by Kenneson 15 Replies latest watchtower medical
Kenneson,
Thanks for the post. I hate mosquitos. Happy for the little boy! I am afraid that he will be turned into celebrity status soon on the cover of wt magazine though. I'm curious...600 cubic cm. is = _______________????? (in English measurement). Is that the amount of blood for a young boy that they considered safe to lose, or an adult? Thanks, dj
Kenn, thanks for posting this.
It shows that even the most professional medical opinion is still really nothing more than one man (or a select group of men) making their best prognosis (read fortune-telling) about "what will happen if you don't do it our way."
I had a similar, though non-critical, blood condition last winter (2002). My RBC was 5.5 (anemia) and the doctor told me that not all that many years ago he would have automatically sent me over to the hospital for a transfusion. Times have changed, and to his credit, he changed with the times. Less than 2 months later my RBC was back at 13 (took a bunch of iron pills...talk about constipation LOL).
Craig
I guess we have no math wizzes here...lol. I am not even sure if you can convert cu cm's into pints or ounces without converting onto cubic inches first...lol. What kind of a measurement of liquid is that anyway? I'll ask my 12 year old. Nevermind....lol.
DJ,
600 cc = 2 1/3 cups, I believe. (250cc=1cup) Adults have 6 liters of blood in them. Kids obviously less. Will have to look in my pediatric books to remember the exact amount!
Another way to look at it, when someone receives a "unit of blood" they receive 500cc. So, losing 600 cc of blood for that type of operation had probably minimal effect on the kid. Our bodies are wonderful machines that react to changes well. So his body would have been producing red blood cells like crazy to help compensate and there are other mechanisms the body goes through to rebuild for blood loss.
Hope this answers your question, didn't see it until now.
j2bf
Thanks Joy,
I was asking because my hubby needed 23 red cell transfusions and my jw family told me that he would have lived without them.......and they don't believe in miracles, huh? According to your math, my hubby had 11,500 cc's. Thanks again. dj
Robdar, I was reading your post on here and learned that a family member nearly bled to death due to a doctor. The same thing happened with my mom. Several years ago, she went in for "routine" surgery, to remove these large "saddle bags" (growths on the sides on her thighs, that she'd had since having children) Mom addressed the blood issue with him, explaining her beliefs, etc., and he said that "blood" would not even be an issue.
He was wrong. He failed to suture mom properly, sent her home the same day, and she woke up in the middle of the night drenched in blood and with a fever. She nearly died due to his "care". He had nipped an artery, and then closed her up. She bled internally and then the infection burst his sutures and all this blood came pooring out. My dad nearly had a heart attack himself having to face the situation in the middle of the night. She spent many days in intensive care, and then the blood issue really came to a head, because her blood count was extremely low. She was ready to leave this earth.
We came very close to losing her. Dad wanted to put a claim of malpractice in, but mom said a christian couldn't do that, or in any event, her own conscience would not permit her to do that. Aside from the fact that she nearly died, this "simple procedure" cost thousands of dollars for the additional time in the hospital and recovery.
Doctors make mistakes. We like to believe they are perfect or beyond failing. Humans make mistakes. The more important the issue, the more devestating such mistakes can be. The doctor was so very upset that this happened to my mom. He really thought he was going to be sued, I suppose.
Medical negligence is very difficult to prove. And, as I've learned the hard way, in order to sue a doctor, you have to have thousands of dollars up front to pay the "expert" witnesses who testify on your behalf. If you don't have that, the attorneys shew you out of their office and tell you to have a nice day.
