Your first haemodialysis session, explained minute by minute
What happens from arriving at the unit to walking out four hours later, and what the machine is doing while you sit there.
- Arriving, weighing, and what dry weight actually means
- Connecting: fistula needling versus catheter, and what each feels like
- The prescription: blood flow, dialysate, session length and fluid removal target
- The two common problems, low blood pressure and cramping, and how staff manage them
- What you can do during the session
- Coming off, weighing again, and how you may feel that evening
- What to eat and drink before the next one
Primary keyword: what happens during dialysis
Ventilators and weaning: what families most want to know
How mechanical ventilation works, why sedation is needed, what weaning involves and why a tracheostomy is often good news.
- What a ventilator does and, importantly, what it does not do
- Why patients are sedated, and why they seem more awake on some days
- The ladder of respiratory support from oxygen to full ventilation
- Weaning: how it works, how long it takes, and why setbacks are normal
- Tracheostomy: why it is usually a plan for recovery rather than a bad sign
- What families can do at the bedside that genuinely helps
Primary keyword: ventilator explained family
The cost of critical care in Nigeria, and how families can plan for it
What drives the daily cost of intensive care and dialysis, what HMOs typically cover, and the conversations worth having early.
- What actually drives the daily cost: nursing ratio, drugs, consumables, organ support
- Why dialysis is a recurring cost rather than a one off
- How HMO cover typically treats intensive care and dialysis, including caps
- Pre authorisation in an emergency and how it is handled after the fact
- Questions to ask the hospital finance desk on day one rather than at discharge
- Where transplantation changes the long term financial picture
Primary keyword: cost of ICU in Nigeria
What an ICU bed actually means, and why there are so few in Lagos
An intensive care bed is a staffing ratio, not a piece of furniture. What that means for capacity across Lagos and for families searching for a place.
- Why an ICU bed is defined by nursing ratio and monitoring, not equipment
- The difference between an ICU, a high dependency unit and a monitored ward bed
- Why capacity across Lagos is limited and what that means practically
- How to search efficiently when a relative needs a bed tonight
- What to ask before accepting a bed at any unit
Primary keyword: ICU bed availability Lagos
Every article here is reviewed by our clinical team against current national guidance and international critical care standards before publication, with the review date shown on the article. It is written to help you understand what is happening and ask better questions, and it is never a substitute for the team at the bedside.
