? @ giving your own blood for the surgery

[Hollyett]

My valve replacement surgery is scheduled for Mon. Frb 27th. I gave 1 unit of my blood (for myself, through Lifesource) last week and I have to give another unit this coming Saturday. My surgeon recommended it.
They are having me take Iron supplements as well.
We shall see if it gets used....

 

[Turkey Hunter]

I did not give my own blood early, yet I never had any blood transfusions.
They returned my own blood to me (out of the heart lung machine) after I was in ICU.

It would still be a great idea to give your own !!

Ben

 

[KristiinSD]

Blood info

Blood info

Blood lasts 42 days and your own blood is not given to other people if not used. Because I had my surgery rescheduled, my blood was wasted. They will not even use if for research.

Kristi
mitral repair 11/30/05

 

[Jkm7]

Because my surgery was emergency following a heart attack, I did not have the option of self-donation.

I received one unit during surgery and another in CICU following surgery. Like others here, I became anemic.

 

[JeffO]

I did

I did

I self donated a pint and it was used. Had no anemia following surgery and no complications. One odd thing was that they charged me $193 for my own pint. And it was the only thing my insurance did not cover. If I had not donated a pint, but had needed one, I would not have been charged for it. Go figure. Not that I'm complaining - I got more than my money's worth.

Jeff

 

[Destinova]

For my mitral valve replacent surgery I banked 3 units of blood, took iron supplement and all 3 units were used during the surgery.

I banked my own blood through choice, on the recommendation of the surgeon mostly because I did/do not trust the safety of blood products (hepatitis/HIV). For a time in Canada donated blood did not receive adequate testing for either of those diseases. The situation has changed and all blood is adequately tested now. Even so I would still bank my own.

Cheers

My surgeon here in Edmonton said that banking is no longer possible. He flat out said, 'Not going to happen.' when I asked about it.