I Got Poked.

and not in the woo-hoo sense. but rather in the way that i got stuck w/ a bloody needle while sewing with another PA on a knee case yesterday.

it's a drag. bound to happen sooner or later...since we work w/ sharp objects in close proximity to each other...it happens to everyone...but it sucks because then both the patient's and my blood has to be tested for all flavors of infectious diseases (Hepatitis(es), HIV, etc) and now i have to worry about the slim possibility that i actually picked something up from the patient. and in order to give a blood sample, i had to go down to the freaking ER at the hospital in the middle of the day and wait 30 minutes with all the plebs. me, in my surgical cap, booties on my feet, and scrubs next to the 4 year old with snot running down his face and the 150 year old asking everyone who passed by for a cracker.

sigh.

and next week i have to go to employee health to have a meeting where they reveal to me if the patient did in fact show positive for any of the scary diseases and if so, how i'd go about getting treated for them.

fun, fun.

thankfully, according to the history the patient provided, he seemed pretty domestic and conservative and did not reveal anything like time spent in ghana, full body tattooing, S&M tendencies, or partiality toward shooting heroine.

but you never know.

this is more of an annoyance to me than anything. i knew it would happen eventually. it's almost happened a few times before. we take every precaution in the world not to get stuck by a knife or a needle or cautery or anything, but i've seen it happen a half dozen times to other people since i've started. (for the record, i just witnessed these events, i did not in fact stab any of these people). it's just a matter of course when working with sharps. and i know the statistics and how unlikely it is that anything will be transmitted to me.

plus, i guess i take kind of a fatalistic attitude about this. i work in health care around very sick, infective people. i've been fitted for a airtight mask in the event that i am treating a TB patient or there's a germ warfare outbreak or something. when people encounter horrible, deadly things, where's the first place they go? the hospital. and who takes care of them? we do. (most especially if there's obvious boils or rotting limbs- this would be a time when the MD would cheerfully send the PA to the front line). so we do the best we can to compulsively wash our hands and stay clear of obvious sources of infections, but there's only so much you can do and fear before you make yourself nuts.

so that's my story for the week.

off to eat obscene amounts of delicious food tomorrow. after revealing to my family what i just told you, i bet no one will want to share a glass with me. they might even make me sit at the kids' table by myself in the next room. :(

("hello, guys? anyone? can you pass the potatoes? a little help? i just wanted to let you know that on this thanksgiving, i'm thankful for you, my family. hello? i said, I'M THANKFUL FOR YOU! oh...never mind....")