the whole body including the brain. The coma that results is almost unbearable to see. My granddad walked into the hospital after driving himself there on July 18 and died in a nursing home last week. I can't begin to tell you what the family has been through in the last couple of months but I hope no one else has to see this kind of suffering.