more on a diagnosis
Well I've been to the doctors & he confirmed 99% likely that it's latent TB, which means I'm not able to get others sick, which is a good thing. Next step is to have an xray. In the mean time I can continue my normal life & just have to be aware of coughing, fevers, night sweats, and other such flu like symptoms, which of course I have none of! The doctor did start to laugh when I had to list all the countries I've been to since moving here 4 years ago (about 20 countries) and all the nurses in the office came in to see my welt and take photos with their camera phone, since it is rare to see this sort of reaction on a non-vaccinated person (British people are vaccinated.)
So next is a chest xray, which can take up to 3 weeks to organise (National Health Services is free, but very very slow) unless of course any symptoms arise & then I can run straight to A&E (accident & emergency, UK's version of ER) and get a private room (aka isolation) & chest xray immediately!
Once the chest xray has been done, I will speak with the chest clinic experts about what course of action I want to take next. I need to research the pros & cons of the antibiotics as well since they do have rather sever side effects. I guess all I can say right now is that I feel fine & if anything changes I'll be sure to let you know, but for now it's pretty much a waiting game.
posted by Sara @ 10:46 am
3 Comments:
Did they test to see if you are infected with BCG instead of TB?
they said reactions larger than 15mm are highly unlikely to be from enviornmental mycobacteria or previous BCG vaccination (the latter obviously doesn't apply to me) and mine was 19mm induration with 60mm flare, so that implies TB not BCG.
Thankfully you're moving closer to better health and not further away from it. Here in Canada, we face similar challenges with nationalized healthcare: long waiting times and general lack of resources.
Wishing you only good health, Sara!
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