| Friday, January 06, 2006 |
| 4.6.5 |
Continued....During this time Clay had already started school. At the time of the next scenario he was in the first grade. That first day of school was an emotional day, to say the least. He didn''t even want me to take him to school, lol, he wanted to ride the bus. Of course there was no way I was missing that! He was so cute and he excelled. He was popular among everyone. Yeah, it was a small school situated in a ghost town, but hey, there were quite a few kids, lol. I mean even 8th graders came up to me at the parent teachers conference and asked me if I was his mom and when I said yes they told me that he was a cool dude. Didn''t know they still used that term, lol, thought that went out in the 80''s, guess not. The fourth grade teacher, while Clay was in kindergarten and told me he was so looking forward to having him in his class. My head swelled you bet. I am somewhat normal, lol. No No, no arguing there.
To continue where I left off on the last post. I was discharged from the hospital, with a new diagnosis of hypoglycemia, they thought I had diabetes, but no, it went to 40 and decided to feed me, lol. I was ready. After 23 hours of no food you bet. So, I go home and am feeling better. The next month and half went by with no unexpected things occurring. Then I get the call. The doctor''s office called me and told me that the sputum sample that they took in the emergency room grew M.Tuberculi, meaning that I had tuberculosis. I was so scared, confused, and mad after the conversation. I made a comment to her that I didn''t know where I could have got it from and she said it could of been in their waiting room because I had sat there with people with it before. She told me not to tell anyone because of the scare that it puts into people and the ostrization. I got off the phone and immediately called the health department and told them what I had been informed. She said of course you have to tell people. That is what I had thought from the get go and why I called them. Also to get that doctor''s office to never put another person through this. My two best friends and one of thems daughter had to be tested with us. Well, they didn''t have to do a skin on me, lol. So my hubby, son, friend J, friend K, and friend K''s daughter, who was 6 as well as Clay. My husband was the only one to test positive on the skin test but they said it was either from the Valley Fever he had when he was younger or that he carried the bug but he could not pass it on. Very confusing there. Everyone was suppose to go on the INH, one of the tuberculosis medicines, but my friend J refused. He was O.K. though. I had to go on all 4 drugs for the disease. That is a trip as you know if you have ever been through it. I was now taking 28 and a half pills a day. My regular medicines as well as all the new ones. I was so sick. We almost lost my friend K, her kidneys started shutting down from the INH she was taking, her daughter went through a lot of stomach trouble, my son had to be tested once a week, taking blood, because the INH damaged his liver. It was a nightmare. I was quarantined to one room in my house. We made the best of it though and found some humor in the situation. My husband had to learn to cook via a walkie talkie. He actually did very well. I had to wear that stupid hepa filter mask when he came in the room. I hated those masks. Better than spreading the disease though. I use the word "though" a lot don''t I? lol. Anyway, after 6 weeks in quarantine I was allowed right outside my trailer and only if I wore the mask. I was happy to be out of that room! The dreaded mask became my friend at that time I tell ya. Then after another 4 weeks I was allowed to take the mask off and go as far as the bus stop where my son caught the school bus. No other kids there so wasn''t putting anyone in jeopardy if for some reason they took me off too soon. I had to do a smear culture every week and not another one came back positive but I had to do the six month regimen of the drugs. I learned a lot through this ordeal. I learned that tuberculosis is not so uncommon as what people believe, especially near the Mexican border. I learned if you fight for something things can change, because that doctor''s office got into trouble after I reported them and I could not enter the clinic without a hepa mask, and then I demanded going in through the back door and the nurse where a mask. They were so upset with me but could do nothing about it. It was how they were going to have to treat every case that came through from then on. I feel that mine, my sons, and my friends trials with this disease could of been avoided if precautions had been taken to begin with.
Needless to say we were ready to get out of the desert southwest. We had to wait until I was clear for leaving. In April with 2 weeks of medicine to finish they released me and back to Missouri we went.
Later, blog on and God bless.
April 6, 2005 6:55 PM |
posted by Teressa @ 12:02 PM  |
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