More stuff I just learned
This has been a big week for finding out about stuff I didn’t know. First it was the story of how Blade Runner the movie got the name and now this from Michael Ian Black’s Substack.
While reading up on Asimov, I learned that, although the cause of his death was listed as kidney/heart failure, he actually died from AIDS, which he contracted following a blood transfusion in 1983. The family kept the diagnosis private for fear of public backlash at a time when the disease’s victims were stigmatized, which I would say is hard to believe that we could ever have been so callous towards our fellow human beings, but it is, in fact, incredibly easy to believe.
Sad, but yes, easy to believe.
when i was a whipper snapper i had my tonsils taken out, unbeknownst to the medical staff i had contracted some bug whilst mid-op or recuperating. Got home, went to bed and woke up in the morning feeling really sick and nauseous. Was in the kitchen and vomited in the sink. Blood everywhere. And it kept coming. All i could do was bang pots in the drying rack to wake my parents up. I can only imagine the horror they faced coming into the room (mum years later said it was like a slasher film), but dad set a land speed record getting me to hospital. Apparently the op had ruptured and leaked blood into my stomach - required a blood transfusion and the amount i lost was borderline me making it. This was about 1983 and on the central coast. Around that time a little girl called Eve van Grafhorst also received a blood transfusion and contracted HIV. Hit the news, the community had no idea about HIV/AIDS and there was the massive scare campaign going on and her family was hounded out of the community and the country, and they fled to NZ where she died about 10years later. I was bundled off quietly for mystery blood tests around that time but came back clear. Have been donating blood as an adult ever since and recommend everyone do it (if they are able). Interesting that its in the news now that people who are gay are now allowed to donate blood - its been a long time coming seeing it has been a fair while now that we have had a handle on this type of thing.
I've never been able to donate blood. First it was because I lived in the UK and mad cow, now it's you've had a heart attack, you need a letter from a doctor.