Sleep

Everybody sleeps differently. Some stay in one position all night, while others toss and turn all night. Some prefer to sleep on their back while others like their side or stomach. Up until I learned of my kidney failure, I preferred to sleep on my stomach. After starting hemodialysis I had to sleep on my side. Didnt matter which side, but with a port in my neck/chest area I couldnt sleep on my stomach at all. Sure I could have slept on my back but I have never been able to do that unless on a hammoc with a gentle breeze blowing me.

After I started Peritoneal Dialysis I could only sleep on my left side. Somehow on my right side it would interfere with my dialysis machine and all kinds of alarms would go off. I would then have to wake up, reset the machine, and then make sure I fell asleep on my left side. Sometimes I would hook up to the machine early and read or watch tv for a while. I would then go to sleep on my left side but would wake up when the dialysis was complete, unhook from the machine, and then go back to sleep on my right side.

Post transplant I cant go to sleep on my stomach as it feels weird. What is weirder is after sleeping mostly on my left side for almost 2 years, I now can only fall to sleep on my right side. Now that it is getting colder, my wife's dog likes to snuggle up behind the bend of my leg to stay warm. Of course I have also had to learn not to roll over in the middle of the night without waking the dog first.