Books
Home Dialysis Central has pulled together this selection of helpful products for dialysis patients. Select a category to show only those related products. Do you have a product that you think could be useful for dialysis patients? Fill out this form to add it to our list.
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Help, I Need Dialysis! How to have a good future with kidney disease
Life-long kidney patient educator Dori Schatell, MS, and internationally-known nephrologist Dr. John Agar, MD, explain how dialysis works; each of the ways to do it; and how your treatment choice may affect your diet, energy level, work, travel, sexuality and fertility, sleep, and survival. Comprehensive and fully referenced, this book is a must-read if you face the life-changing choices that come with kidney failure. Paperback, 202 pages.
Order at lifeoptions.org
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How to Make a Killing-Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine
Six decades ago, visionary doctors achieved the impossible: the humble kidney, acknowledged since ancient times to be as essential to life as the heart, became the first human organ to be successfully replaced with a machine. Yet huge dialysis corporations, ambitious doctor-entrepreneurs and Beltway lobbyists soon turned this medical miracle into an early experiment in for-profit medicine—and one of the nation’s worst healthcare catastrophes.
Mueller evokes the scientific ingenuity and optimism of the 1950s and 1960s, when the burgeoning field of organ transplant and early dialysis machines offered long-awaited hope for lifesaving care. That is, until a New York salesman had himself dialyzed on the floor of the House, and Congress made renal disease the only “Medicare for All” condition—opening the financial floodgates for Big Dialysis. Of the thousands caught in a web of corporate greed, a disproportionate number are Black and Latino, highlighting the stark racial divides already endemic to American medicine.
How to Make a Killing reveals dialysis as a microcosm of American medicine and poses a vital challenge: find a way to fix dialysis, and we’ll have a fighting chance of fixing our country’s dysfunctional healthcare system as a whole, restoring patients, not profits, as its true purpose.
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Implementing Hemodialysis in the Home
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The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation: Everything You Need to Know If You Give (or Get) the Greatest Gift
The book provides all the information anyone needs to make an informed decision about kidney donation and transplantation. Written by a kidney donor and a twice kidney (and liver) transplant recipient, it offers easily accessible material that demystifies the live-donation process, including
- examining the reasons for donating;
- knowing what to expect before and after the donation and transplant;
- describing the specific tests, procedures, and transplant team members involved;
- helping recipients deal with the often-neglected, nonmedical aspects of their experience, such as its impact on the rest of the family;
- and extensive lists of additional resources and terms.
The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation also features thought-provoking first-person stories of the remarkable process of donation/transplantation, including the authors' own candid, moving accounts as a donor and a recipient and of several other donors/recipients.
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5 Simple Steps to doing PD Successfully
This powerful, uplifting pocket book is a simple and effective tool that is an easy read. It confronts so many of the problem areas faced by PD patients, including:
- Catheter Placement
- Organizing Monthly Supplies
- How to keep Your Pets While Doing Peritoneal Dialysis
- Myth Busters and Tips to Review with Your Medical Team
The tips will not only help you with coping with peritoneal dialysis, but also will enlighten your medical team, friends, nurses, family members, and caregivers in their efforts to make life more comfortable for you.
If you or your loved one is considering doing peritoneal dialysis or recently started peritoneal dialysis, this book is a must-read!
About the Author
Sheila Shaw has been living with chronic illnesses for the past 20 years. As the CEO of Patient’s Pride, Inc., a kidney transplant recipient, and a former peritoneal dialysis patient, and after speaking with thousands of PD patients and successfully helping them support their catheters and move forward with their lives, Sheila Shaw knows from personal and professional experience how to truly get through peritoneal dialysis successfully. Sheila has dedicated her life to inspire others to live their lives to their fullest despite living with chronic illness.
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Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home
"Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home: ‘The Underwear Factor"
By
Linda Gromko, MD, and Interior Designer Jane McClure.
Paperback Book. ISBN 978-0-615-32528-6.
When Steve Williams’ kidneys stopped working in September 2007, he and his wife Dr. Linda Gromko were presented with two choices: a kidney transplant or kidney dialysis. There was, of course, the option of no treatment—but that would mean certain death for this husband and father of a teenaged daughter. Steve and Linda eagerly embraced the technology of Home Dialysis—treatments that could be done on their own time and on their own terms. But nothing could have prepared them for the onslaught of medical supplies that descended upon their home, making it seem more like a medical clinic or an ICU! Home Dialysis—while life-saving—was taking over, consuming their lives and redefining their family as one tethered to illness. That’s where Interior Designer Jane McClure saved the day.
"Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home: ‘The Underwear Factor’" shows you how to:
- Create your Home Center for Hemodialysis or Peritoneal Dialysis
- Design a Home Dialysis space that is comfortable, safe, and easy to use
- Manage the storage or necessary medical supplies
- Use the tricks of the trade that expensive Interior Decorators use
- Save money through sure-fire choices and bargain decorator shopping
- Support the caregiver and prevent caregiver burnout
Reclaim as much as your "normal" life as you can.
"Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home: ‘The Underwear Factor’" is the first in a series of books from the Seattle non-profit Arrange2Live, dedicated to making life more livable for people dealing with Home Dialysis and other health conditions requiring health care in the home.
Available on Amazon.
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Complications: A Doctor’s Love Story
"Complications: A Doctor’s Love Story"
By
Linda Gromko, MD.
Paperback Book. ISBN 978-0-9825143-0-6.
