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Words to Know
Deceased donor kidney transplant
- surgery to give you a new
kidney from a healthy person who has just died.
Dialysis
- a treatment in which a machine removes harmful wastes
from your blood.
Donor
- a person who gives one of their organs to someone who
needs one. This person can be alive or dead.
End Stage Renal Disease
- a point in kidney disease where your
kidneys fail to work.
Hemodialysis
- a treatment in which a machine cleans your
blood by taking it out of your body through a needle in your arm,
running it through a cleaning machine, and then back to your body.
Hemodialysis can be done at home or at a center.
Kidneys
- small, bean-shaped organs on either side of your spine.
The kidneys’ main job is to take out waste from the body. They make
urine from this waste.
Kidney failure
- when your kidneys are no longer able to clean
your blood.
Kidney transplant
- when someone else’s kidney is placed in your
body through surgery.
Living donor kidney transplant
- surgery to give you a new kidney
from a healthy living person.
Medicare
- government health insurance for people who have
certain disabilities, who have end stage renal disease, or who are
65 years and older.
Nephrologist
- a doctor who treats kidney problems.
Peritoneal dialysis
- a treatment in which a special liquid is put into
your belly, and the lining of your belly helps clean your blood.
Recipient
- a person who receives a kidney from a donor.