Fellows Gone Wild

A photo from last night's eagerly anticipated "Fellows Gone Wild" night out, celebrating the end of a wild n' wooly year of middle-of-the-night dialysis catheters and general abuse. It felt good.

As I mentioned in my last post, however, I'm not truly done. These upcoming two weeks I'm on a rotation where I learn about "Peritoneal Dialysis." This is a form of dialysis that is entirely different from the usual hemodialysis--instead, a catheter is placed into the belly and the peritoneal membrane is used as a "natural" dialyzer. Individuals instill a volume of fluid (typically between 2-4 Liters) with a certain concentration of electrolytes and sugar and let it equilibrate with the body over the course of several hours. Although peritoneal dialysis is not for everyone, many studies have suggested that patient satisfaction is greater with peritoneal dialysis than standard hemodialysis, likely due to the greater degree of independence (you can do peritoneal dialysis at home, whereas hemodialysis requires going into a dialysis center 3 times a week on a strict schedule).