Of Mad Cow, and other diseases...

When you donate blood, you must fill out a small survey so that they may assess your current health. Some of the questions are also used to let you know that you are not capable of donating blood at that moment. Things like, being on certain medications, or having a piercing less than 6 months old, or a tattoo younger than a year old. The ONE question that I always found to be none of their flippin' business was this: "Have you had sexual intercourse with someone who has lived in Europe since 1980?" Um? Isn't that extremely nosy, and specific? I never understood why that would exclude someone from giving blood, but I have since been educated as to how dumb that question ACTUALLY is. In the 1980s, there was an outbreak of Mad Cow disease. And everyone there was excluded from giving blood for the rest of their known lives. And so now is everyone who has had sex with those people. Guess what?! The Hubs lived in Europe after 1980... I'm O- and can no longer donate blood. Unless I lie, and say we've never had mattress mambo. (Which would make me birthing his two children extremely hard to explain!) Last Friday, I went to the dentist and was placed on antibiotics for an infection. On Thursday, I discovered two spots that looked to be spider bites on my hip. Hubs had said he found a spider or two in our room, so we thought nothing of it. (It wasn't a black widow or brown recluse, so I wasn't worried about the bites.) Yesterday however, I woke up with about 1/4 of my body covered in big, itchy, swollen, red welts. Hives on a grand scale. I am allergic to anything listed with "cilin" in the name. I have since gone to the clinic (yesterday) and the ER today (because it's not about 1/3 of my body covered by these spots). My purse looks like a pharmacy. And now, I not only could have gotten Mad Cow disease as an STD, but I look like a leper. Happy Freakin' Valentine's Day ya heifers!