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critical anemia with UC-18 blood transfusions


Tue, June 18, 2019 1:09 PM

My spouse was diagnosed with UC in February this year - he is 65. He has been sick for 5 years, but misdiagnosed. He has now been in the hospital for 15 days and had 18 blood transfusions - he is still critically anemic. Surgery would be extremely dangerous for him with the anemia - two weeks on IV steroids, and Remicade. They FINALLY figured out the source of the bleeding and added enema treatments (not full enemas, but the medications are applied in the same manner). Unfortunately he was so critically anemic that the blood transfusions just are not doing a lot to bring up his numbers - hemoglobin around 7, and hematocrit around 120. There is a hospital that is the top in the state for GI issues, and I would like to transfer him there before he gets too weak. 

Has anyone experienced critical anemia with such a long (14 days and counting) hospital stay? He is not feeling ready for surgery, and I am not sure if I should really push for him to transfer to the other hospital, or continue the treatments (which aren't giving him much ground) where he is. Simply reasoning is hard for him due to the blood loss - but I don't want to make the decison unless he's on board.

FPO bjnsewu
Joined Jun 18, 2019

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