It's a limited life because if you're on the machine, you have to spend four to eight hours three days a week doing dialysis. You feel helpless because you always have to plan well in advance to organize your schedule around your extracurricular activities. My mother suffers from chronic kidney failure and has been on dialysis for over eight years. Having to see your features change, seeing the different changes in your body is heartbreaking. She lost a lot of weight and her complexion became very dark. She can't drink a lot of fluids and has to stay within a certain weight limit. Chronic kidney disease affects not only the individual, but also family and friends.