I 'might' have Tuberculosis

[Socks]

Dear Boyah,

As part of my faux employment within the in house non medical care business, from which I draw a biweekly check and for which said check must remain 'certified', I had to go and get a yearly TB test shot. So I went, and they let a black lady do the test on me--immediately I had misgivings--but I ignored my fist impression and gave her a chance. And sure enough foreboding turned into disaster when she stuck the needle in me and my immediate reaction was a bad gut feeling that it had gone too deep. These test are supposed to deposit whatever agent fluid is in the needle under the skin, and leave a 'bubble', which slowly dissipates. This is how my previous test was.

I say nothing.
Thank you very much good day.


Fast forward to today and I go in. They make me wait there like a lame duck in the hallway because I don't have an appointment for something they told me I wouldn't need an appointment for and could just walk in for. This lady sees my arm after some minutes and can't make a decision. So I am thinking, what kind of shit is this? She asks for my name because I mentioned my files, I tell her and she hands over a paper for me to write it down on because she cannot comprehend it. So at this point I have walked in, was pointed to the hallway, wait there for several minutes, fucked around with, then am told to sit down because the nurse locked herself in her room. I knew this was bullshit because I could hear the one nice lady telling her to go and see me. But it was this nice lady who delivered to me the bad news so I just nodded and sat down.

After some more minutes I am called back in, the nurse tells me this is a positive test, and I just kind of want to laugh so I am not listening to her but just fighting my urge to laugh and actually having a struggle with my lips so that they do not betray me. Because, I mean, who laughs when they are told they may have tuberculosis? Well, somebody who knows the truth, but this is besides the point.

I mention to her that I believe the needle just went in to deep and that the all important defining feature of this elaborate medical test, a 'bump' on the spot, is extremely imperceptible and could be caused by bruising of the tissue due to the depth that the needle went in. She acknowledged this possibility but still insisted that it was 'positive' and that was all she could do. It essentially did not matter what the cause of the bump was as long as there was a bump. This was bloody fantastic! To prove to me that there was a bump, she insulted both herself and me with a 'blind' finger test to pinpoint the bump without looking for it, which any carnival Gypsie would have been proud of. I ignored it.

My choices were that I could either go get blood work done or have an X-Ray of my chest, which would only check for an 'active case' and would not determine absolutely whether I was infected or not. So I declined to blast my heart with radiation for a useless and expensive procedure.

So for a test that I never really needed I still have to spend money on the blood test and also shed blood for it to know 'for sure' when I know 'for sure' just because some dumb broad mess up. THIS on top of the messed up test that  I already paid for and which told me nothing and only led to more tests and money.

I was so disgusted by the incompetence and inefficiency and indecency that I got the fuck out of there as soon as I could and vowed that next time I am just going to go directly to the blood test center when I need this sort of thing done. I don't care if it costs a little bit more. I was humiliated and neglected, and something like that does not escape my attention. Furthermore, I walk in a healthy, happy minded human and walk out an uncertain, possibly deathly ill individual? All because some opinions are unsure and pieces of paper need to be singed. What the fuck?

I refuse to let this affect me. It has pissed me off, yes, but I know I am not dying or have tuberculosis.

Fuck the system.

I am so upset Boyah!!!

John Keats and Franz Kafka died of TB.

now me :'(

[Nyerp]

good

[LCK]

what

nooo

noooo

[??????]

tb used to be my favorite infectious disease because its cellular structure was ever changing, adaptable and destructive like my personality

i remember i had about 6 tb shots done in a span of 2 months because my doctor kept getting sick and ny was hit by a hurricane. apparently anything more than 2 days renders the test invalid
then my psychiatrist got pissed the hell off and she made me officially 'negative' without a proper test, though my bump always dissipated

[PLEASEHELP1991]

i hated the test for tuberculosis
the bump is so bloody itchy...

[applesauce]

[Mando Pandango]

I had a false positive on a tuberculosis test once.

Also I'm pretty sure tuberculosis is pretty treatable these days anyway.

[Socks]

i hated the test for tuberculosis
the bump is so bloody itchy...

it wasn't even itchy or bothering me. and it was not sore or anything like that.
i am just pissed i have to spend more money than i anticipated because a TB specific test only is more expensive than a normal one.
which is good because i don't want them to know about cholesterol, diabetes, drugs etc... i'll never hear the end of it and will become ill by force.

[Andria]

i hated the test for tuberculosis
the bump is so bloody itchy...

When I got mine I didn't remember it was on my arm past an hour from getting it.

I did however almost pass out and smash my face into a wall...but I got juice out of the deal so whatevvv

[Hensa]

Socks... 

[Socks]

Socks... 

Hensa you will have to take care of me. 

[kougraducky]

Hensa you will have to take care of me. 

That's my job.
You could've totally ignored it...I do that with everything and it usually works.

[Socks]

That's my job.
You could've totally ignored it...I do that with everything and it usually works.

Essentially I am ignoring it but I need the documentation for legal reasons and this is why my wallet and I cannot really 'ignore' this until it is sorted out.

[ncba93ivyase]

I had tuberculosis as a kid. I got it treated early and it was no issue.

I had a false positive on a tuberculosis test once.

Also I'm pretty sure tuberculosis is pretty treatable these days anyway.

It was most easily treatable when I had it, but due to the trend of the overuse of antibiotics, drug-resistant strains are becoming the majority.

[Socks]

I have the worst luck with medical procedures--it's like I'm plagued. I'm the best patient anyone could ever ask for too, I sit there quietly, don't make a gesture, and cooperate/answer all questions. WTF?
I paid 318 dollars for this second round of unnecessary testing which took a grand total of 10 minutes, how's that for a rate? In this test, the same lady at the front desk was the one that came in to take my blood. I lost all hope at that moment. She poked both my arms trying to get her vials filled, but my blood was not cooperating, and so now I have track marks on both arms, swelling in one and a blood leak in another, which will decay so very slowly and be unsightly under my flesh for a long time. All in all, 370 bucks, three needles, three marks, 5 inconveniences and overall complete and utter incompetence for a unnecessary test and for something that should have been a routine procedure.

Fuck this country.

That's right, I said it.