Went for my pre-employment tuberculosis (consumption, for those of us who have trouble pronouncing the word) screening today. Like most good immigrant to this country, my left arm bears the mark of a previous tuberculosis vaccination, which means that every TB skin test I take is automatically positive. After being stuck once in seventh grade, most doctors now send me straight to the X-ray round (though I had to have quite a lengthy argument with the now-dismissed Dr. Jeff because of it). This morning, as usual, I informed the nurse practitioner that I have had the BCG vaccine, thinking that she'd send me to X-ray. But she looked at my chart and noticed that I'd been in two summers ago. "Now, normally we require a clear X-ray from within a year but yours is from two years ago," she remarked. "What have you been doing in your year in between?" "Um, going to school?" "And where is this school?" "Up in Maine." "All right, then. You probably didn't come in contact with TB. I'm going to say that you don't have to get the X-ray." And thus, I was cleared of tuberculosis and declared fit for employment. I'm not sure if that was the most ethical thing to do, but it sure made my life easier. I probably even saved the hospital some money on useless X-rays, so thank you, hassle-free Nurse Practitioner. I won't let you down and contract the disease.
Mother: You did tell her that you went to China, right?
Moi: No... but I don't have TB, so it's ok. Really, I swear I don't have it.
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