TB or Latent TB that is the question!
feel free to skip paragraphs if this sounds familiar
About a month ago my boss asked if I could help out by training people in another lab - I said sure no problemo - ya know cause that's the kinda gal I am :) In order to work in that lab I had to have a TB test done - again no problem since I'm healthy - well within 24 hours my arm was rather red, swollen & sore . . . side note, the mark is STILL on my arm now over a month later, can you imagine?
Short of the very very long is that the docs here in the UK said yes, it's positive for TB, but no you're not infectious cause you're not coughing up blood. The following week I already had tickets to fly to NY for my mum's b'day & best mate's mum's surprise party, so I flew home without a hitch. Went to see the doctor the next day - low & behold, I turn up with a fever, still rather large red mark on my arm, my positive TB test results from my London doctor & they all freak out!! I have to put a mask on in the office, pee in a cup, talk for nearly 2 hours about where I've been, where I might have gotten it, have I been sick, what to do next, etc. Leave the office nearly in tears for fear I have active TB (meaning I am infectious - hence the mask) which would mean I can't go to the party & can't fly back to the UK. Not wanting to freak out my father, I took the mask off for dinner that night.
Following morning I head straight to hospital for a chest x-ray and the first of many blood works to be done with my oh so lovely mask still on - horribly embarrassing if I do say so myself. 2 x-rays taken, doctor reads them & says I can take the mask off as my lungs are clear - yeah - now on for 4 vials of blood work, a needle in each arm & I've got my prescription for 6 months of antibiotics & I'm good to go :)
Have a fabulous weekend with friends & Tuesday morning whilst having breakfast with my parents & god parents I get a call from the doctor saying I need more blood work b/c my liver enzymes are not in the "normal range". So I stop taking the antibiotics and head back to the hospital for round two of blood work. At the same time, I have to make an appt with the infectious disease specialist because if my liver has some sort of long term problem, I won't be able to take the antibiotics & we'll need to know what the alternative options are for latent TB treatment.
2 days later at the ID doc, she announces my 2nd round of blood work looks okay as far as hepatitis & ANA levels, but we still need to repeat it cause the liver enzymes aren't great . . . back to the hospital for another few vials of blood. Surprised I'm not anaemic at this point (just kidding they don't take that much blood) Results of this will take 48-72 hours & it's Thursday so I have to change my ticket yet again so I'm state side when the results come in - just in case!
Following Monday the results come back that my liver enzymes are back to normal & since my fever is gone as well, they think it was just some sort of viral hit which screwed up all the results, so I can go back on the 6 months of antibiotics just as long as I don't drink any alcohol & have my liver enzymes tested once a month.
So here I am back again in London - trying to get back into the swing of things at work & I think finally over my jet lag since I spent the whole weekend sleeping & sleeping some more (lol)!
Wish I had more exciting news, but really that's the summary of my last month. Oh wait, sorry I did have some fun things happen, I got to go to 3 dance recitals (yes, that's correct THREE!), see friends in Connecticut, spend lots of time with my parents, and went to a wedding, so all in all it was a good time even with all the trips to doctors offices & hospitals!
I was suppose to go to Warsaw, Poland on Friday with Kaylie, but after just getting back into the country on Tuesday morning I was overly jet lagged & really could not take any time off, so I apologised to Kaylie but said I couldn't make it - she apparently didn't take it so well & for the moment is not speaking to me. I felt bad for a bit, but really if she fully understood all that I'd just been through I think she could have been a bit more understanding to my circumstances!
Okay, 5pm, gotta head home, meeting with boss at half 10 tomorrow - need to get a good nights sleep - no I'm not going to bed now, but need to grocery shop, make dinner, finish off laundry, read a bit & then go to bed!
Labels: illness
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.
Labels: illness, TB
Swine flu fears Part 2
In annoyance of misinformation I keep seeing about cancelled flights and so on here is what the World Health Organisation said:
"The situation continues to evolve rapidly. As of 06:00 GMT, 1 May 2009, 11 countries have officially reported 331 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.
The United States Government has reported 109 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. Mexico has reported 156 confirmed human cases of infection, including nine deaths.
The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), Germany (3), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (3), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (8)."
I might regret saying this, but at this point I'd be more scared of TB which kills over a million people each year than of swine flu which has killed 10!!
Labels: illness, infectious diseases, interesting fact
hanging my a thread
so you can stop worrying now . . . I am alive . . . for awhile on Saturday I wondered if I would ever be able to get outta bed, but I made it. I'm definitely not 100%, but after showering this morning didn't feel like I had to go
straight back to bed and since I have no internet at my new home I couldn't let ya'll know I was slowly coming back to life yesterday and thanks to this yucky virus I caught I have nothing to say about my weekend aside from "zzzzzzzz" cause that was ALL I've been able to do since Thursday night when I got home from work!! No for real, I slept from Thursday night at 7pm until 8am Friday (when I got up to txt work & announce I would not be making it in & to run to the loo) and then back to sleep until 11am on Saturday, when I was so outta it - I had to call Jim to find out what day it was! I thought I was better so I got up to shower, realised I was no better, put new pjs on & headed directly back into bed - forgot how exhausting showering can be (lol).
on a totally different note, can anyone explain to me where the month of October went? I can't believe that Thursday is November 1st . . . I know I slept a lot this weekend, but
not that much!!
P.S. thanks to all of you who sent well wishes my way :)
Labels: illness
sick sick sick sick sick
i'm sick & tired of being sick & having tons of work to do . . . can't mention more about our potential exciting findings, but Dr. Best said, "I think my wee is in a froth" . . . YES I know that's rather graphic & I'm not a fan of this comment, but it is not a statement that is made unless Dr Best is really excited, so we're all happy here in the lab (for the mo)
after riding on the tube to & from south kens i'm feeling worse, can't hear out of my left ear, and still my eyes are watering, my nose can't decide if it's stuffed up or runny, and my throat though not really sore yet has that feeling like the second i stop drinking hot drinks it will start to flare up.
don't worry i'm on my way home now, just had to wait for a phone call (which btw has not come - bugger bugger bugger!!!) i'm off to buy some apple cider vinegar, so i can have an "uncle jimmy special" (mug of hot water with 1TBS vinegar, 1TBS honey) it's the only cure I know of for situations like these . . . if you don't believe me, check out
SusieJ's post on it.
Labels: illness
cold season has arrived
so either all the new students at LSHTM or the huge percent of persons riding on public transport have finally gotten to my immune system . . . it's official, i have the common cold :( this time it is unlike my other colds, today my eyes just keep watering, so people keep asking me if i'm okay or why are you crying, but i'm not - it's just my blocked passages.
in good news my co-worker Dr. TB as i'll call her, just had a paper accepted into infection & immunity, where she's second author, so that's exciting news & my other co-worker almost dr placid i'll call her might have discovered something cool with regards to Th-17 cells, so all in all it's been a good day so far & it's only 09.48!! other exciting new unrelated to my work is that the A380 (which my sis worked on the engine for with Pratt & Whitney) took it's first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney,
click here to see it take off.
as for me . . . just sick & trying to put together my poster for the WMC in Thailand in less than a month!!!! so i'll leave you with this awesome photo of me dad's house on the lake . . .
Labels: illness, lab discoveries, photos, scientific paper
