Called the blood bank about my second donation, scheduled for a week from today. My husband and various friends have offered to donate on my behalf since I am still bruised and can’t bend or fully straighten my arm. Add to that the fact that my thumb is immobilized and I can’t squeeze my left hand (and there are no useable veins on my right arm), I’m kind of in a bind.
Turns out they barely got enough extra blood from me to do the tests they normally do. However, they DID get enough to tell me that I’m O positive. That’s the rarest blood type (OF COURSE!) so that none of my friends can donate. Perry is AB positive, for example; no go. I need someone who is either O positive or O negative and who can prove that, meaning they have a donor card. Nobody I know fits those parameters.
So I am going to bite the bullet and continue hydrating at this point … if I can get through the blood donation the surgery should be cake.
4 comments:
Shelley -
I'm scared out of my mind. I'm trying to "think positive" but I am generally a pessimist so ... you get what you get with me. I will probably undermine myself because I have a bad attitude, but I am already fed up with doctors, the health care system, "one size fits all" medicine, and a host of other things. I am not in a lot of pain now so it's not like things are going to be better for me right away - I know they will be worse. I'm doing this as a preventive measure and that makes it less gratifying in many ways. The people who have been in excruciating pain and "get their life back" post surgery are lucky. I don't feel that way. My life is going to suck for the next year.
I'll assume you've read about my experience at Tacoma General regarding my autologous blood ... be very clear to everyone in pre-admit that you've donated your own blood and give them the proper paperwork. And when they begin giving your transfusion, make sure the nurses know you donated your own so they don't pull it from the blood bank.
Sorry you're having a hard time with all of the pre-surgery stuff. It really was harder than the actual recovery!
Cass -
Thanks, I did read about your experience at Tacoma General and I will do everything I can to avoid a repeat!
And wow, I was having a bad day yesterday when I replied to Shelley. Feeling more positive today, but glad I didn't censor myself. This blog is about the good, the bad and the ugly.
Terri
Terri, I've been following (and enjoying) your blog and I wish you didn't have to go through this donation again - or the hip surgery, for that matter! I'm also O positive (it's actually a quite common blood type, almost 40% of the population has it, but the universal donor, O negative, is pretty rare). If I could ship it from Chicago to you I would! - Pam
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