My father had a blood transfusion today due to low counts. This was not alarming, He has been through it before, though he never told me. I got a call from him, telling me that he was in the hospital and when I asked him what had happened, he told me that he had had heart failure.
I, of course, grilled him as to what the doctor had said to him about what had happened. The doctor told him that it could have a been several things, but "probably it was a preservative in the blood." I cannot get a straight answer and I can't bring myself to believe that it was a preservative when he had been given transfusions in the past (very recently, always at the same hospital).
I have to reach out to someone, because I'm scared. I had no contact with my father for 12 years because of differences between he and my mother, during which time my grandmother died from brain cancer. I don;t want to lose him to a stupid mistake, and that is all I can think of that has happened because the doctors wont give he or I a straight and proper answer.
I need help. Where do I go from here? What needs to be done, said, looked for, etc. so that this doesn't happen again. thank you.
Reply # - January 23, 2013, 08:27 PM
Reply To: heart failure during blood transfusions after
People can get some congestive heart failure when blood or fluid are given just a little faster than the heart can handle it. It happens and doesn't mean that he has been treated poorly. Often once the doctors know that a person is prone to this, they'll be especially careful about running fluids slowly or giving a diuretic between units of blood. It could just be that they're being cautious. I don't think you should presume that someone has done something terribly wrong.
-Dr. West