Monday, August 10, 2009

Waiting for Results

I sit here this morning waiting anxiously for a phone call from Colorado. I'm sure many of you remember the surgery I had in January in Colorado to remove my extra rib. I received a certified letter in the mail a month ago. I got nervous when I saw it was from Colorado, wondering if we had somehow missed paying a bill. I immediately opened the letter to find out what was so important. It was a letter from Rose Medical Center, the hospital were I had my surgery, requesting that I take a Hep C test. They informed me that a terminated worker had been diagnosed with Hep C and that a cluster of cases had resulted with former patients who had also been diagnosed with Hep C. The hospital was running test to see if the two were related. They provided a lab to get free testing, I just had to set up an apt. As soon as I was done reading the letter I got online and made an apt. I talked with Josh about it and he couldn't fathom how anyone could get Hep C in surgery unless the infected person bleed into the patient. I was slightly comforted.
I go to my apt. I had scheduled it before work and brought Makayla and Caroline with me. I sit in the chair and wait. The technician had trouble reading the test required as it did not come up in their system. She told me that she would find out what was going on and to come in later that day. That was a Tuesday. I wasn't able to come in that day, so I made another apt for Friday. I come in Friday, alone this time, and am greeted with an, "Oh, no one called you?" Apparently this Hep C test is very special and they don't have it in stock, so they had to order it and it wasn't in yet. I tell them to call me as soon as it gets in and I will come. I get a call later that day saying that the test can't be performed on a Friday because the results are frozen and mailed. I left for camp the next day, having the wait out the week while I was in Mocksville.
When I return from camp I finally get to making an apt., knowing that they needed notice that I was coming to prepare the test. I made an apt for last Wednesday. Not being able to call anyone and actually tell them that I'm coming, I stop by on Tuesday to let them know I am coming to next day. I am dismissed by a technician, who was talking on her cell phone at the receptionist desk, saying that if they had my paperwork everything would be ready. Big shocker, the next day when I show up to the apt, this time with Josh in tow for backup, they were not prepared. I waited anxiously in the chair as the technician is talking with Colorado getting instructions for how to package the test. At this point, I am still not understanding the urgency of this test and really just complying because they asked me to. Finally the sample is drawn and we are on our way.
I don't even think about things until last night when I was cleaning off the kitchen table and find a letter addressed to me from the Department of Justice. I few thoughts run through my mind, I had recently received ticket, but at second look saw that the letter was from the Colorado Department. My second thought was again we must be delinquent on a payment. I hurriedly open this letter to see that it's a letter informing me of my victim rights in the case of Kristen Parker. I am given a victim code and pin to which I can check on the DOJ website and get the case details. Kristen Parker is accused of 1 felony count and 21 counts of knowingly spreading a life threatening disease. This sounded pretty serious, so I did what anyone else would do and googled her. I figured that if this was as big as it sounded than it had to have been hot news in CO. Sure enough, tons of info. Kristen Parker has admitted to using the drug Fetanyl (sp?). Not just that, but she would take the drug, replace it with saline, and then put the used needle with the saline back on the operating tray. So, not only was she assisting with an operation high on pain killers, but she was passing on her Hep C through every used drug needle she replaced.
As you could guess, this was very shocking information for me. Josh says that God was looking out for me that I read the letter last night and didn't have to wait the whole weekend to call the hospital to find out what's going on. I just had to make it through the night. Somehow the migraine that was starting took a turn for the worse and I had to go to bed.
With the time difference, I had to wait a bit this morning for my call to Rose Medical Center. The people there are very nice. Unfortunately, the help line couldn't answer my questions, but is passing on my call to someone else. I shared with them my concern of the test even arriving there since I had such difficulty just getting the test done.
So now, here I sit, just waiting for results. Waiting for a call at least to assure me that they have received my blood sample. Waiting...
I figured that all of this wouldn't fit in a status update, hence the note. I post the results once I hear them.

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