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Kimmie,
You must have lost count of how many days you've been hospitalized. Being cancer-free is great, but I'm sorry to hear that they can't keep your blood counts up.
As you probably know, when you build up antibodies that prevent transfusions from being effective it's called being refractory to transfusions due to alloimmunization. There are lots of articles about this, especially for platelet refractoriness.
When this occurs, from what I've read, a blood bank may use HLA antigen tests, or consult a database of previous test results, to try to identify a specific donor whose blood or platelets will be compatible with you. The blood bank may also ask for matched blood or platelets from another blood bank, like the Red Cross or another hospital.
If a specific matched donor is found, that donor may be informed that there's a specific patient who needs their blood or platelets, and asked to come in on a schedule that's for your benefit. My sister is one such donor. She receives calls to donate platelets for a specific (anonymous) patient.
I suggest that you ask if this kind of effort is being made on your behalf.
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Founder of Marrowforums and caregiver for my wife
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