TB Or Not TB????

I got a call Saturday saying that my Grandpa has tuberculosis. Bad disease. Really contagious. All the little kids in the family were alerted to be tested. Researching on the internet says not just children but elderly, pregnant women (not me, a cousin), and people with weak immune systems. Mark has been a bit sickly, so everytime he is around someone sick, he gets it too. Well, Mark has been on the other side of the country. Not much he could do. He still had to come home. If he told the airline people he had been exposed, they might not have let him fly. So I chose not to say anything to him. No reason to spoil his fun. So today I called the Health Department to set up an appointment for our family to get tested. They took my name, number and all that and told me to come in tomorrow. Then later I get a call saying the lab people got Grandpa's results mixed up with someone else's. So after most of the family has already been tested and received their negative results, we find out there is no need. Wow, hope we never have true medical emergency.

A Good Doctor

Good doctors seem harder and harder to come by. Between insurance companies' guidelines and snippy office workers it is not even easy always to get an appointment. Yesterday we had to take Nathaniel to the ENT for a follow-up to an appointment he had last month. They had put the wrong day in the computer for his appointment, but rescheduled to let him go ahead and come on the day we asked for so he would not have to miss school. (the boys are out for spring break this week) When we got there it seemed a little more crowded than usual in the waiting room. The doctor came out to call someone back back for an appointment. She explained that they WERE working today, but they were short-handed so that was why they were running behind. She apologized and said if anyone was running short on time they could reschedule for another day. Wow, we were blown away. I have gone to doctors who would stand in the hall making small talk while patients had to wait for hours at a time to be seen and never given an apology for it. I have seen doctors who would spend lots of time with the drug company reps while the waiting room fills up. Our appointment was 3:15. We were out by 5:00. This includes the waiting room, the fact that the nurse who normally does tympanograms was not there so another nurse or aide or whomever was doing it. She ran into some difficulty and first got another nurse, the the doctor. Then we went in to the exam room, he got checked out. (good report!!! YIPEE!!!!) Then we asked her a question about the medicine he was on for allergies. The fact that she did not seem annoyed when we asked a question and did not try to rush us was great. She apologized AGAIN for the fact that we had to wait. I have always respected her. She just went a few notches in my book.