It’s been 3 days since the diagnosis. The news is still taking time to sink in. I do feel depress occasionally and having mixed emotions. And I’m still holding on to the slimmest chance of a wrong diagnosis.
Maybe I’d receive the good news 2 weeks later from the doctor that it is actually not TB. The skin test result isn’t a 100% indication as a person with low immunity would also have a skin reaction. The doctors may have made a mistake in observing the x-ray film and that the little spots are actually scars which could be an indication that my antibodies have won a TB war much earlier. My sputum test is negative so far.
Though non life-threatening (provided I obediently and conscientiously take the medication), having to go through a 6-month treatment sounds a long time to me. I’ve to report to the polyclinic daily to take my medication under the supervision of a nurse for the next 2 months daily. For Sun and PH, medication will be packed for me to take from home. It’s tedious, especially to a non-pill swallower like me, it’s tough having to take 7 pills everyday. I don’t blame such a system as I know there will be people out there who will ‘default’ taking their medication which would cause the bacteria to become resistant to the medication and new medicines have to be taken for a longer period of time with more side effects with a lower chance of cure. Worse, the person might also spread the drug-resistant TB to others.
Fortunately, the nurses at the polyclinic have been helpful and patient. My first medication took place at the TB Centre. The social medical worker helped me pound all the medicine into powder form which I estimated it to amount to 3 tablespoonfuls. You can imagine the taste of the concoction. If only someone would try to make all medicines taste better, then patients at least would be more willing to take them.
Day 2, I took about half an hour to finish. The nurse helped to cut the pills up whilst I cut them smaller with my pill cutter. Still it took 2 glasses of water and several attempts to get those smaller pieces of pills down. The bitter aftertaste lingers…
Today, I strategized by grinding them into powder one at a time instead of mixing all up. It sped up the process a little with less aftertaste. I’d feel a little lethargy after medication and am experiencing numbness on my left leg which I’ll have to alert the doc of this side effect if it continues. No alcohol and TCM for me now as the medication might affect the liver. Well to lighten things up, my pj now is like Fanta Orange, due to one of the pills I’m taking.
Looking forward to the end of 2 weeks so I can be back at work, and looking forward to 14 Mar – the end of the daily torture. After which, I would only be required to go for medication on a thrice a week basis for the next 4 mths and hopefully, with fewer medication.
I suppose when I get back to office, probably some colleagues might feel uncomfortable of my presence. Can’t really blame them for I too had the stigma when I visited the TB centre. Face mask, no using of hp in the premise, went back to bathe to sanitize myself right after the visit and even disinfecting my bag with dettol disinfectant spray.
The social medical nurse explained to me that the TB bacteria can stay inactive in a person and become active later especially when one’s immunity level is low. It’s airborne and it’s hard to tell who, where and when you catch it from such as my case. I can only presume that I may have caught it at crowded shopping malls in town as these are the last few places I’ve been before I was down with the flu. But then again, I could have caught it earlier- in the lift, in the trains, in the taxis… Well one word that probably says it plainly -- “Suay”……
A healthy person who is infected has a 10% chance of developing TB disease in his/her lifetime. The chance is higher if one:
- suffers from diseases such as diabetes or HIV infection
- is a drug addict
- is on steroids
- have poor nutrition
And well, it’s obvious I belong to the last category. For now, I just have to avoid crowded places to reduce the chance of me catching some other bugs esp a flu or a cough bug which might distress my lungs further.
Apparently, TB seems to be back here and has seen a rising trend according to reports, probably partly due to the increase of foreign workers. With almost 5 mil people living on this small island, it's really tough to find places without the crowd and the noise...
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