Blood Transfusion Or Not? Posted: 06-03-04 06:38am
My dad has been admitted to the hospital
twice for blood transfusions in the last 3
months. He is 83 and has internal
bleeding that the doctors have narrowed
down to somewhere just below his duodenum,
but have no idea what the cause is yet.
His threshold for a blood transfusion is
80. We have a nurse going to his home
each monday to monitor his blood and in
the last 2 weeks he has dropped 10 points
and is now at a blood level of 87. My mom
is also 83 and very nervous that between
last monday and this monday he will go
below the 80 mark and will need to be
rushed into the hospital. My question is
quite simple--instead of getting a
requisition from the doctor, we want to
just take him to emergency so they can do
his blood (alot faster than waiting for
the results from the lab)and give him a
transfusion if necessary. It is very hard
on everyone when we have to do this in a
panic mode, and my dad is willing to
co-operate. Do you think the hospital
will think we are jumping the gun , or
will be happy to do this for us? We are
afraid they will put us at the bottom of
the list and be at the emergency ward all
day. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks, andrea
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2ferano
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 3717
Posted: 06-04-04 00:00am
I honestly do not know anything about
transfusions, but my advice would be to
call the emergency room and see what they
say. Of course, they will probably tell
you to call your family doctor, but you
can give it a shot.
