These two little organs are shaped like kidney beans, and they are located underneath your diaphragm toward your back, behind the stomach. They are small - about 4 1/2 inches long x 2 1/2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. But boy, are they powerful. The kidneys work day and night to remove waste from the bloodstream (which results in urine production), and to preserve an equilibrium of salt and electrolyte content in the blood. We cannot survive without kidney function.
Dialysis.
Dialysis is really a miraculous procedure which cleans the blood and removes excess fluid. There are 2 kinds, hemodialysis, which is described below, and peritoneal dialysis, which is often done at home.
Like most dialysis patients, Darryl uses hemodialysis. Two large needles are placed in the arm (usually) - one to take the blood out and one to bring it back in. In between, the blood is filtered through a machine about the size of a bureau, called a dialyzer.
The process takes about 4 hours each time. (note: some people dialize at home by hooking themselves up to a dialyzer for about 8 hours every night. Others, using peritoneal dialysis, do it for 20-30 minutes at a time several times a day.) No mater how you cut it, dialysis takes a long time. Darryl goes to a dialysis center located in our local hospital from 6 to 10 pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Although it is life-sustaining, dialysis does not cure kidney disease. Unless Darryl receives a transplant, he will be on dialysis for the rest of his life.
Another thing to know is that dialysis only provides a fraction - 10% - of normal kidney function. A big machine, 3 days a week, cannot do what your kidneys do 24/7. There ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby...
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