My husband's tunnel catheter was in his upper right chest, not neck. It had to be kept dry and the dressing changed each time of dialysis, but it was not painful. It is supposed to be a temporary solution when dialysis is needed and there is no fistula. At the time they put it in (March 2017), they did not expect him to live very long. In June of 2017 he was put on Keytruda, which has kept the cancer at bay - it truly is a miracle drug.

His fistula was put in last June. The operation did not take an hour or so, and was outpatient. They did not start using it until November.