Four years ago right now I was prepped for surgery, waiting to get knocked out for a four hour surgery to give me a third and far more functional kidney. If I hadn't had that surgery I might be dead by now, because dialysis is a postponement of death, not a clock stopper. Of the five patients who started when that clinic first opened, only one other person is still alive at this point in time, and several others who went there are also in the big sleep. This is normal for the process -- it's a tightrope medical procedure.