The Red Cross has banned me from giving blood which I have been doing since I was in high school and had to lie about my weight. I added two pounds to my 98 to reach the required limit. Now I answer all of the questions posed to me honestly, even the ones that do not apply to my gender (a new policy of theirs). And because I lived in Europe for a few years my blood is considered risky. Mind you I have been home for twenty years and have given blood in the interim, but the nurse/ person said I should not have been, and is afraid I carry Mad Cow Disease. I was tempted to point out that since MCD is fatal and I showed up at the blood drive in what I like to think is a fairly convincing state of not-quite-dead-yetness, perhaps that was a good indication that I did not have it, but since I sometimes do feel like a mad cow, I decided not to argue the point, and turned tail and came home, in what I concede was a rather docile cow-like fashion.
