The Red Cross has a booth at our state fair where they will do blood typing for free. It only takes a few minutes, and is pretty cool. I already knew my BT, but the hub didn't know his. We found out he's A+.

Fortunately, that guideline is not applicable to all collection agencies. Many in the US are still collecting platelets from women. Often, men who have had transfusions are also excluded. Contact your local blood bank before assuming you can't donate. AND, you may still be eligible to donate whole blood!

Jen - thanks for donating in the past. Hopefully, future testing and more info about TRALI will ease the restrictions.

Blood type became a sensitive issue in my family too, but my story is a little different. I always believed I was O+, because both my mother and father were O+. But after I became pregnant with my first child, the doctor told me I was B+! This was impossible, so I got retyped -- it came back B+ again. After being O+ for all my life, it was a shock to discover I was B+.

I began to wonder... was I adopted or switch at birth?? :confused: I asked my parents if they were sure they were O+. Dad insisted he was O+, because he had been told in the military and when he donated blood in the past. Mom insisted she was O+, because she had been told when she had a baby.

I called up my sister to discuss. She decided to get typed, and sure enough she also came back B+! By this time, we decided that either mom or dad were not telling us something or one of them was wrong. To end all the speculation, mom got retyped. And because she could not believe the result, she got retyped again. She was B+!

My mom says she cannot believe that her doctor told her the wrong blood type all those years ago. We all laugh about the mixed-up blood type now. So if the blood types in your family do not make sense, please get retyped! Better safe than sorry. :D

A+

A+