Another thought ....

[KICKSTART]

Linked to my other thread about anemia and not being able to have iv iron , has anyone else been in this situation? Would you think it could go as far as a blood transfusion? Has anyone had one ? whats involved and how long does it take ?

[twirl]

I had to have two blood transfusions about 5 years ago due to anemia
that is all I can remember
had lost a lot of blood during a messed up colon exam

[glitter]

My husband has had two transfusions while on dialysis for why I cant remember, but it was somthing to do with his albuim maybe?

[Sunny]

I'm on a transplant list and one thing I remember distinctly is them telling me,"Do not get a blood transfusion if you can possibly help it."
I think it's because you can build up those dreaded antibodies and high PRA that make it tough to get a kidney match.

[Rerun]

I'm on a transplant list and one thing I remember distinctly is them telling me,"Do not get a blood transfusion if you can possibly help it."
I think it's because you can build up those dreaded antibodies and high PRA that make it tough to get a kidney match.

Exactly right Sunny.   

[kellyt]

Also, can't it change your blood type?   Or did I just make that up...

[stauffenberg]

It can't change your blood type, unless you were exsanguinated and filled entirely with someone else's blood type!  Interestingly, transfusions were first performed in the mid-1600s via an unsterile goose quill 'syringe' using blood from a sheep to replenish a human's blood supply.  The surpise is that while some patients died, others survived this procedure without developing either lethal septicemia or catastrophic problems from having animal blood flowing through their veins.  But in view of the deaths that occurred, the procedure was dropped until it was revived in the late 19th century.  Even then, the problem was that no one knew how to identify blood types, which were only established by the Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner in 1900, but somehow most patients survived.

[BigSky]

Its recommended if one is on the transplant list or thinks one day they may want to get on the transplant list, that if blood is needed that they only receive leukodepleted blood products.

[kellyt]

Then I guess I just made it up.      

[Loretta]

I have had quite a few blood transfusions.  I had several when I was first diagnosed with kidney failure.  I was in very bad shape at the time.  Later I had some more after I had one kidney removed.  I had a central line in my right groin.   At one point the conections came undone, and I bled all over the bathroom floor.  Later my IV line got caught on something and tore a hole in the line.  I again bled all over the floor.  I got one unit in my room, and the next day during hemo dialysis they gave me two more units.  I don't know what that would do for my chances for a transplant, but they were life saving procedures at the time.

[G-Ma]

Wow...I also didn't know about transf vs trans..I have had 5 transfusions since I have been on dialysis.