What exactly is it?

Your kidneys are organs that help clean and remove toxins from your blood. When your kidneys don’t function properly, the toxins are not able to be removed and this might cause you to feel weak, not be able to pee, and have symptoms like vomiting, swelling, confusion, and shortness of breath. Dialysis is a procedure in which a machine removes blood from a patient’s body, cleans it, and then returns it to the patient. A patient might only need dialysis for a short time if the kidneys are able to recover and regain its function. However, for many patients their kidneys do not recover and they may need to receive dialysis life-long. For these patients on long-term dialysis, they usually go to a dialysis center three times a week for four-hours each session. These patients also usually need additional surgeries in their arms to make it easier to access the bloodstream during dialysis.