Should We Tell Her?

I take family histories for a living. 

And that means I'm privy to some pretty interesting family secrets...I mean stories. You can learn a lot about someone from how much they know about their family member’s health. I find it interesting that some of us know A LOT of detail about our aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparent’s medical histories while others just know that everyone is "fine." I mean if they're not dead, then their fine...right!?

So in walks a couple last week and I'm asking the man a pretty common question for me, "Do either of your parents have any health concerns or medical issues"? 

And his wife says "Oh ...his Mother."  They each turn their head inward to look at each other and mouth "Should we tell her??" 

So at this point I'm thinking what could it be? If they're embarrassed or ashamed to tell me, I'm willing to bet I've heard it before. 

The wife looks at me and says…

"She's O negative." 

in a tone typically reserved for “She was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer.”

It was all I could do to keep from saying "So what? I don't care." I mean geeze people....I am O negative too, is there something dire I need to be aware of?

But instead I said in good counselor form...."Is there a reason you believe your mother's blood type would play a role in you having a healthy pregnancy?" 

They had no idea...it was just something the family made a big deal of. So I was happy to enlighten them about the genetics of blood type and the wonders of RhoGAM.