But as a Type 1 diabetic who had already lost her sight, Sherman of Rochester Hills knew the day might come when her kidneys might develop end-stage renal disease, losing their ability to remove waste and excess fluid from her body. The Detroit News Melissa Sherman of Rochester Hills, who is blind, has no trouble cleansing her blood by peritoneal dialysis at the same time she works in her home office or does other chores. That is the point in kidney disease when a person requires dialysis or a kidney transplant, and it is a common diabetic complication. While hemodialysis requires a patient to have her blood cleaned by a special machine three times a week for about four hours, usually at a dialysis center, peritoneal dialysis can be done about four times a day for 30 minutes, says Dr. Olaf Kroneman of William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.
Peritoneal dialysis uses the inside lining of the abdomen to act like a natural filter.
A surgeon places a soft tube, called a catheter, into the abdomen. When Sherman is ready to do a dialysis exchange, she hooks a 2-liter bag of a cleansing fluid called dialysate to her catheter. The fluid travels through the tube into the abdomen, where it dwells for several hours, collecting wastes and extra fluid as it passes through the stomach lining. Sherman always has about 2 liters of fluid in her belly collecting waste. Sherman says peritoneal dialysis fits into her lifestyle with the same convenience as eating or going to the bathroom.