1901 Yeah, Sure.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

There are a lot of public service spots on TV urging people to get tested for HIV. They assure people that it's simple, no big deal, and absolutely private.

Well, when Jay was scheduled for his first brain surgery, they wanted him tested for everything under the sun, including three different strains of HIV. Three. I didn't know that three different tests were required for a clean slate. When the results came back (after a week), the local lab had screwed up and tested for only two of the three, because they weren't equipped for the third but didn't see fit to tell us that up front, and we had to make a rush trip to Albany Medical Center to have the third redone on an urgent basis.

I was left with a question no one has answered. Three tests? Three strains? The surgeon said that the usual test is geared toward the most common strain, and does not detect other strains. So, um, does this mean that if a person tells you they've had a recent test and it was clean, that means only that he/she doesn't have the most common strain?

It also looks like the medical community is more concerned with protecting their own people than the general public. Did YOU know that there are multiple strains (perhaps more than three by now), and getting a clean test doesn't mean you're uninfected? Yeah. Didn't think you did.

And maybe it was simple, just drawing some blood, but it was not something we wanted to repeat, not at the local hospital lab, anyway, because of the way we were treated.

When we first went in, the woman behind the counter was pleasant and cheerful, "isn't it a nice day?", offered us juice, said she was able to take him right in, blah, blah. And then we handed her the prescription form.

She took one look, stopped smiling, and gave Jay a dirty look. Didn't bring the juice. She disappeared behind a door, and we overheard an argument over whose turn it was. Two more women stuck their heads around the corner of the door to take a look at us. She came back out, and was not merely short, she was downright nasty. Double gloves. "Sit here. Stick your arm out." Prod prod. "Other arm."

My big strong husband was afraid of needles, and his blood vessels tended to hide, and nurses who knew him knew to be patient and gentle, or he'd faint on them. She tortured him, and seemed to like it. It was a very bad experience. He was pale and shaking when we left.

I guess she judged him as a not-nice person, what with needing THREE strains of HIV tested for. She wouldn't have treated anyone like that who came in for a blood count or whatever, even if that person was more likely to actually have undiagnosed HIV. The prescription pad said "Bad and Dangerous" to her.

Where did you get your training, lady? ALL blood is dangerous.

She was highly unprofessional, and downright nasty, and I'd have liked to report her, except that we knew we'd have to go back for other tests (like Dilantin levels) in the future.

So, I can't understand why more people don't saunter in and get tested.... /sarcasm off/
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