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Old Wed Jan 16, 2008, 08:24 PM
Wendy Beltrami Wendy Beltrami is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
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Hi Neil and all,

No, we don't have a preference and frankly never gave it much thought until recently. Grant is being "transitioned" from pediatrics to adult status. His last transfusions were done at a faster rate and using a bigger needle. He tolerated it well and it was a DREAM for us to finish about 2 hours faster than usual. However, when Grant questioned the nurse about why she was using a larger needle for his IV, she mentioned that a needle smaller than 20 could damage the blood product. Grant and I looked at each other and were somewhat horrified to think that he had been getting transfused for almost 2 years using a smaller needle and wondering how much product had actually been damaged in that process.
I flew home and googled a bit and found that for pediatric patients, it is common to use a 22 for rbcs and that it is fine as long as the infusion is slower. Still, it made me wonder... sometimes, depending on the nursing staff and the situation and how antsy Grant is getting by the time the 3rd bag comes along, the rate has been increased.
So, long story shorter... we are curious to see whether this last transfusion will last him a little longer since it was transfused using a larger needle.

I also read that platelets can sometimes be damaged if they are put on a pump instead of being fed by gravity. I think he has always had them gravity fed, but I am curious to hear from others and also to hear from someone who can address these issues.

I've mentioned this before, but I would really like to see a presentation at this year's conference from Red Cross or some large blood bank about freshness and irradiating, single donors vs. pooled donors and now also about needle sizes and infusion rates. Also, premedicating... why sometimes bags of platelets are SO much larger than others, differences in colors of platelets, etc. There are SO MANY questions that people have... These need to be people who REALLY know the answers, not just someone who works at the blood bank. It surprises me that hematologists often don't know the answers or never thought to even ask the questions and I'm not sure where to find the person that DOES know the answers to all these questions.

Wendy/mom to Grant.
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