To be clear - not on dialysis YET but with eGFR dropping from 37 to 20 (shingles?) in 3 months, it's time to consider port placement. Even if labs improve at least I'll be ready. I'm 75 and could not get on a transplant list so if renal failure does the inevitable progression it will be dialysis and die later as opposed to no dialysis and die sooner. Sorry to be Debbie Downer but I'm a realist. And I've read nightmare stories by people my age on dialysis - nausea, extreme fatigue (I'm ALREADY queasy a lot and with fibromyalgia fatigue is always with me.)

Does your hair really fall out?

Do your fingernails really turn black and fall off?

Do dialysis patients really lose fingers and/or toes or - worse - have to suffer limb amputations?

Do you really have to be on a machine 4 hours a day three days a week?

Do you really need at least a half a day to recover from a dialysis session then feel well another half day before starting to feel awful again the evening before dialysis?

How long can 70+ year olds with CHF, COPD, and well-managed diabetes expect dialysis to work before the law of diminshing returns begins to apply?

How badly does quality of life deteriorate and how fast?

Is the nanomesh available? Is it affordable? Does it work? Where can it be done?