When Seattle family doctor Linda Gromko receives an implausible inheritence from a former patient, the windfall jolts her life—already out of balance from the demands of her profession. She reshuffles her life priorities and vows to find a life partner once and for all. Browsing on the Internet with "I’d like to meet a nice Democrat," she finds Steve—a businessman who is "irreverently funny, gifted at banter, and loyal as a beagle." But while Steve brings joy, he also brings complications to the doctor’s life. For one, there is Steve’s nine-year-old daughter Brita, who stares the doctor down with "I hate every centimeter of you—get used to it!" The more serious complication, however, is Steve’s health. Known to have diabetes and high blood pressure for years, Steve falls precipitously into the abyss of Acute Kidney Failure. Without a transplant or dialysis, Steve will certainly die within one to two weeks. "Complications" takes the reader on a tumultuous ride of medical and personal trials, as Dr. Gromko exerts the most powerful advocacy of her life. The book is "R" rated: "R" for language, and "R" for reality!
Order through www.LindaGromkoMD.com.
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Handbook of Peritoneal Dialysis
This book by Dr. Steven Guest is a guide to the practice of peritoneal dialysis. Chapters provide a foundational understanding of PD therapy and address real-time challenges faced by providers. Contained in this guide:
- Peritoneal membrane physiology
- PET, modified PET, DATT
- Acute and chronic PD prescription
- Catheters and placement techniques
- PD solutions
- Infectious and non-infectious complications
- Fluid management in PD
- PD in the diabetic and morbidly obese patients
- Nutritional and metabolic issues in PD
- Survival in the PD population
- Setting up a PD program/infrastructure
- PD in special situations
- Key management strategies for successful PD
About the author
Steven Guest, MD, attended medical school at Vanderbilt and completed his nephrology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. For 12 years, Dr. Guest served as the PD program director at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, which served as the primary PD training site for Stanford’s nephrology training program. Dr. Guest speaks on various PD topics throughout the U.S., and has many publications focused on the clinical aspects of PD therapy.
Order this book at Amazon.com.
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The Kidney Donors Journey - 100 Questions
Ari Sytner is an unlikely kidney donor who saved the life of a stranger.
After an unexpected year-long journey of exploring kidney donation, Ari became a kidney donor to save a single mother of 3 children. The experience was so inspirational and transformative, that Ari revealed the entire journey in this first ever question and answer book, outlining the 100 questions he struggled with before deciding to proceed with his transplant and give the gift of life. The Kidney Donor's Journey does not try to convince you to donate an organ, rather it walks you through every stage of Ari's process, from researching, struggling and telling his family, to testing, undergoing surgery and recovery. The book inspires readers to weigh the personal and ethical values of kindness and human life, while sharing a moving and uplifting tale of one man's journey to make a difference in the world.
Order this book at Amazon.com.
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Lost in Transplantation
One Gently Used Kidney, Free to a Good Home. When 48 year-old single mother, massage therapist and returning student Ellie makes it her mission to help a stranger she has no idea how much it will alter her own life. What starts out as a simple act of altruism turns into four years filled with unpredictable obstacles and beautiful epiphanies she never imagined. Lost in Transplantation is at times irreverent, inspirational, humorous and heartbreaking; an intimate story told with bold honesty and a lyrical voice that is both earnest and informative. Ellie's life-changing mission to help another human being will keep you turning the pages well into the night. It might even change your life.
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The ABC’s of Pee Dee
An excellent resource for helping a child go through the process personally or understand what another family member may be undergoing. This heartwarming story of a youngster’s journey through kidney failure, peritoneal dialysis (PD), and transplantation, was written and illustrated to help kids understand kidney disease and this form of treatment. Printed in Canada.
by Cathy and Jean Clermont
Illustrated by Brianna Thayer
36 pages; 7.5 x 7.5 inches, softcover, full color.
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The Courage to Live
This inspirational book details author Carmen Buelvas Critchlow’s personal journey both as an immigrant from Panama and as a dialysis patient and transplant recipient. It details her physical and emotional battle against kidney disease and describes kidney failure and dialysis in clear, understandable terms. Special attention is paid to organ donation. Finally, it shares how in a powerful way this uninvited "battle" has been transformed into a spiritual journey with God.
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The Reluctant Donor
Author Suzanne Ruff comes from a family that has been plagued by kidney disease for generations. In her lifetime, she has lost her mother, several aunts and uncles, and cousins to Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), the most common of all life-threatening genetic diseases. Both of her sisters inherited the disease. She did not. When her younger sister fell ill shortly after their mother’s death in 2003, Ruff decided to do something about it. She had always been afraid of doctors and needles, but says with God’s help she found the courage to save JoAnn’s life by donating a kidney. In the months leading up to the surgery, which took place on Oct. 19, 2004, Ruff spent a lot of time journaling, and published a book based on her notes and memories. Her hope is that The Reluctant Donor (Beaver’s Pond Press, April 2010, $14.95) will find its way into the hands of others who are facing a difficult life-and-death decision, and help them find the courage they need to get through it.
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Transplanted to Better Health
“Transplanted to Better Health” is a poignant and touching story of Carole’s personal journey through kidney disease. In this memoir, she describes the good and bad days, the ups and downs of dialysis treatment, waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant, and the road to recovery. Never losing faith that there will be better times ahead, she shares just what kept her strong and motivated. Family members and friends of kidney patients will find a wealth of information. Medical professionals can experience a patient’s innermost thoughts and feelings en route to better health. A must read!
This memoir has won two awards - first place in the health category of the Xulon Press Christian Choice Book Awards contest, 2012, and honorable mention in the spiritual category of the New England Book Festival, 2013.
Order this book at Amazon.com
Order a signed copy through TransplantedToBetterHealth.weebly.com
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Dialysis is not your life
Book Purchase: https://www.dialysisisnotyourlife.com/dinyl-book.php