RICHARD BLOIR, 75, a patient at Renal Care Group’s Mesa, Ariz., facility, prefers the nightly method of dialyzing." You don’t feel it, there’s nothing to keep you awake," he says. "I sleep right through it."

Six years ago, doctors told Richard, a retired army officer and policeman, that he had about a year left of kidney function. After his Renal Care Group trainer explained the peritoneal dialysis options to him, he decided to have the surgery before his kidneys completely failed. "With peritoneal dialysis at night, I could dialyze at home, and it would give me the days free," he says.

He definitely prefers CCPD to his experience with hemodialysis. "I didn’t get along with hemodialysis. You always have to be on a schedule, you have to eat fewer things and drink fewer things."

When other patients ask him about PD, he tells them there’s nothing to be afraid of. "At no time does it hurt you. The only precaution you need to take is to be very careful about germs. The machine takes care of everything else."