Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 20:41:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rich Lynch <rw_lynch at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Unclean!  Unclean!
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

--- "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net> wrote:
> I went to donate blood this evening here in
> Virginia.  They rapidly
> asked me the usual questions.  As always, I
> automatically answered
> each one "no".  No, I have not exchanged drugs for
> sex with someone
> who received a dura matter transplant in the Congo
> since 1977, nor
> have I received a tattoo from a drug-addicted leper
> with a family
> history of CJD who takes tegison and finasteride.
> But wait, what's
> this?  Why yes, I have been to Toronto.  Why yes, in
> the past two
> weeks.
>

> She then spent several minutes pawing through a
> loose-leaf notebook,
> then went to consult with her supervisor, then spent
> several more
> minutes leafing through the same notebook, then
> asked me if I had been
> exposed to anyone at risk, then leafed some more,
> then went out again,
> then came back and gave me a deferral letter.
>
> It's strange how one can't help but take even the
> most obviously bogus
> judgments slightly seriously.  I *have* had
> difficultly breathing
> recently, haven't I, asked a little voice in the
> back of my head.
> Well, I did briefly choke on a pistachio that went
> down the wrong way.
> But that was *before* Torcon.  Maybe that means I'm
> saddled with an
> especially virulent strain of SARS, one which has
> effects even before
> the original exposure.  Also, haven't I been
> sleeping more than usual
> since returning?  Since that's not one of the usual
> symptoms, I must
> have been hit with a potent strain indeed!
>
> And to think that not only did I bring this dread
> infection across the
> previously impenetrable barrier of Toronto's city
> limits, but I've
> also ridden both the New York and DC subways.  No
> doubt the plague has
> spread to millions of Americans by now, thanks to
> me.
>

Could be worse.  The Red Cross now permanently
disqualifies anybody as a blood donor who has spent,
cumulatively, a total of 3 months or more in the U.K.
since 1980, or a total of 6 months or more in
continental Europe since 1980.  Visits to some other
parts of the world where malaria is present, such as
India and parts of Africa, get you disqualified for a
full year.

Rich (now permanently disqualified as a Red Cross
blood donor)

=====
Rich Lynch
==========
MIMOSA web site: http://jophan.org/mimosa/
1960s Fan History Site: http://jophan.org/1960s/
http://www.livejournal.com/~rwl

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