I have had kidney disease for more than thirteen years now, all of it on dialysis. I often wonder how long a person can live on dialysis. People have survived for decades after a transplant. But dialysis is different. It is at best a compromise in terms of replacement of renal function. And I also have many of the co-morbidities associated with long term kidney disease.

So, I scoured the mailing lists online to be able to find an answer to this question. Well, I wasn't looking for an exact answer but at least some indication. I wasn't depressed about this or anything. I just wanted to be able to plan my life better. Fortunately or unfortunately, the answers on the mailing lists were all vague. 'People have lived for long on dialysis'.

Then, yesterday I met Joseph Rajshekhar. And everything changed.

Joseph has been on in-center hemodialysis for the last eighteen years! No transplant. No PD. Only in-center hemo.

This gave me a lot of hope and cheer. If someone can live for eighteen years (and still going strong, touch wood) on thrice a week hemodialysis in-center, my odds of living much longer are pretty good! I am doing daily nocturnal home hemodialysis, after all!

And if I can survive for long enough, who knows, Soliris might become accessible and I might be able to get a good transplant. Then, what else could I ask for? I could live for centuries! Hehehehe!

So, it will be some time before I sign off, folks!

... http://www.kamaldshah.com/2010/11/miles-to-go-before-i-sleep.html