I’ve started a short story featuring a blood transfusion for a 7 year-old boy. I have a couple of questions I wondered if anyone could help with. 1. What kind of injury might cause this? I was thinking some kind of bicycle accident, but I know it would have to be a bad one. Otherwise something else that a young boy would be likely to get into. 2. What would be the timeline of the transfusion? How long would it take to get the blood, how long for the operation and how long for him to wake up? Thanks in advance!
As the recipient of a few blood transfusions, maybe I can help: 1. Any injury with extensive bleeding would qualify, except internal bleeding. I was hit by a car, resulting in two broken thighbones that penetrated the skin, causing a lot of blood loss. Other kids might have been cut after falling on something sharp, or being shot or stabbed by someone. I read a story somewhere about a girl who fell down a hill and was impaled on a piece of fence at the bottom of the hill, and that seemed to be a likely scenario. I'm sure you could ask about any EMT or emergency ward staffer and get a dozen similar ones. 2. Once medical help arrived, and assuming that the appropriate medical centers were nearby, the timeline would be pretty short. In fact, if the ambulance had O-negative blood on board or handy, the transfusion would be immediate, since any patient can receive that particular type. Or he might be given plasma. Otherwise, the kid would have his blood typed en route to the hospital, and the necessary supply would be waiting for him when he arrived.
That’s really helpful, thank you. At the moment, the doctor tells the boy’s dad when they’re at the hospital that he needs the transfusion. Is there no way that would happen? Could they assess the injuries first and then decide its needed, or is it definitely that they’d know by the time he got to the hospital? Also, once he has the transfusion, how long afterwards would he wake up? Or, how long would the operation take?
I think it's just a pretty simple procedure, not an operation, and that he would be awake the whole time. The transfusion, that is. Whatever caused the blood loss might call for an operation.
Returning to add: If you're looking for something abrupt that might call for a transfusion, without the kid character being tied up in medical plots forever after, you could research favism. A very quick Googling suggests that the ingestion of fava beans by a sensitive person could lead to them needing a transfusion. Don't take my word for this! Edited to add possibly relevant links: https://www.hematology.org/Thehematologist/Diffusion/8304.aspx http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/122/17/2933?sso-checked=true
Haha. Thanks! For context, the idea is that it starts with him needing a blood transfusion. The dad gets upset as his son is all he has left after his wife died 3 years ago. Already I can see that a transfusion isn’t that bad, but maybe it sounds very serious when the dad is told? It can’t just be an operation because he needs to find out that there is no way his son is actually his. Hence the blood transfusion story. It’s only a short story but the plan is the dad gets very upset and leaves the hospital, has a talk with his brother etc etc. Eventually he decides he’s still his dad no matter what, and that he will tell him but not now. And it ends with him being back at his son’s bed as he wakes up, and saying “I’m here son.”
I don't know how easy it is to diagnose favism, so maybe the kid could be severely anemic for no apparent reason, and the father could be freaked out for a while about that. But that doesn't produce the asleep thing...
I think I’d rather he had a bicycle accident or something. Perhaps as well as the transfusion he might need surgery on a broken leg?
Do you even need a transfusion, or do you just need to know his blood type? I suspect that "know his blood type" is a much broader range of possibilities.
Yes you’re right, I just want a way for his blood type to be revealed. It’s just the only thing I could think of! I’d certainly be open to other suggestions. I also like opening with dramatic news, the dad finding out his son needs a transfusion- it sets him to thinking about how his son was the only thing that kept him going when his wife died and how he couldn’t bear to also lose him. Although it does now seem that actually a blood transfusion might not even be the right thing here- maybe opening with news he needs an operation would be better? But then how do I get the blood type in?
