Hello Ladies
I'm a great believer that if I can take the fear out of any part of our treatments by sharing details it's a good thing to do.
Yesterday I had my first ever blood transfusion. I've become anaemic due to my chemo and my Oncologist decided I needed a transfusion.
Daft thing is I donated blood for years (46 units) until I was diagnosed with Graves disease, a thyroid condition, back in 2003 which meant I had to give up donating and missed out on my 50th award!
Anyway I digress...... I arrived at the chemo suite. Had some bloods taken for analysis and cross matching. The staff nurse instructed the junior nurse to hand it directly in to the lab workers. It seems the lab want samples just put in the box outside and they'll be dealt with in fullness of time but the chemo suite's bloods affect the speed at which treatment is given obviously. The staff nurse said if there's any trouble to let her know and she's go down to sort them out!
Had blood pressure, pulse, temperature and weight details taken. The nurse inserted a canula and found perfect vein first time! Had to wait over an hour for the results to come back then a nurse collected the blood which arrived in a sealed red box.
The unit of blood was hooked up and took 2 hours to finish. I couldn't feel anything abnormal, it just seemed strange to me that I was receiving someone else's blood for which I thank them. Never for moment though when I donated blood one day I'd be in need of it.
All in all took about 5 hours!
I was given tea, biscuits and lunch by the lovely volunteers, one of whom was a lovely lady aged 93! The nurses were more concerned that she'd keel over as she tottered about.
Anyway, thought I'd let you know f you need a blood transfusion, there's nothing to worry about, it's easy.
Big hugs, Barb xx
My level had gone down from 140 to 82 and I was feeling dizzy and generally fragile. Feel so much better today so thank you anonymous donor!
It's hard when no-one listens when you tell them about constant bleeding, so ay ladies on here have suffered that. Thankfully for you someone finally listened and you're getting sorted though probably not in the way you expected.
Big hugs, Barb xx
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