I grew up in a household that was quite hypocritical when it came to health issues. My stepfather was inflicted with a genetic lung disorder that made him terminally ill at a young age, until he was able to have a double lung transplant ten years ago. Some of the rules in our house barred the use of Aquanet indoors, and given the hairstyle I achieved through enormous amounts of the toxic spray, should have extended the ban to include the town I lived in. We adopted disposable paper cups as our vessel of rinse when we brushed our teeth, and were asked to apply perfume at school. We were very careful and health conscious when it came to all issues of the lungs.
For everything else, we were miserable failures. Eating disorders, depression, low blood pressure, and a serious lack of exercise riddled the house of my youth, so when I went to college, I had a lot of catching up to do. I took nutrition and health classes, and adopted a rigorous exercise regimen that led me into the arena of bodybuilding for awhile.
I have always been a relatively healthy person, but since my daughter has come into the picture, I have experienced an irrational number of colds, flu bugs, and other weird bouts of ickiness. This shouldn’t be a shock since kids are basically walking disease boxes in Children’s Place clothing, especially those who attend daycare. They have no concept of cleanliness and think nothing of putting some other kid’s possessions in their mouth.
My husband is one of those paranoid hand washing people, and thankfully, he has passed this obsession on to my daughter, which does help the illness situation, but we still get the sick bugs running through the house.
Lately, I’ve been experiencing feelings of yuckiness, and no, I’m not pregnant. Since I’m not one who runs to the doctor at the drop of a hat, I have instead chose to dose myself with a nearly nightly cocktail of two Airborne tablets with a side of 1,000 mg of vitamin C and a multi. It has helped my yucky feeling, but it still makes me wonder if I’m one step away from starting the pandemic flu.
Since achieving Mommy status, I have been far more paranoid regarding health issues, which is normal for a woman, particularly a Jewish woman. I’ve done all the reading up on the Avian flu, and I am prepared to wall myself and my family up in my house until it passes. Rachael is current on all of her vaccinations, and whether my husband fears needles or not, we are all getting flu shots this year!
Lately serious health issues, aside from the pandemic flu, haven’t crossed my mind, until yesterday. As an employee of The Facility, I was required to get a skin test for tuberculosis. Okay, if you have half a brain, you’ve figured out that I work for some sort of health provider, but legally I can’t say which one, so don’t ask. Anyways, I went in faithfully and had a pea sized amount of TB injected into my arm on Monday. Tuesday, I had a red mark the size of a dime. Wednesday, it was the size of a nickel and slightly itchy. Thursday, when the nurse looked at it, she was sure I had a positive skin test. That’s right, all of my Airborne and vitamin cocktails, a regular workout schedule, and the absence of red meat from my diet and I’m taken out by something as relevant to our time as polio or shingles.
Thankfully, my bump didn’t measure up. In the world of the TB skin test a ten millimeter bump is a positive measure, I had a seven. I have to go back in for a follow up skin test next week. If it turns out positive, then comes the chest x-ray along with blood and urine tests. I went to the internet right away, and discovered that TB is completely curable. If any further tests prove that I have TB bacteria present in my body, I can begin a three month run of antibiotics that will wipe it away.
It just seems kind of strange that something like this could appear at this point in my life. I haven’t been around any coughers lately, traveled to Asia, Eastern Europe or South America for at least four years, and aside from a potentially positive skin test, I’m extremely healthy. It’s perplexing, and has now made me a bit of a nervous wreck.
I guess all I can do now is wait for the follow up test, which won’t give results until next Thursday; what a wonderful way to begin a Thanksgiving vacation! At least I’m not contagious. You have to be coughing in order to be contagious, so for now, I’m just walking around as a potential TB carrier. Perhaps I’ll try three Airborne tablets tonight; after all, it couldn’t hurt.
1 comment:
I don't know if it helps, but I had an allergic reaction to my first TB skin test that the nurse reading it thought was a positive test. The x-ray cleared up the confusion. Good luck.
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