6 Years
Nia is 19
6 Years
Nia is 19
Today is Nia’s 19th birthday. She attends the local college and wants to be a music teacher. Nia continues get exchange transfusions every month. She has not had a pain crisis since she was 16.
You will spend a half or full day at the clinic every time you get a transfusion.
It takes time for you to get blood tests, to wait for the blood to be prepared, and to get the transfusion.
There are different types of blood transfusions. Your doctor will know which is best for you.
Simple transfusion
- It takes 2 to 3 hours.
- You get an IV tube placed in your arm.
- You get new blood (blood from a donor) through this tube.
- None of your own blood is removed.
- This is not a surgery. You will be awake.
Full exchange transfusion
- It takes 3 to 4 hours.
- You will be connected to a machine.
- The machine takes out some of your blood and gives you the same amount of new blood (blood from a donor).
- This is not a surgery. You will be awake.
Partial exchange transfusion
This is similar to a full exchange, but less blood is exchanged. Your doctor will decide if you need a full exchange or a partial exchange.
- It takes 2 to 3 hours.
- You will be connected to a machine.
- The machine takes out some of your blood and gives you the same amount of new blood (blood from a donor).
- This is not a surgery. You will be awake.
You may need a central line.
- A central line is a thin flexible tube that is placed in a large vein in the neck, chest, or groin area.
- Usually, this line is buried under your skin and can be accessed with a needle.
- It is also called a central venous access catheter or a port.
- It makes it easier to draw blood and give medicine.
- People can sometimes have a pain crisis when a central line is placed in their body.
Blood transfusions give you healthy red blood cells from a donor.
- This is not a bone marrow transplant.
- Your stem cells also keep making some sickle cells, but you get so many healthy red blood cells from the donor that your sickle cells do not cause problems.
- The transfused red blood cells do not block your blood vessels like your sickled blood cells.
- The transfused red blood cells are not hard and sticky like your sickled blood cells.
Sickle cells are red blood cells in the wrong shape.
Healthy red blood cells are round and flexible. But when someone has sickle cell disease, their red blood cells bend in the shape of a sickle.
- Sickle cells are hard and sticky. They clump together and get stuck in blood vessels.
- Sickle cells do not last as long as healthy red blood cells.
You have different types of blood cells:
- Red blood cells carry oxygen to all the other cells in your body.
- White blood cells fight germs. They are also called immune system cells.
- Platelets help your blood clot (stop bleeding) when you have a cut.