The last thing I did at the BMT Clinic yesterday was to get a blood test with type and cross for a blood transfusion today. Since I was now at a different clinic, I had to convince the lab technicians that they should take more vials of blood for the blood bank to match the extra antibodies that I have in my blood. I worked about 3 hours this morning and called the clinic to confirm that they had the blood for me. Again, I had to insist that they check with the blood bank to assure that they actually had the blood. So when I got to the clinic at 12:30 pm, I knew the blood was waiting.
But the nurse told me that they could not give me blood because my hemoglobin was at 9.1 yesterday and not below the 9.0 level the doctor had ordered. Again, I insisted that they check with the doctor since my hemoglobin was probably already below 9.0. I even pulled up my history of hemoglobin change on my laptop, showing that my hgb dropped at least one point per week and would be too low by the time I entered the hospital and they got me blood next week. I didn't need to talk to anyone else before they took me to a new area for the transfusion.
The first nurse tried two times to get the IV inserted and then passed responsibility over to another who did it on the first try. The BMT Clinic seems to transfuse blood at a faster rate so I was finished by 4pm just in time to stop by the pharmacy to pick up some Lovenox. This was my 42nd transfusion and 85th unit of rbcs.
In preparation for insertion of the central line on Tuesday, I need to be off of my Coumadin blood thinner. I am now back to giving myself injections of Lovenox twice a day. Coumadin takes about 5 days to clear my system while Lovenox takes less than a day. I can stop the Lovenox injections one day and have the surgery to insert the central line the next.
It has been a long week with at least 15 appointments. I have also been into work three times though worked less than 8 hours total. I still need to make it in one last time to clean up some of my files. I am looking forward to my last weekend before going in for the BMT
1 comment:
I as donor have it easy. They took me off aspirin, and put me on Tylenol instead.
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