Paranoia
The little voice in my head was telling me this morning that I should get ready a bit earlier and take a ride in to work with Kevin but after not sleeping well last night [it was odd, I woke up twice and I usually never wake up at nights] I decided to sleep in and take the bus instead.
I got to the bus stop and again the little voice said to wait for the Express bus, but I looked up the road and no bus was in sight so I jumped on the regular route bus. I went towards the back as I usually do and was about to take the only seat available [between a woman and a kid] when the woman motioned for the kid to sit in the seat closer to her, all's well the kid moves over and I take his seat - he's now sitting next to me, his mom to the left of him.
Now in the mornings I'm usually totally out, of it so I don't pay attention to my surroundings. About 20 minutes into the bus ride however, I notice the lady sitting opposite me staring intently at the little kid to my left so I look over, and that's when I saw it, the kid was covered in pox sores - he's got CHICKEN POX pretty much everywhere! Some of it are scabs, some are still wet and seeping and he's scratching it under the sweater than his mom is using to hide his feet [his head and upper body is exposed and when I say it's everywhere, it's everywhere]. Not only was I sitting next to him but I am also sitting in the same seat he was in a few minutes ago.
I freak out in my mind... but remain calm outside. I didn't want to just get up and walk away so I waited until the opportunity presented itself and I moved away. A lady on the bus probably saw what was happening and told me to be careful, not sure what I can do to be careful now though, what can I do, it's already happened.
So now I'm scared shitless than I am going to wind up with a case of chicken pox, I've never had it before and I don't want it either. Turns out too that my doctor is not in today - apparently if she were I could have taken a blood test to check for antibodies, if no antibodies, then I can take some kind of drug to prevent it, so with her not being in I'm probably going to go to a walk in clinic and see if they think I've been exposed long enough to warrant the test and some preventative medication.
This blows.
posted by Michelle Hopp at 9:37 AM
4 Comments:
Aw poop :(
Yeah... definitely get yourself to a doc. At the very least, call TeleHealth and ask about a 'plan of action'.
Of course, there's no guarantee that even with antiviral meds you won't develop it yourself :( But hopefully they'll have some preventative measures to stop it from going full-blown (incubation is about 2 weeks, though... I don't know if they can 'treat' it before it develops, you know?)
Good luck!
12:15 PM
Why wouldn't you just get up and move right away? Are you worried about offending this lady who's brought her contagious kid on the bus? I'm sure she'd have understood!
Yesterday, on my way home, some old guy came and sat in the seat facing my seat on the subway. The girl immediately next to him got up and moved.
About 30 seconds later I was hit with the strongest stale urine smell imaginable.
I also went ahead and moved to the other end of the subway car.
Was he offended? I don't care. He totally smelled like pee. Not my fault. I'm not going tolerate it and suffer out of some sense of politeness.
Ah well... if you get it, I'll take care of ya. :)
12:40 PM
Wow. I hope you don't catch it...I make a mean chicken soup, if you do.
12:41 PM
You're right, in retrospect, I should have moved.
I called Telehealth on Friday night, they said I should get the vaccine but upon my insistance they recommended me to a walk in clinic where I could speak to a doctor.
Around 7pm or so I decided to go seek out the doctor, he said he'd recommend that I get an injection of anti-bodies - not a vaccine in itself, it basically amounts to the same level of antibodies protection associated with people who have had chicken pox - so he wrote up the prescription and sent me next door to get the antibodies, after which I was to return to him to administer the injection. *shudder*
Turns out the pharmacist next door can't read the doc't handwriting, and asks me to decipher, so I calmly explain to him what I think is wrong with me, he says "hmmm" then decides to consult his book [whaa??] to look the drug up - he'd never heard of it [as if I'm not already paranoid enough, at this point I'm chewing on my nails] finally he goes next door to see my doctor to clarify the prescription and explain that they don't have it in stock.
The doctor makes a few calls, but no one has it, the pharmacist calls the hospital, they don't have it either, the doctor then wrote out a lab request for me to test for the anti-bodies in my system on Monday [three days after possible exposure] something he probably should have done in the first place? - anyway at some point along the way, with all the back and forth, I decided not to do anything about the possible exposure. I took the lab request and and left.
It's now been 3 days since Friday morning... incubation period can be anytime between 7 and 21 days. If it happens, it happens. If I get hit with it on Day 7 it'll be right smack in the middle of camping [which would be the worse case scenario] but I'm not going to worry about it anymore, I've taken my vitamins and I'm going to attempt to keep my immune system strong in the meantime.
And if it hits I'll deal with it, better now than when I'm carrying a baby, right?
3:24 PM
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