Transfusions

I wrote not long ago about my insurance company being a pain and not letting my have my TVH/BSO on the 12th like scheduled. Instead I had to have a DNC and hysteroscopy. Well this beats all; I'm still bleeding after the procedures on Monday and received a call from the insurance company today. They have approved my Hysterectomy. Only 4 days late, I could be on the other side of this procedure. Anyway at least they have finally approved it! THANK GOD! I have been doing a lot of praying and it finally worked out!

My hemoglobin was a 9 on Monday and I'm terrified they'll want to do a transfusion when they actually do surgery, hopefully next week. They told me I am a 9 and that is borderline and usually they do transfusions at 8. Has anyone else had to have a transfusion? I guess I'm scared to have one and scared not to have one. I am so tired from loosing so much! Are they as big of deal as I think? I saw several people in recovery on Monday getting blood too. I guess they screen it better for AIDS than they use to, but it still scares me! Any thoughts? I don't have any of my family close by or I could ask them, I believe my brother and I have the same blood type.

I was so ready for this last week and disappointed when it didn't come through, now I'm back to worrying about it. I guess my husband is right; I'm just a worry wart.

Thank you for all your help, this website is the greatest!

When you go in for your surgery they will most likely do another hemaglobin there and also draw blood for a type and cross match in case you need a transfusion. If your count is indeed lower they very well may give you a transfusion during surgery or possibly they might even cancel your surgery, give you a transfusion and recheck it again. There are several options. Doctors handle things differently and the patients have a choice also. So it is hard to say exactly what might happen. I would give your doctors office a call and ask about this, so you have some idea before the day you go in for surgery.

Blood transfusions are something like 99.7 % safe as far as transmission of HIV, hepatitis and STD's. I think they have just this last year or so come out with a screen for Hepatitis C also. When a donor gives blood all these things are checked and if there is a sign of any of these, the blood is thrown out. It would be great to have a donation from a family member but that rarely works out well as it takes at least 4 days for it to be processed and ready to give after it is donated. It's not like the old shows where the two people are in beds next to each other and ones blood goes right over to the others. There still is a chance of an allergic reaction getting a blood transfusion (you may have antibodies built up agianst someting in the other person's blood) but you are watched VERY carefully as the transfusion is begun and during it for any sign of this. It happens but isn't the norm.

Now after stating all that, after my second surgery my count was low enough for a transfusion of two units. I had been low before the first surgery and iron brought me up to normal. I was low again after the first surgery but not as low as the seoncd surgery, but again iron brought me back up. So I refused the transfusion and the doctor agreed (if I had been a bit lower I would have done it) since I knew I had a good record with the iron. I now wish I had done it. I mainly refused because my IV was out already and would need another one, and I knew it meant staying in the hospital another 8 hours and I was ready to go home otherwise. It has made my recovery slower as it has been harder to bounce back. Part of that was a second surgery but the other part was going through recovery with such a low count.

Hope this helps. You really need to discuss this with your doctor before you go in for surgery. He can tell you how he feels about it and what he probably would intend to do and might give you the option of some choices also.

Linda >^..^<

Hi--I worry about this too. My surgery is scheduled for May 28th. My blood counts are low too but mine is due to chemotherapy I had last year due to breast cancer. My Hgb is 11 though so I am hoping to scrape by the transfusion. I spoke with the director of blood services here for our hospital and he said they very rarely transfuse for hysterectomies. He also said he personally felt very safe with the blood supply. I thought about direct donation but I am O- and it is hard to find among friends and family.
I am just going to go for it and hope for the best. This director also told me his wife was anemic and not responsive at all to iron. She took sublingual B12 which helped dramatically. So I went to the health food store yesterday and got a bottle to try before surgery to see if it helps.

Good luck with your surgery.

I had to spend 3 days in the hospital after a massive hemmorage and had no choice but to accept 3 pints of blood and that scared the heck out of me And here i am after 3 weeks and I am still so very tired It is all I can do to get through my day and in two weeks I go in for the LAVH/BSO not sure what to expect from this either as I want my energy back, My mom says hey find some humor in that you got someone elses blood you may have some Italian in ya now or something Gee thanks mom lol
( So if I start talking with an accent yall will soon know as well )
Thinking maybe I will call my doc to have my checked since I am so tired and find out if there is anything else that I can take as well

Good Luck to you !
Aj