Who Knew??

So, my sister has a mole on her back that started changing colors. She made an appointment to have it removed a few weeks ago. Well, they couldn't remove it because she had to have some shots and a physical to enter the nursing program. She had to schedule another appointment to have the mole removed.

My mom called me yesterday morning upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "Do you remember the appointment Tonya had about the mole on her back?" I searched through my mind trying to remember if I knew when she had rescheduled for. I was, of course, thinking that she had it removed already and that she had cancer. I was wrong. My mom said, "She got her vaccinations for the nursing program and her TB skin test came back positive." Well, I didn't freak out. She had to have one in high school before she could work for the nursing home and it came back positive but her chest x-ray showed nothing. And, my TB skin test before coming to Catawba was iffy. So, I don't think they're 100% reliable. If they come back positive, you still have to have a chest x-ray to confirm that you have it.

Well, my mom went on to say, "They scheduled her for a chest x-ray and they found something in her lungs." At this point, my stomach sinks to my toes. I don't really know what TB does. I know it used to be called consumption and it affects the lungs. That's about it. All that was going through my head was, "Nicole Kidman's character dies of TB in Moulin Rouge." I was at the point of tears.

I've never heard of anyone getting TB in the U.S. I thought it was gone. Done for. Like Polio. I mean, has anyone met anyone who has had TB??

So, I did some research and it is still killing people all over the globe. Under 1,000 people die from it each year in the U.S. (ha! I didn't even know 1,000 people each year GOT TB, let alone DIED from it!). Those are mostly elderly people. It kills about 2 million people per year in the world. That's mostly people in 3rd world countries and especially people with HIV/AIDS.

There is a treatment for it. It lasts 6 to 9 months. Phew. That's a long time. She shouldn't be contagious after week 2 of the treatment though. At least, that's what the internet tells me. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning to discuss it. I'm sure there will be more tests as well.

I'm not quite so freaked out now. It's very unlikely that she will have any problems recovering. However, she's supposed to start the nursing program in the fall. If she has TB, she probably won't be able to start. And she's already put in 2 years worth of work to get to this point. So, she will be devastated if she can't continue. If there is a problem, she will hopefully be able to just delay it for a year. But, that delay will suck. She's already had to transfer and had problems with credits transferring, so she's already behind. If she has to delay even longer, she's going to be in school for longer than Joe! ahahahahahah! :) Just kidding... there are very few people who can accomplish that! ;)

But, anyway... hopefully everything will go well with the doctor tomorrow. And then, hopefully she will get good news about the mole... which still hasn't been removed.

P.S. When I was making dinner last night, I turned on the TV and the news was on. The first story I heard was about a girl in Charlotte who tested positive for TB. Isn't it weird how when you find something out, relevant things seem to pop up?? This was really weird since I'd never heard of anyone getting TB in my lifetime!