Dialysis Services

Why It’s Needed

Healthy kidneys filter your blood around the clock. They pull out waste, balance the minerals your body needs, control your blood pressure, and get rid of fluid you do not need. When kidney function drops far enough, that waste and fluid start to build up. You may feel tired, swollen, short of breath, or sick to your stomach.

Dialysis takes over much of that filtering work. It keeps your body in balance, helps hold your blood pressure at a safer level, and keeps minerals like potassium and phosphorus from climbing too high. Your nephrologist will look at your lab results, your symptoms, and how you are feeling day to day before recommending that you start.

Making dialysis feel comfortable and stress-free is one of our main goals. Treatment becomes part of your week, not the thing your whole week revolves around.

How Dialysis Works

There are two types of dialysis, and both are available through the Kidney Institute.

Hemodialysis uses a machine to filter your blood. Blood travels out of your body through soft tubing, passes through a filter called a dialyzer that works like an artificial kidney, and returns to you cleaned. Most people receive hemodialysis at one of our clinics.

Peritoneal dialysis uses the lining of your own abdomen, called the peritoneum, as the filter. A soft plastic tube called a catheter is placed in your abdomen. A clean fluid flows in, pulls waste and extra fluid out of the blood vessels in that lining, and then drains out. Most people do peritoneal dialysis at home.

Neither one is automatically better. The right choice depends on your health, your schedule, your comfort level, and what kind of support you have at home.

The Benefits of Dialysis

Dialysis eases the symptoms that come with kidney failure, including fatigue, weakness, swelling, and nausea. Its most important benefit is that it does the filtering work your body still needs done, which is what allows people to keep living full lives after kidney failure.

That is why this work matters so much to us. Your physicians and nurses build a complete care plan around you, and then adjust it as your needs change.

Why It’s Needed

Hemodialysis is the right fit for many people, especially those who would rather have trained professionals handle treatment and who like having a set schedule to plan around.

Starting treatment is an emotional adjustment, and you will not go through it alone. Something our patients tell us often: the waiting room helps. You get to know the nurses and technicians who care for you every week, and you meet other kidney warriors who understand exactly what this is like. That community is a real part of the treatment.

How Hemodialysis Works

Hemodialysis is usually done at a dialysis center like one of our four valley clinics. Treatments are scheduled three times a week, and each session lasts three to four hours.

Before you start, you will need dialysis access, which is the spot where blood leaves and returns to your body. This is usually a fistula or graft in your arm, created during a short procedure and given time to heal beforehand. Your kidney doctor will explain which option suits you and when to have it placed.

During treatment, you sit in a reclining chair. You can read, nap, watch something, or talk with the staff and the people around you. Your nurses check your blood pressure and how you are feeling throughout the session.

If you are heading out of town, our team can help you arrange treatment at your destination so your schedule stays intact.

The Benefits of Hemodialysis

Many people prefer coming to a center. Trained hemodialysis nurses and nephrologists handle the treatment, so there is nothing for you to manage at home and no supplies to store.

There is also a rhythm to it that people come to appreciate. Three sessions a week means four days without treatment. You have staff watching over you closely during every visit, and a familiar group of faces each time you come in.