Wouldn't It Be Nice

Can I just go one week without something crazy going on here in Philly? So a few weeks ago, I had to run all over town to find someone to give me a TB test. I had to go through Thomas Jefferson's Family Medicine (read: The Parkland of Philadelphia) clinic as a new patient. What a beating. But at least the doctor that I saw was cool and just did my PPD and sent me on my way. I even told him thanks, it's been a pleasure meeting you, but I hope to never see you again. That weekend I went to Dallas, so while I was visiting friends at TSRH, I had the employee health nurse read it for me. Negative. Perfect. Except that she wanted everyone to get a chest x-ray to make sure there wasn't anything residual. So, I had that done at the hospital and never heard anything of it again. Until this past Friday. She sent me an email that said she wanted to review my results and that I needed to call her. If you got that in an email Friday evening, wouldn't you start worrying? I did and couldn't call her until Monday morning. I waited all weekend wondering what could have been the problem. Did I really have TB? Come to find out...no. But apparently they found an area of one of my lungs that was "hazy" and might be a sign of atelectasis. Meaning a partially collapsed lung. WHAT?! How on earth could I have run 10 miles last weekend in crazy heat and have a partially collapsed lung. So, I had to get another chest x-ray. How on earth am I going to do that? Well, I asked one of the fellows I work with if he would order it and he would except he couldn't read it for me. I needed to follow up with someone who normally read them. He would feel bad if he missed something. If it were a knee, he could do it, but not a chest x-ray. (Did I mention he's an orthopedic hand surgeon?). So, thank goodness I did see that doctor because I just called his office. He called me back Tuesday morning, put in the order and I could get it done. So, I trekked back to TJU, sat for about an hour and got yet another chest x-ray. When I was waiting to make sure they came out right, the tech asked me if I had any questions. Yep, just one. Does it look normal? I know she's not authorized to say, but still, come on. So we looked at it together and didn't see a whole lot of anything. But now I have to wait until the doctor calls me with the results. Except that I got one of the other fellows, who have access to the TJU system, pull up my x-rays and result. The report basically said it couldn't get more normal than that. Oh, and according to the ortho hand surgeon, my bones look good. That was about the extent of his comment on my x-ray.

This weekend I'm going to Atlantic City, so I just pray that everything goes smooth. I don't have a very good track record with traveling as of late.