Thursday, February 27, 2020
I took my tuberculous test this morning. I was getting my weekly blood draw, so I asked the nurse to add in the TB test I had been called about on Monday. The execution of the tuberculous test was a lesson in fun. I was in the Infusion Clinic for my blood draw, not the regular laboratory and the nurse did not know what vials to place the blood in for the tuberculous test. The nurse sent the aide down the hall to the laboratory to get more information and she came back with the correct vials and instructions.
The tuberculous test requires four vials of blood. Only a little bit of blood goes in each vial, but still, why do they need four different vials of blood to test for tuberculous? The blood needs to be pulled out of my body with a syringe that has a large needle attached to it once the blood is drawn. The vials have an odd putty/cork-type covering on the top, and the nurse needed to jam the needle very hard to get through the covering and put the one milliliter of blood in the vial, four times.
On my way home, I decided to stop at the bank, if possible. I rang the bell for the bank stop and told the driver I would continue home if the ice patch was still there blocking my access to the curb cut. The bank bus stop is finally accessible since before Christmas! I was able to do my business at the bank and then roll the rest of the way home. There is still too much ice on the sidewalk in places going the other direction, but at least I can use the bus stop again, until the next snowstorm.
I kept my seven-year-old, Mika, home from school again even though she has completely recovered from her illness. Mika threw up one more time at 6:00 p.m. yesterday and the school requests we keep our children home for 24 hours after vomiting. Honestly, if I did not need to do a blood draw this morning, I would have sent her to school. If I was wrong about the completion of the illness and Mika did get sick again at school while I was out, the school would have called her father and he would have left work.
I know I should be a more rule-following parent when it comes to my child and sending her to school with a cough or the sniffles, but I still think, “It is just a cold. Germs make our immune systems stronger.” and send her to school anyway. I did follow the 24-hour rule this time, but only because not doing so may have inconvenienced my family. I do not think it counts as doing the right thing if it is only done for convenience.
Today is day 146 since I started writing a journal page every day, and two days ago I reached 100,000 written words. I sure talk a lot on paper, let me tell you. I review each day’s writing when I schedule it to my blog. I am currently scheduling December journal entries to my blog. I usually catch a misspelled word or grammatical error on about a third of them and have only needed to substantially rewrite one post so far. I misunderstood some information I had received, and the facts had been clarified by the time I scheduled it.
In April I plan to bundle my first 100 journal entries into a book which will require even more re-writing. I write each journal entry as a stand-alone thought and name my significant other, Donald; my son, Marcus; my older daughter, Megan; and etcetera each time. I can place a list of characters in the front of the book and simply use names throughout the book. I need to wait until April to start editing the book because I am still reviewing and scheduling December dates to my blog and I think January 12th is day 100.
My piece of advice to you is to enjoy a task as mundane as a tuberculous test. It was fun to watch the nurse and aide figure out how to properly administer the test. All three of us laughed as the nurse repeatedly jabbed the needle in the vial top, trying to get it through the covering. Laugh at the little things, it will make you happier.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
I took my tuberculous test this morning. I was getting my weekly blood draw, so I asked the nurse to add in the TB test I had been called about on Monday. The execution of the tuberculous test was a lesson in fun. I was in the Infusion Clinic for my blood draw, not the regular laboratory and the nurse did not know what vials to place the blood in for the tuberculous test. The nurse sent the aide down the hall to the laboratory to get more information and she came back with the correct vials and instructions.
The tuberculous test requires four vials of blood. Only a little bit of blood goes in each vial, but still, why do they need four different vials of blood to test for tuberculous? The blood needs to be pulled out of my body with a syringe that has a large needle attached to it once the blood is drawn. The vials have an odd putty/cork-type covering on the top, and the nurse needed to jam the needle very hard to get through the covering and put the one milliliter of blood in the vial, four times.
On my way home, I decided to stop at the bank, if possible. I rang the bell for the bank stop and told the driver I would continue home if the ice patch was still there blocking my access to the curb cut. The bank bus stop is finally accessible since before Christmas! I was able to do my business at the bank and then roll the rest of the way home. There is still too much ice on the sidewalk in places going the other direction, but at least I can use the bus stop again, until the next snowstorm.
I kept my seven-year-old, Mika, home from school again even though she has completely recovered from her illness. Mika threw up one more time at 6:00 p.m. yesterday and the school requests we keep our children home for 24 hours after vomiting. Honestly, if I did not need to do a blood draw this morning, I would have sent her to school. If I was wrong about the completion of the illness and Mika did get sick again at school while I was out, the school would have called her father and he would have left work.
I know I should be a more rule-following parent when it comes to my child and sending her to school with a cough or the sniffles, but I still think, “It is just a cold. Germs make our immune systems stronger.” and send her to school anyway. I did follow the 24-hour rule this time, but only because not doing so may have inconvenienced my family. I do not think it counts as doing the right thing if it is only done for convenience.
Today is day 146 since I started writing a journal page every day, and two days ago I reached 100,000 written words. I sure talk a lot on paper, let me tell you. I review each day’s writing when I schedule it to my blog. I am currently scheduling December journal entries to my blog. I usually catch a misspelled word or grammatical error on about a third of them and have only needed to substantially rewrite one post so far. I misunderstood some information I had received, and the facts had been clarified by the time I scheduled it.
In April I plan to bundle my first 100 journal entries into a book which will require even more re-writing. I write each journal entry as a stand-alone thought and name my significant other, Donald; my son, Marcus; my older daughter, Megan; and etcetera each time. I can place a list of characters in the front of the book and simply use names throughout the book. I need to wait until April to start editing the book because I am still reviewing and scheduling December dates to my blog and I think January 12th is day 100.
My piece of advice to you is to enjoy a task as mundane as a tuberculous test. It was fun to watch the nurse and aide figure out how to properly administer the test. All three of us laughed as the nurse repeatedly jabbed the needle in the vial top, trying to get it through the covering. Laugh at the little things, it will make you happier.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.