I'm on a kidney transplant list myself. I'm already aware there is a higher risk of cancer than the average population. But one had to live with the cards dealt in life so I have to accept that risk.
I'm also hoping for the success of the UCSF artificial kidney. They are in early stage testing in humans. https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney I think if you read up on it, there is a lot of opportunities for budding young bioengineers and material scientists to help improve on this technology. They build a precision pore size filter and coat it with human cells.
Reminds me of chemotherapy and countless other medical procedures. We do the best with what we've got. It's not like we're going to collectively say, "not going to do anything until we've come up with the perfect solution to this ailment." To an extent, I try to keep this in mind when arguing with the engineering devil on my shoulder that constantly shouts, "no, you have to do it right!"
I imagine your prognosis without a transplanted kidney is markedly worse.
I met up with a transplant patient at a seminar for candidates. Her kidneys were going bad 20 years ago but it was manageable. She ended up getting leukemia 10 years ago and went through the chemo. Then 5 years ago she got diabetes around the time she had to start dialysis. Then 2 years ago when she was about to get a transplant, they found out she had some heart issues due to the chemo treatment and needed some surgery. She finally got the kidney transplant beating all odds and now looks in great shape looking 10 years younger. I was greatly inspired by her journey.
Its possible to live reasonably long with dialysis if you don't have other health issues but yeah a kidney transplant is a lot better.
HaemoDialysis is miserable. You feel shit ~5 days out of 7, it's exhausting and depressing and it never gets better. Transplant is infinitely preferable if it's an option.
CAPD is arguably less miserable as a dialysis option but the day to day lifestyle is not exactly ideal
I have done both and did not get those side effects I only did HD for a few months and did CAPD for a year. PD is better if you can do it at home I manged to commute to London on PD.
Note HD is where they filter the blood directly, CAPD /PD is where you pump a saline solution inside you.
In the US, it varies between 2-10 years depending on location and blood type. Right now my best case is around 5 years of which I've accumulated 2 years.
I'm also hoping for the success of the UCSF artificial kidney. They are in early stage testing in humans. https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney I think if you read up on it, there is a lot of opportunities for budding young bioengineers and material scientists to help improve on this technology. They build a precision pore size filter and coat it with human cells.