Blood Donations

[loves to skate]

Jennifer and Debbei,
You have to be at least one year out from major surgery and from receiving someone else's blood. That is to make sure you haven't picked up a bloodborn disease from the donor blood, which of course is very rare these days. They don't even ask you about the implants.
Sally

[JenniferG]

Thanks Sally.

[debbei]

Jennifer and Debbei,
You have to be at least one year out from major surgery and from receiving someone else's blood. That is to make sure you haven't picked up a bloodborn disease from the donor blood, which of course is very rare these days. They don't even ask you about the implants.
Sally

Yes, thanks Sally. I will call right after my 1 year date. They always used to be after me for my blood. I've got O-, plus something-or-other negative as well which they say they really need. Actually, my whole family is the same blood type; that's how hubby & son donated for me.

I sure know what I'm talking about, don't I?

[loves to skate]

Yes, thanks Sally. I will call right after my 1 year date. They always used to be after me for my blood. I've got O-, plus something-or-other negative as well which they say they really need. Actually, my whole family is the same blood type; that's how hubby & son donated for me.

I sure know what I'm talking about, don't I?

You surely do Debbei. You are a universal donor and that is why they were always after you. The reason they need you is many Oneg women built up antibodies during pregnancy if their baby was Rh positive, at least before the advent of RHoGam, so if they subsequently need a blood transfusion, they need to receive Oneg blood that is also negative to the antibody they developed several years ago. They will be happy to have you back.
Sally

[loris]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I finally got a call back from his surgery coordinator and she said that it is not in my orders to donate prior to surgery. So i guess i can stop worrying about that now. I also just found out that they did not put in my surgery order to insure that there is no latex products used in my surgery. OMG it would be horrible if they used latex on me during the surgery.

[Vali]

Hi Loris,

When the nurse and anaethetist do the pre-op check, they will ask you if you're allergic to latex and any of the dressings they intend to use on you.
I have an allergy to a lot of dressings (sticky) and can only have hyperfix.
You'll be fine.

[fierceliketiger]

3 weeks before my first surgery I did something called a "Double-double red cell" autologous donation. I had lost a rather large amount of weight in the months before, and I guess the blood center used my "old" weight to calculate the body mass needed to do it. Needless to say, I very nearly passed out and they had to stop the donations 3 times during the course. I ended up having to take a fairly high dose of iron pills to get to where it was safe for surgery. After my anterior surgery (2 weeks after the first) I ended up needing more blood than anticipated. The blood bank was determined not to use any family or friends and said it was "safer" to use blood bank blood because of the antibodies. Something about how if you are exposed to certain antibodies the people around you probably are as well, and it is better to get blood with different antibodies. I had never heard of that before, but they assured me the blood bank blood would be safe...(of course there is always a risk).

[loves to skate]

Dear Fierce,

Yes, there is always a risk, but that risk is extremely small. The reason the blood bank I worked for didn't like to take directed donors was because of the risk of your family members and friends not wanting to say no to you even though they might be in a high risk group that shouldn't donate. In other words, they might not want you to know certain thinks about themselves, so they agree to donate and then might lie to the person interviewing them for a donation.

Also, if you get a donation from your husband and he has a positive antigen for something you are negative for, you could possibly develop an antibody to that antigen. If you subsequently get pregnant, the baby could inherit that antigen from your husband, in which case, your antibody could attack the developing baby. The prime example is the Rh antigen for which there is now RhoGam shots for the mother to absorb her antibodies before they can harm the baby. There are many antigens on human red blood cells. This is probably what the blood bank was trying to explain to you about antibodies. Is this still clear as mud?

Sally