Our Blood Typing Experience Yesterday
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by: amberwaves
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Two weeks ago I had the great idea for my daughter and I to go and test our blood because I always like for her to try or experience new and interesting things, and because I got an email, which was sent out to all the members of the Smoky Valley Home Educators group, about a blood typing lab being held by the Biology Lab students. It was an open invitation for anyone to attend who might be interested.
I thought to myself, "Interested?! Are you kidding?! Where do I sign up?!"
The email said:
The Biology Lab students would like to invite anyone who might be interested in finding out what type of blood they have to attend a Blood Typing Lab on Friday, April 13, 11:00 a.m.So, being like I am, I called right away and left our names and contact info on the voicemail thingy and tried not to sound too eager... or dumb by like forgetting what I was calling about once the voicemail kicks on, which I have been known to do.
Lab students will be doing the actual blood typing which will tell if you have Type A, B or O blood and if you are Rh+ or Rh-. There are enough reactants for 30 people, first come, first served.
Anyway. As usual, I told my daughter about it only a few hours before we were to go, because any sooner than that, and I would have never heard the end of it. It was hard enough for me not to tell her about it for two whole weeks in my own excitement.
We made it there in the rain (tomorrow it may snow, can you believe it?) and made a small spectacle of ourselves as we came running into the building to get out of the rain and every single person was already sitting around a huge square of tables and chairs and the speaker was already in the middle of her presentation. But, all was forgiven.
We sat down and it was all I could do to wait patiently as the speaker explained about the types of blood and the percentages of the population that has each, how to do the procedure and where to put the drops of blood, etc. The whole thing was way cooler than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be like where we'd get out blood drawn and then they'd test it there somehow, but no. This was a do-it-yourself kind of deal, which was way, way, WAY cooler!
My daughter and I each got a little card with some circles and some other info written on it that we were to put our drops of blood on. We also got an alcohol wipe, two different colored stir-sticks and a lancet... to lance ourselves. Like Lancelot. ha ha (I thought that was funny.) :)
My daughter wanted me to go first. I was hoping she'd say that. So I did. Only, I did everything I was told to do, I rubbed my finger, swung my arm, poked it real good. I ended up poking it at least 12 times as a matter of fact. I have a sore, purple fingertip covered with little red dots to prove it. I just was not a bleeder today. But, I ended up getting enough blood out to test my blood with the A, B and Rh drops. Turns out I am B+ because the drop from the "B" bottle made my blood clump up and the drop from the Rh bottle also made my blood clump up. And, according to her stats only 17% of the population are type B. I felt special.My daughter wanted the speaker/nurse lady to poke her finger instead of me. I was a little hurt, but went with the flow. Turns out I had the honor of poking her finger after all since the speaker/nurse lady had not thought to bring gloves as we were all supposed to be lancing ourselves. Makes sense. So, I explained to my daughter that the lady is not supposed to touch other people's blood and I was therefore the one to poke her finger and squeeze out the blood because I was her mom and it was perfectly okay for me to touch her blood. She agreed. We proceeded.
Now, I poked her finger only one time. All she said was, "Ow!" and that girl bled big 'ol drops of blood. What's up with that? I had to practically cut the tip of my finger off and all she needs is one poke? Anyway. We put her drops on the card and we moved on to the next step.
After putting the drops on her blood and swirling the stuff around with our little stir-sticks we learned that she is type O+ because neither the "A" nor the "B" drop made her blood clump up, but the Rh drop did. The speaker/nurse lady explained to us that the "positive" or "negative" is what your Rh factor is. Positive is good, BTW. If you have a Negative Rh and you give birth I guess there are some shots or something that your child has to have or else they can end up with anemia and some other things she read to us. According to some more statistics she read to us 44% of the population has type O, 40% has type A and 3% has type AB. Neat. Apparently, my percentages don't add up to 100%, but that's just how I remembered the numbers for some reason. I guess I should preface my percentages by saying +/- 4%. LOL
We went to the grocery store after this event and boy my finger was a hurtin'. And just picking up the groceries to put them on the conveyor belt was making me wince. Then, coming home and typing all day while taking calls while working was making me want to figure out how to type without having to use my left middle finger. I really feel for all the diabetics who have to test their blood from their fingertips. It is horrible. I only did it once and could not imagine having to do it all the time. My heart goes out to you guys.
If anyone ever gets the chance to do one of these blood typing things, it is really neat... at least I think so. But then again, I also really got into dissection during school. But, I think that's better off to be left for another time... :) Blessings!
Denise
P.S. Here is a chart showing the distribution of blood types around the world... interesting!
About the Author
Denise lives in central Kansas, is a single Christian WAHM homeschooling one child and is always looking for adventure and new experiences for her daughter.
Mom and Miss A's Homeschool Experience blog, can be found at: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/AmberWavesofPraise
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