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Hi Jeff,
John had a trasfusion goal of also. If his HGB was between 8 - 8.3, then his doc set him up for a transfusion....and it was always two units.
There were two times when he received more than the standard protocol. When he was first diagnosed his HGB was 5.5....he was hospitalized and transfused through the night. They gave him 4 units plus platelets.
The second was during treatment. Again he was hospitalized. He was bleeding a lot and needed more than two units.
Two things come to mind for your wife. One is to set a transfusion goal. They can vary from person to person depending on how they feel/handle a low HGB. Some do OK at 7, others at 9. Your wife and her doc need to figure what is appropriate for her. Once she reaches it, she should be scheduled for two units. This may require you to have more frequent CBCs to see how long she can go after a transfusion before reaching her goal. That way she won't drop to six and need more than two. She should also watch for signs that her HGB is getting low. How pale are the palms of her hands, headaches, fatigue, mental alertness, etc.
Second, it's pretty hard to get more than two units at a time in an outpatient setting because it can take 5 hours to get the two units in. So I can see why they would bring her back a second time.
At John's worse, he was getting red cells 2x week. It then spaced out to 1x/wk, to 2x/mo to 1x/mo to nothing.
John is in partial remisson from SAA with stable counts.
Hope this helps.
Marlene
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