Kidney dialysis - age 90?

[Parsley65]

My Mum has an appointment with a renal consultant next week. She's hoping to get the go ahead for kidney dialysis, but I'm not sure if they'll let her because of her advanced years.

She is frail and has a lot of other health problems and seems to think this is going to give her a new lease of life. Does anyone have any experience of this?
Thank you.

Sorry about your mum, is she happy to go ahead with the dialysis if they offer it to her? Is that what the doctor is planning? It might depend on how often they feel she would need it, where she would have to travel to, what improvement they think is likely and what she wants to do and her expectations.

www.kidneycareuk.org/about-kidney-health/treatments/dialysis/

My dfil spent three years on kidney dialysis before we sadly lost him.

He was in his sixties and certainly didn't give him a new lease of life - it did however keep him alive.

He went to a unit three times a week. I think he was on the machine for 3-4 hours, however that was assuming the machines were available - as he was at the local hospital, if someone needed it immediately he would have to wait. With time waiting for someone to put you on, take you off etc it was often an all day job. It may well be different in other units though.

He would always feel very ill after dialysis - he couldn't, for example, do anything in the evenings other than doze. The days he didnt have dialysis he was much better, able to partake in family events but did get very tired very quickly. He was so much weaker and got awfully frail.

There were people on the unit who coped better, but they were invariably a lot younger.

I can only speak for my experience though...at 90, it isn't something I can imagine wanting to pursue, but your mother has a right to make up her own mind, if the doctors allow it.

Thank you for getting back to me and sharing stories and information.
My Mum doesn't want to die and is doing everything she can to prevent it, so if she is offered dialysis she will definitely go for it.
It sounds to me like a double edged sword, but I'll support her in whatever she decides.

Yes, a double edged sword is probably the perfect way to describe it.

And in those three years, dfil did have some lovely times; there was, to a degree, still some pleasure in life, and it better for him than the alternative.

I think you're right to support her if that's the route your mum wants to go down.

Are you going to the renal appointment with her? If I may make a suggestion, if it goes ahead, I would try and avoid hospital based units. Towards the end my dfil attended a unit that was further away (but patient transport provided) but was dedicated to people on long-term dialysis. This ran much more smoothly than the hospital one as they didn't have the pressures of accute patients and could actually run to a schedule.

It also meant that as it would be the same people on at the same time, he got to know them a little bit and could chat to them, which made the time pass quicker.

I don't know if overnight will be considered - he was offered the option of five nights overnight dialysis on a machine at home. Initially, this sounded the better option to us, but once he started having dialysis at the hospital he decided that because he felt so bad after, it was better to have four dialysis free days than two, and he doubted he'd sleep when plugged in.