New port

[Halsdaughter]

Question to you all? How long does your port need to heal after it’s placed before your first dialysis?

[KidneyCoach NKF Ambassador]

It can be used the day its placed. They usually like to use it the same day to be sure its working and can get a good treatment in. Hope this helps. Blessings

[65_and_wondering in reply to KidneyCoach]

I am on PD, I was ready in two weeks.

[rascal01 in reply to KidneyCoach]

Mine was placed 10am. Dialysis 1pm. The same day.

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

My veins were too small, so had to put an AV graft in my arm and it had to heal for 2 weeks.

[Halsdaughter]

Thank you all. What is PD? It always goes in your arm? I’ve seen them in the neck and chest before.

[KidneyCoach NKF Ambassador]

PD is Peritoneal Dialysis. It uses the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum) with fluid exchanges to clean out toxins in the body. They would place a "tube" in your belly with a surgical procedure and is usually ready to use in 2-3 weeks. The chest catheters (or neck or groin) can be used right away. The arm grafts usually need a few weeks to heal. The arm or leg fistulas generally take several weeks to months to heal and be ready to use. Hope this helps. Blessings

[Halsdaughter]

Thank you kidney coach 🙏🏻

[cs65 NKF Ambassador]

There are two kinds of dialysis - hemodialysis, where your blood is circulated through a dialyzer filter to remove excess fluid and impurities that a working kidney would usually remove. Then there is peritoneal dialysis or PD, where you have a tube placed in your abdomen and your peritoneal sac acts as the dialyzer. Other people who are doing PD can explain it better. With hemodialysis you can have either a port or catheter into your portal vein in your chest (usually), an arteriovenous fistula or AV fistula (a joining of a vein and an artery to create a larger vessel) or a graft (using an artificial or cow vessel when a person's veins are too small or they have fatty deposits in the vessels). With a port a nurse must join the arterial lead to the arterial line from the dialyzing machine and the venous lead to the venous line (usually, some times they have to be reversed). With a graft or an AV fistula two needles need to be placed and joined to the arterial and venous lines from the machine. Of these methods an AV fistula is considered to be the safest in terms of preventing blood infections, followed by a graft, and lastly by a port. This is because the port is a direct line to the heart and special precautions need to be taken by the nurse and the patient to keep the area sterile. For example, you must never get the port wet, so you can only shower from the waist down and must sponge bathe your upper body. With fistulas and grafts you may shower your whole body. This is why nephrologists recommend only using a port until you can have a fistula or graft created and usable. A fistula takes several months to grow large enough to be usable, but a graft takes a shorter time. Hope that's not too much info to take in!