mammogram and other medical tests

[redbird]

I had a mammogram this afternoon, at Mt. Auburn Hospital. The technician told me I would probably get the results through MyChart within 24 hours.

Because of the heat, I called a Lyft rather than taking transit--and traveled with the windows wide open, because when I asked the driver to mask he said he didn't have one. I offered him a spare, and he pointed out that he isn't required to mask. *sigh*

So I took transit home, on the theory that I could be masked and on air conditioned transit for an hour or so, or masked and exposed to temperatures that are somewhere between uncomfortable and actually unhealthy for me (91 F, heat index 101; 33 C heat index 38). The trip home was a bit faster and definitely more comfortable than I'd expected. (73-red line-green line b, so I could make the connections indoors, rather than out in the sunshine, and I had no trouble getting a seat on the green line at Park Street).

When I saw Carmen last week, she had me leave a urine sample, which turned out to be for a drug screening. I got results on that through MyChart a couple of hours later, read them, and sent her a message saying that I don't think those are my results. One of the tests was for one of my prescription drugs, which I have been taking twice a day as prescribed. Carmen got back to me this afternoon, saying that the test should produce a positive test if the person has taken the drug within about three days, and they may need to check on the tests. It certainly looks like the lab is being careless, assuming they're even testing all the samples.

Comments

[otter]

More than annoying, misreading/mislabeling tests like that can be dangerous. I know, preaching to the choir. I was once admitted via the ER on the same night as another person with a similar/same first name and our test results were swapped. It was bad.

[redbird]

This specific time, for me, the worry isn't medical. But I'm in Massachusetts, where literally tens of thousands of criminal convictions were set aside years after a technician was caught faking huge numbers of drug test results.

In my case, the problem isn't that the test results report that they found something they shouldn't have--it's that they didn't report the Ritalin. (The test not reporting marijuana use isn't a problem, but is an anomaly.)

[sabotabby]

I hope all the results are clear.

people not masking

[tarasacon]

My landlord bought a new stove to replace my broken one. It arrived yesterday. The delivery/installation person refused to mask and I was stuck with the choice of attempting to argue with an unmasked person (and potentially risking ending up with no stove), or opening all the windows, leaving the room, and letting him get it done. Fortunately it was early in the day and it didn’t heat up quite as quickly yesterday as it has some days. But it was a shitty situation. I’m glad you had options that turned out okay!

Re: people not masking

[redbird]

The better options seem to be not to travel in really hot weather/in rush hour. If it's not so beastly hot, a Lyft with open windows isn't a problem. Avoiding rush hour means less crowded mass transit. A less-crowded bus or train has always been more comfortable, but it didn't used to be, or feel, safer.

The other option is to stay home. I'm already doing a lot of that, in terms of skipping non-medical activities and events, and trying not to resent individual unmasked bus passengers or shoppers.

Re: people not masking

[tarasacon]

Yeah, I’m going nowhere, and skipping a lot of routine medical care that should be happening. I just don’t have the spoons to navigate the risk.