Tuberculosis???

So evidently there's this guy who is from the US but went on a honeymoon out of the country and came back with TB... or something awful like that. The story is so confusing to me, but I guess the logistics aren't as important as this guy getting better. It caught my attention though because I had to get a TB test on Tuesday which meant I had to go get it "read" today, on the same day that this story broke out.

I've always thought it was kind of wierd when people said they were getting their TB test "read" or that they were getting the results of their TB test. I mean, all the nurse does is run her finger over your skin and send you on your way. There's no reading or resulting involved, really. I feel like I've had an unusually massive amount of TB tests done in my lifetime... perhaps because I moved every 5 minutes growing up. But anyway, I now I understand the meaning of having a TB test "read" after my near-TB experience today!

I had noticed that my arm was redder than usual at the injection site, but figured I was just being paranoid. But when the nurse ran her finger over the spot, looked up at the ceiling with a puzzled expression, then repeated this a couple more times, I started to get a little worried! If I have TB I obviously can't go live it up at Adventure Day Camp with all the rugrats, which also means I'd be broker than a joker. She called in for backup and had another nurse come check me out. They asked me if it felt sore... I of course lied and said "No" even though the bright red spot on my arm made it pretty obvious. And the fact that they had been shovering their fingers into my skin for the past 3 minutes didn't help. They also asked if I had been in contact with anyone who had TB lately (um, don't they have to be quarrentined?!) I probably would have lied about that too, but I didn't have to because no, I have not been around any TB victims.

So anyway, the nurse gets out this little TB ruler that looked kind of like one of those body fat measurer things. She felt me up a little more, then marked the bump and measured it. I was seriously sitting there goinng "ohgodohgodohgod" to myself when the first nurse fessed up that she had been getting positive TB tests for 41 years but has never had TB. Good info. As it turned out, the bump wasn't big enough... it was only a 5 cm and needed to be 15 in order to be positive, but still... freaky! Especially since Matt had a close call with TB a year ago at the Franklin County Health Dpt... surrounded by hundreds Somolians hacking up every last bit of lung they could. He, too, had to be checked twice to be sure he was OK.

Gosh, that was a really long TB story. But seriously, guys! Maybe this is more normal than I had thought all these years. I dunno.