I gave two units for my first hip surgery but the Blood Donor group
decided that everyone with a history of 'heart trouble' had to have a
letter of clearance from their doctor. Mine flatly refused saying that
was BS so I went in w/o blood back up on the second hip. They used 'cell
saver' technique which washes and reuses the blood lost and oddly enough
my hemoglobin was higher with the second hip than with the first. I
didn't have a transfusion of 'foreign' blood in either surgery but
everyone is different. I wouldn't worry about having a transfusion
though as reactions are rare these days. Good luck Gigi. I think you'll
do well. BTW I'm 76 years old so my prostheses will probably outlast me.
LOL!

Bud

What surgery are we talking here? I had a transfusion post-op following
my first hip replacement, but with my aplastic anaemia I had already had
transfusions (not very many, relatively) up to that point.

I think you should request single donor, filtered, irradiated, CMV
negative cells. The CMV negative part is only important if you're CMV
negative (most of the population over 40 is CMV positive).

Ari

On Mar 29, 2:55 pm, Gigi wrote:

I made 2 1-pint pre-surgery donations in 2000 for my THR.  Suppose
I'll do the same this year when I have to opposite hip replaced.

I did not need a transfusion.  But I think I went in knowing that my
own blood was there, on standby, in case it was needed.  One less
thing to worry about in surgery.

The local blood bank has a "gallon club" which guarantees free blood
from other members if ever needed.  I'm a 5-gallon member.  Should be
10 gallons but I was black-listed 1984 to 1999 because of arthritis.
The FDA later removed arthritis from its list of "do not donate."

When I had back surgery, they gave me 2 pints. Friends came to the hospital and donated blood in my name, and my father halfway across the country arranged for his 5-gallon credits to credit my "blood account".

I don't think they were doing autologous self-donations much then, in 1979.
 Hello,

 The nurse just called me, my surgery will be June 6th, pre-op May 29th, I have a question again, she told me I need to give two units of blood prior the surgery, I was told a week ago that I was anemic, so her response was that I also had the option to use the blood bank, I told her yes.
 Does any of you who had the surgery done, had to have a transfusion?
 The clock is ticking, and the anxiety growing, but she also told me, to be very active with the recovery, and do everything that need to be done.

 Thank you for listening.

 Gigi.