The above video gives an informative look at blood. Although short, it captures the importance of blood in maintaining vitality. Many (myself included) depend on blood products from other people and that dependence increases at a rate of 6% each year, according to the American Red Cross.
Thank you to those who are able to donate.
To [...]
Over the last two weeks I’ve received five transfusions total, three last week and two this week.
At my most recent visit the doctor explained to me we’re approaching “crunch time,” if my body is responding to the ATG my blood counts should move closer to normal over the next few weeks.
A basketball coach once told [...]
Last Tuesday I received three transfusions—-two units of platelets and one unit of red blood cells. It’s still too early to tell if the ATG is working. The first round of treatment was 41 days ago, as mentioned before 120 days is generally when the doctors have an idea of the serum’s effectiveness.
Last week, at the clinic it started with a question. Does a transfusion dependent person need a type-and cross every three days or four? A type and cross is a blood test to determine the best blood for a patient prior to transfusion. The doctor said four days. Settled. That test would not be necessary [...]
I’ve developed an enemy since my diagnosis, he’s sleek, shiny, a real hot shot. He looks like a dream but when it comes to work, he’s a lazy S.O.B. Always missing spots, leaving just a little something behind, never going the extra mile, you know the type. This morning we battled for 30 minutes before [...]
It’s 3 a.m. in the 5th floor of the hospital I’ve called home for the last three days. It’s dark, it’s quiet andI have to make a run to the bathroom. But I can’t. My medication leaves me in an altered state of mind, it leaves me dizzy. If I fall I could bleed, my body doesn’t have much blood to spare. I press [...]
By now its no news that I have a PICCLine in my right arm. But yesterday it became the key player in another example of mindless protocol in healthcare. With healthy quantitites of blood being drawn at least three times a week, without the PICCLine I would be subjected to a phemonenal quantity of needle sticks. So, its [...]
A. Anemia News
