Thanks, McDonalds. Because of you, I’m now patiently waiting to see why my liver is enlarged and my eyes are jaundiced. Who knew a post-long-run hash brown and unsweet tea could cost me 30$ in a copay and possibly a lovely disease? ***** I’m not lovin’ you right now.
It all started when I was minding my own business and taking my class to lunch. I saw a substitute for another K teacher and then saw that K teacher in the office signing out. She said that she was at McDonalds with her child during the possible exposure and because she’s pregnant, her doctor wants her to get the vaccine for Hepatitis A. I still had no idea what was going on. She said people who ate at the Northport Mickey Ds were possibly exposed to an employee who tested positive. I checked the paper but I knew it had been a couple of weeks since I swung by there. I knew it was the day before my birthday and it was for breakfast. And my luck ran out then. The dates in the paper said “march 14th or breakfast March 16”. My lucky breakfast run was March 16. Off to the doctor I go.
The nurse practitioner took my info and said because I was a teacher, it was a good idea to get the vaccine anyway so they weren’t even going to test for Hep A. If I had it, the vaccine would fix it. But he wanted to do a quick exam anyway. He found my enlarged liver and then saw my eyes and said he needed to get the doctor. Okay…this didn’t sound good. The doctor said yes we would test because my symptoms were conducive to liver stress but he wasn’t concerned about Hep A. He was concerned that this was some long term liver problems. Great.
So now, I wait. Do I want Hep A and know the vaccine will help? Or do I want some silly thing like..vitamin deficiency maybe? That’s as far as I can speculate. If I go much farther, I’ll scare the crap out of myself.
***** All joking and whining aside, McDonald’s did the right thing. The employee had been ill at home, but didn’t think it was serious. He was feeling better so he went to work. When he got ill at work, his manager promptly sent him home and suggested he seek medical care. Later that afternoon, the CDC was alerted that the employee tested positive for Hepatitis A and the public was notified of possible exposure.
Did I mention that the needle had to do into my deltoid? Not my butt where I have plenty of fat. Oh no. She had to isolate my SHOULDER DELTOID so she could maim it with an elephant tranquilizer needle!