Kid's smash through sliding glass doors that are too clean and not seen. That is a common reason for serious bleeding. You have to lose a lot of blood before you'll get a blood transfusion. It would take lacerating a large artery in the arm or leg to bleed enough to need a transfusion. Medical providers are a lot more conservative now about transfusions. You get very weak but you have to lose well over half your blood to actually pass out. Otherwise I'm not understanding the "waking up" part of the OP, it's not really an "operation". Once in the ED the person would get fluids right away and might even get those in the Medic Unit before getting there. For an urgent blood transfusion a '10-minute type and cross' is done otherwise a more thorough matching procedure is done. just called a 'type and cross'. It doesn't take that long, maybe a half hour. Lots of things affect the timing especially if the blood is not already in the hospital. It might have to be sent from the blood bank. Unless you were seriously hypovolemic, you might not get a blood transfusion right away. The doctors would wait until your blood equilibrates and the actual hematocrit can be checked. Less than 29, you would likely get a pint of blood. When you first bleed, your blood pressure drops but your hematocrit is normal. Then the body shifts fluid into the bloodstream and your hematocrit drops and the blood pressure rises. Sorry, TMI I know.
No that’s useful information, thank you! As for the ‘waking up’, that’s just because I clearly have no idea about medical matters . I think an operation would make more sense, but I need there to be a reason for the blood group to be known. Unless there’s another way it could come out that they’re not related.
Not sure who's "not related" but a blood transfusion works nicely. Have the parents (or whoever) donate blood or offer to in order to find out there isn't a proper match. This is a good source to pick blood types for your characters: Blood Types Tutorial
I've done that (I derped a couple of times). Though I have never actually broken one, so them chillins must have been moving pretty fast to actually break one. However, there may some factors to take into account in such a case, between the kid and the structural integrity of the glass door. I think that bit of science is a bit extreme, and maybe we should test the plate glass used in said doors to ensure they are sturdy enough for such accidents. (Sorry to be contemplating the safety of sliding glass doors, just found it an interesting idea.)
And they can't figure out why we don't take safety seriously. The titles just don't instill a sense of seriousness to the implied risks.
Thanks- the dad finds out he isn’t actually his son’s dad. The mum is dead. In the story as I have it, the doctor tells the dad his son needs a transfusion and asks if he knows what blood type the son is. The dad says no but he knows his and his late wife’s so he tells those. The son is tested and then it comes out that he can’t be biologically related to the dad.
point of note you wouldn't find out that you aren't your sons dad just because your blood type is different - you'd hasve to also know the mothers blood type (and have a basic knowledge of such things) to realise that you couldn't be the father based on blood type like for example if your blood type is O and your wife's is B but your son is blood type A then you aren't the father (assuming your wife is definitely the mother), but if you don't know what your wife's blood type is just your son being A isn't enough to realise since he could be yours if your wife is A of course if you are O and the child is AB then it isn't yours but how many people know that, or for that matter even know their own blood type ? there's a chart here https://canadiancrc.com/Paternity_determination_blood_type.aspx (ignore the context of the page its on)
Thanks yes he knows the wife’s blood type and the idea is the hospital has it on file too from when she died of cancer.
There do still seem to be some plot holes though with the whole waking up thing and the fact that people have said he would have the blood transfusion immediately on arrival at the hospital?
If I understand the requirements correctly: you need the father to be told the blood type, and the father to be there when the son wakes up. The other things, like the blood transfusion or the bike accident, were just ways to get to those requirements, yes? I think (I could be mistaken) that a hospital would type a patient's blood for any type of surgery. So I'm pretty sure your child can need any surgical procedure at all, and the father will have the opportunity to learn his blood type. So, say, even just a tonsillectomy, or if you want to be more emergency-like, maybe an emergency appendectomy.
There are a couple reasons one would get an emergency transfusion. If the person had lost so much blood there was no question they would need at least some blood, and/or if they were still bleeding and the bleeding was not under control. Otherwise he might still get a transfusion in the ED, but it wouldn't be an emergency at that point. They might give him blood before sending him home. They wouldn't likely admit him to the hospital for the transfusion. You can still play around with this to get the scenario you are aiming for.
