My yougest sister Jaclyn was diagnosed with a Chronic Kidney disease about 1 year and 6 months ago. Her kidney failed rapidly therefore she has been on growth hormone shots for a year, a strict diet, and dialysis since December 2007.....she is only a 14 year old little girl and is forced to live an abnormal lifestyle.
I am writing this twist so others understand how life changing this bumpy road has been for not ony my sister but family as well.
According to the National Institute of Health, " When Kidney disease progresses it may eventually lead to kidney failure which requires dialysis and a kidney transplant to maintain life."
Before I get into the details of dialysis, let me first explain to you the difference between a healthy kidney and one that is failing.
A healthy kidney works by regulating your body water and other chemicals in the blood like: sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. It works by removing drugs and toxins that are either put or created in your body. Kidneys also release hormones into your blood which make you grow. It also regulates your blood pressure and creates red blood cells.
With that being said I bet you didn't know your kidneys are that important huh?!!?
Now what happens to a kidney that is failing (aka CKD or Chronic Kidney Disease)? The kidney is no longer able to clean your blood. Waste begins to build in your blood and you feel sick. This causes high blood pressure and low blood count. Having a weak kidney increases the risk of heart and blood vessel disease as well.
So now that you know the difference....how does the kidney become dysfunctional like that?
There are two leading causes of CKD which are Diabetes and high blood pressure.
Diabetes is when your blood sugar is too high. This causes damage to kidneys and heart as well as blood vessels and nerves.
High blood pressure is when the pressure of your blood against the walls of your blood vessels increase. This is the leading cause of heart attacks,strokes, and CKD.
NOW WHAT IS DIALYSIS!?!!
There are two types of dialysis for treatment of the kidney: Hemodialysis, which I will focus a little more on, and peritonal dialysis.
Both Hemodialysis and Peritonal dialysis filter your blood, they just have different ways of doing so.
Peritonal dialysis is done by inserting a tube into your stomach, which fills the lining of your abdomen with a cleansing liquid called dialysis solution. This solution helps get rid of all the toxins within your body. This type of dialysis is only about a 40 minute process for each session. Then the toxins exit your body through the tube that has been inserted.
I have more knowledge on Hemodialysis because that is the type of dialysis my sister is being treated on. So hemodialysis is a type of dialysis only used during the patients stage 5 kidney disease, which is when the kidney has failed. This dialysis is when the patient is connected to a large machine that basically acts as an artifical kidney. In order to become connected to this machine the patient must go through surgery.
There are 3 different options as to how the machine will become connected to the patients artery. Getting a fistula, graft, or catheter. (my sister has the catheter)
A Catheter conncetor looks like a large syringe attached to the outside of the patients body located near the collar bone. Attached to it is a tube that goes into a large vein in your neck which follows down to the patients heart. 
This catheter is then attached to the machine which circulates all the blood out of your body for cleansing, then stores it back. This is about a 4-5 hour process depending on the movent and the tube getting clogged. The patient must attend a minimum of 3 sessions a week in order to get proper cleansing. In addition, having a catheter restricts the patient from an water conact including showers, as well as any physical activity due to possibly puncturing the catheder.
Now a fistula. 
A surgeon creates a fistula by using the patients own blood vessels; an artery is connected directly to a vein, usually in the patients forearm. The increased blood flow makes the vein grow larger and stronger so it can be used for repeated needle insertions. This kind of access is the preferred type. It is preferred because unlike the Catheter, this patient is allowed to do almost any normal physical activity and is able to get in water.
A Graft, also connects an artery to a vein by using a sythetic tube. It doesn't need to develop as a fistula does, so it can be used sooner after placement. However, the graft is more likely to have problems with infection and clotting.
