A selection of written comments from patients with chronic kidney disease from a survey exploring their preferences for treatment
| Characteristic of treatment | Comment |
|---|---|
| Life expectancy | “I am bringing up my grand-daughter she is 8 and I need to stay alive to look after her. She has been with me since she was 2.” — Patient 86 (60-year-old man) “I am due to go onto dialysis in the next 3 months. As you see- my main choice is to live as long as possible, no matter what time (commitment) is involved.” — Patient 19 (74-year-old woman) “Because of my age and otherwise good health, survival time is paramount.” — Patient 82 (63-year-old man) |
| Travel | “Me and my wife have a mission overseas we need to travel all the time, also for 1–3 months at a time and this treatment will hold all activities and I’m not sure if I can do that or not.” — Patient 73 (66-year-old man) “The main concern for myself is that dialysis does not ‘take control’ over my life. My wife and I like to go away for short trips and still want to do that well into the future.” — Patient 21 (64-year-old man) |
| Time spent undergoing dialysis | “I consider 12 hours (dialysis) weekly inadequate. Allowing for domestic duties (I live alone) the time for travelling the 100 km round trip to the closest renal unit tends to rule out 8 hour dialysis.” — Patient 46 (82-year-old man) |
| Time of day | “Home dialysis at night allows time for shopping, car rego [registration] etc.” — Patient 46 (82-year-old man) |
| Transport | “Transport to me is a consideration, whether at a small or no cost.” — Patient 46 (82-year-old man) |
| Age | “Had I been younger, my responses would very likely be different. I imagine that my life expectancy is not great anyway and having dialysis would be quite disruptive.” — Patient 16 (81-year-old woman) |
| Comorbidities | “As I have had a stroke my disability causes problems with haemodialysis as there are circulatory problems.” — Patient 42 (77-year-old man) “While I expect to hold my driving licence for some time, being diabetic and 82 is a consideration...While I tend to favour home dialysis, changing circumstances could change this (e.g., I have an upstairs unit, so should I develop stairs problems, I may have to move to a retirement home close to a renal unit)” — Patient 46 (82-year-old man) |
| Quality of life | “It is for these reasons that I am hesitating to go on dialysis. Apart from pain, there will no longer be a quality of life. My answers are based on if I should go on dialysis.” Patient 81 (66-year-old man) “I think dialysis would be very restrictive to my quality of life. I am very active in my community and also love to travel and head bush whenever I like. At the moment I have a very unrestrictive lifestyle and want to keep it that way.” — Patient 83 (67-year-old man) |