Polycystic Kidney Disease is an inherited disorder which leads to clusters of cysts to develop primarily within the kidneys, causing kidney enlargement and a loss of function over time. PKD eventually leads to kidney failure.

For Ginger, kidney failure occurred in November of 2023 and she has been on Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) since then. During PD, a cleansing fluid called dialysate passes through a catheter tube into part of the abdomen known as the peritoneal cavity. The dialysate absorbs waste products from blood vessels in the lining of the abdomen and then the fluid is drawn back out of the body through the catheter and discarded. Currently, Ginger is on a nightly dialysis regimen of 4 cycles of 2000 mL each, with each cycle taking about 1.5 hours. Altogether, the total time for PD is 8 hours, which can fortunately be done overnight while she sleeps, leaving her days open for daily activities.