Putting blood in storage pre-surgery?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
R

ross3

Is anyone putting aside some of their own blood pre-surgery in case it's needed?

My surgeons secretary says that he doesn't do this.

It seems like it'd be a good idea, but I'm somewhat reluctant to pursue something that the surgeon feels is unnecessary.

Opinions?
 
My surgeon encouraged me to do it. Then he didn't even need to use the blood.
 
Tyce had one of our relatives donate....same blood type....at the Red Cross Directed Donations. He didn't need it and the surgeon said he rarely asks for blood.

Ev
 
Hi Ross, I gave this answer to Stu on the Heart Talk forum when he asked about blood storage.
pamela said:
Hi Stu, I live too far away from the hospital to donate my own blood. My doctor was edgy about the entire blood storage issue anyway since my body was compensating for low flow by producing very high numbers of red blood cells. The way he explained it to me was that if I started to decrease my blood volume then I would experience an even greater rebound in red cell production. (I can't remember all of the details but there is a toxicity level you should be aware of).

There are ways to keep your volume up, post surgically, without needing whole blood or blood products, ask about those. Chances are if you need a transfusion, you won't have time to store enough blood to get you through much more than one time through and they'll need to use blood bank fluids to get you through it anyway.

I didn't need blood for any of my surgeries and I've had 17.

Take Heart,
Pamela.
Click to expand...
 
Autologous Blood Donation

Autologous Blood Donation

My surgeon was the one who suggested setting aside my own blood as an option. He certainly didn't think it was necessary and offered me two surgery dates - one relatively soon and another 6 weeks out so that I would have time to give two units (each two weeks apart) and regenerate a bit before surgery. I know the blood banks do a great job and have rigorous screening procedures but I figured I'd just go ahead and take the remote risk of getting a tainted unit of donated blood out of the equation. It was a bit expensive and my insurance didn't cover but I felt good about it anyway. It turns out they did give me a unit during surgery. I was also a bit anemic after surgery. My surgeon said ordinarily they wouldn't have bothered giving me blood from the bank with just slight anemia. But because I had an extra unit of my own he said I might as well have it. Athletes sometimes do this same type of "blood doping" and they do it for a reason. I didn't feel quite up to riding in the Tour de France after my little "blood doping" session, but I have to say I felt better and was ready to be discharged!
 
I set aside two units "just in case". I also discussed this with my surgeon and while he said he didn't anticipate the need, he also said it wouldn't be a bad idea if I did.

I checked into the hospital the day before my surgery for the obligatory cardiac cath testing and made sure my blood was in storage at the hospital.

If you do bank your own blood, you have a specific window to work with. Your donations will only be good for 45 days. You should have your last one done at least 2 weeks before your surgical date, and you'll have to time the blood draws so that you have 10 days to two weeks between them.
 
I wanted to self donate but my surgeon discouraged it. It was more about how bad I was feeling already and how my heart wasn't compensating well to begin with.

After surgery I needed 2 pints. Boy did I feel better after I got them. I still feel a bit uneasy about it but I'm happy to be here and happy for all those altruistic donors (as I was in the way past) who make our blood system work.

Many here haven't needed blood, everyone's different.

Peace,
Ruth
 
The nursing staff suggested one unit which I will be donating on 7/8 for a 7/15 surgery. Since the hospital is about 35 miles from my house, thank goodness I found that they will take the donation 3 miles from my house and get it to the hospital.
 
bicuspidboy said:
Well, while they do have much better screening of blood products these days, if you're able to do it, it may be a good idea. It reduces any chance of any additional risks. While these risks are very low (lower than your surgery risk) why not if it's available?

During my surgery, I was given lots of extra blood. I'm a fast bleeder so I lost a lot of blood during surgery - but I never considered this before hand. For any future surgeries, I would do this though. There a storage cost involved & logistical work to prep the hospital to know to have it on hand etc.
Click to expand...

I actually did it for spinal surgery in 1992- but it wasn't needed. They told me they recovered my blood during the surgery, cleaned it and reintroduced it to my body. This will also be done during my 7/15/08 surgery- so maybe I'll be good.
 
BackDoc said:
If you do bank your own blood, you have a specific window to work with. Your donations will only be good for 45 days. You should have your last one done at least 2 weeks before your surgical date, and you'll have to time the blood draws so that you have 10 days to two weeks between them.
Click to expand...

Since I was scheduled to donate a unit one week before surgery, you are saying that this is not a good idea?:confused:
 
the two week window was my understanding. The idea is that you don't want to go into the surgery anemic. Of course this can vary for different people. I don't think it's written in stone. Follow your doctors advice.
 
upchurch131 said:
Since I was scheduled to donate a unit one week before surgery, you are saying that this is not a good idea?:confused:
Click to expand...

I used to work in Blood bank and that is too close to surgery, it doesn't give your body enough time to replace the blood you took, so would be going into surgery anemic.
I THINK (it's been a while) you need at least 2 weeks before surgery. Did you make an appt? Do they know when your surg date is?
 
Lynlw said:
I used to work in Blood bank and that is too close to surgery, it doesn't give your body enough time to replace the blood you took, so would be going into surgery anemic.
I THINK (it's been a while) you need at least 2 weeks before surgery. Did you make an appt? Do they know when your surg date is?
Click to expand...

Yes, I gave them my date of surgery, talked about how it would get from the donation site to the surgery site- so that was clear. They said nothing about it being to close to surgery. I have a call in to the nurses right now. I probably won't donate then and take my chances.
 
upchurch131 said:
Yes, I gave them my date of surgery, talked about how it would get from the donation site to the surgery site- so that was clear. They said nothing about it being to close to surgery. I have a call in to the nurses right now. I probably won't donate then and take my chances.
Click to expand...

Update: I checked with both the surgeon's office and the donation center- they said that they will check the red cell count and determine if I will be able to donate. The week before surgery shouldn't be a problem, according to both.

May not be an issue anyway. I think I came down with an upper respiratory infection anyway. My GP will have to check me out today. Boy, that will screw things up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top