A couple of months after having surgery to replace a blown cervical disk, I received a letter telling me that a prior surgical patient had died of Creutzfeldt–Jakob and, among other things, that I may have been exposed via surgical instruments.<p>My girlfriend at the time was actually really knowledgeable about Creutzfeldt–Jakob.  After many, many questions and a some more research on my own, the one consoling thing is that if I had it, by the time the symptoms manifested, I would be too incoherent to really understand what was happening.<p>While I&#x27;ve certainly lost some cognitive abilities in the intervening decade, I haven&#x27;t had any symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob.  However, I have felt compelled to stop donating blood, and have rescinded my organ-donor status (although I&#x27;ve made it clear to my family members that my body is to me made available for research purposes).<p>edited: for clarity