Does anyone have experience of Blood Transfusions between relatives/friends?

[twange]

Hi, I hope I'm doing this right as I'm new to mumsnet.

My MIL is quite ill and aneamic. The doctor has told her a blood transfusion would really benefit her recovery but she is refusing as she is not keen as she doesn't trust that she won't be given a super bug in the process. Without a transfusion, if she recovers it might take about three years for her to get back to full health. As she is 83 this is a long time out of what she may have left. This led to a conversation with dp about 'could we give her our blood?'

Has anyone any experience of this??

It is much more risky to receive blood from friends or relatives than from the blood transfusion service. Two reasons - the blood transfusion blood is screened so so thoroughly for infections that statistically the risk of getting an infection from it is less than the risk of getting an infection from a transfusion direct from a friend or relative - the risk is absolutely tiny. Also the friend or relative's blood group may be incompatible with the blood group of the person who needs it - transfusing incompatible blood will make people very very sick - the blood from the transfusion service is carefully matched so as to ensure it is completely compatible - strange as it sounds matched blood from a stranger is safer than blood from a close relative as blood from a close relative may have some incompatible aspects and some identical aspects so you are more likely to have transfusion reactions from blood donated directly from a relative.
So basically as it is so much safer to have donated blood from the transfusion service than from friends or relatives, we don't offer this at all in the UK as the risks are too high

Blood these days are screened and there are very few health risks.

I couldnt have survived without transfusions and when I had them they made a huge difference to how I felt.

She needs someone to talk to her about they are safe. IF she got a superbug then it could easily be from other sources rather than the blood and I would encourage her to go ahead.

The transfusion usually takes about 2 hours per bag, with about an hour of settling in, talking, injection etc. Bu apart from the needle it is very painless, just boring

Thank you both for such great and informed responses.

I do think she is equally concerned about even visiting the hospital in question as regards catching a 'super bug' so it looks like, from what you've said, we should maybe look into the possiblity of finding a private hospital for the transfusion, but not concern ourselves about where the blood is donated from, as you've said.

Do you know, by any chance, if this is a normally 'done thing' either?? and any idea if would it be prohibitively expensive? Or can she just ask her doctor not to send her to this particular hospital, or even to contribute towards a private hospital?

We still need to encourage and convince MIL first so that she will then ask all of the right questions when she talks to her doctor.

Do you have a local 'community hospital'? Transfusions can often be done at much smaller hospitals.

If your MIL is very anaemic then her immune system may be compromised, making her more susceptible to infections anywhere she envmcounters them, including her own home.

Thanks bagel, yes we have a lovely local hospital, quite small and only for certain things i think. it's just we don't know if she can request certain hospitals or not. we'll ask her to ask what options are available to her when she next speaks to the doctor. Hopefully she will. I told dp what you said about her immune system and it puts a whole different slant on her thinking she's 'safe' if she doesn't go to a hospital. So thank you for that, we will run that past her when explaining the pros and cons.