A Real Case of Mad Cow

“The first symptom of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD, or Mad Cow Disease) is rapidly progressive dementia, leading to memory loss, personality changes and hallucinations. This is accompanied by physical problems such as speech impairment, jerky movements, balance and coordination dysfunction, changes in gait, rigid posture, and seizures. In some people, the symptoms can continue for years. In most patients, these symptoms are followed by involuntary movements.” –Wikipedia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Those of you who have known me for a long time know that my other screen name has been madcow or madcow67 since my adoption of the internet using my Mac Performa way back in the early nineties. I’ve always had a thing for cows and even had an actual cow that I named T-Bone, “Bo” for short.

So when I first heard about Mad Cow Disease I always thought it was funny how the symptoms resemble alcoholism. Since I’d started my Air Force career, that’s pretty much when I started drinking heavily, it just fit me, so that’s when I adopted that nickname.

Today, for the first time ever, I decided to donate blood, and I had to answer several questions about my lifestyle and past medical history, among other things. This included whether I had lived in Europe during the years 1980 and 1996. Of course, my answer was yes; I served at Upper Heyford RAF as a Medic (MSS) during the years 1986 - 1990.

Imagine my surprise to hear that I could never donate blood according to standards implemented in 2001 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a precautionary measure against exposure to the human form of mad cow disease.

I haven’t laughed like that in years.

I may get in touch with Bill about that. Hell, I’ll email him using my new screen name – madalcowholic.