Anemic

So I had my pre-op today for my surgery which is March 21st. Eveything was great, but my surgeon called bc is concerned with me being anemic. Anyone else had that issue??? Will I have to postpone??? Ugghhhh! I know he is only being careful and safe, and i'm sure its important since he did call me himself; but I just want to get this over and done with! I know I am wrong....Anyone with this issue??? What did you have to do??? He suggested calling my PCP and seeing what he has to say. I have been anemic since my daughter was born 11 years ago. I haven't had any other issues with it other than the occasional ice cravings and usually eat beans to build my levels up again... I have never taken medication for it.

BEEN THERE!!!  I was originally hoping to have surgery around mid-February but all my hemoglobin stats, etc. were in the basement.  I admit I was disappointed when the surgeon put me on liquid ferrous sulfate [tastes nasty but works] and told me to wait for 30 days and have more blood drawn.  My levels rose in those 30 days PLUS I felt so much better physically.  It's awful how bad anemia can make us feel and we may be unaware.

The plus to finding this now is that if you can take iron and raise the levels, you'll go into this surgery so much stronger.  My surgery is now scheduled for next Thursday and it's actually gotten here faster than I realize.

So, unless there's a huge underlying cause for your anemia that can't be fixed with pushing more iron in, you SHOULD be fine.

Just my experience.  I'm not a doctor, nurse or any other medical professional.   Good luck.

So I have 9 days. What do you think I can do in this short period of time???

I think it all depends on how low your levels are and if you are working with either your surgeon and or regular doctor to get some iron in your system.  Most importantly, trust your doctors and your body.  If you go into this surgery weak, I think it will be harder to bounce back.

I would find a list of iron-rich foods and try eating them also.

Good luck.

My mom has always been anemic her entire life.  From the way the PCP described it, she was afraid they would cancel the surgery, but they didn't.  Her hemoglobin was 11.0 but went down to 10.4 post surgery.  After the surgery and before my surgery (we both had RNY) we went to the gym and the paramedics had to be called.  Her iron was so low, it was affecting her BP and it was low (96/55).  She eventually had to be prescribed extra iron and got one iron infusion.  This really helped and she had no more problems.