“Hello, I’m calling from employee health. You did get the message about the exposure? Didn’t you?” I listened to what sounded like the beginning of a Zombie Apocalypse movie. “A message was sent out last week requesting you to fill out the exposure form and return it to us. We have not received it yet and need it to continue the investigation”

“The exposure? The investigation” I asked. “What are you talking about?” I thought about an email I had received a week before about Tuberculosis, but didn’t think much about it because we have to get tested for Tuberculosis each year. It’s all sort of routine.

“Yes, we are investigating the case of a patient who died of Tuberculosis. We are testing all the people that he came in contact with on his last visit to the clinic and your name came up on our list.”

“What?” I asked, still feeling that creepy feeling in my spine like I was suddenly thrust into a bad zombie movie. I looked over to my co-worker and she was still the old woman I worked with and not Michelle Rodriquez so I knew I wasn’t dreaming. “You’re saying that I’ve been exposed to Tuberculosis?”

“Well, I’m saying that we’re testing everyone who may have come in contact with the patient.”

I was feeling the anger starting to rise in me as I thought about the fact that I could be carrying a virus and spreading it to everyone, especially to the people that I care about. “What about all the people that have come in contact with me? What if I have it then what?”

“Well, we will treat you for it.”

“What about the people that have been in contact with me? What’s going to happen with them”

“if you are positive then they will have to be tested as well.” It wasn’t a great answer, but I’ve worked with the government long enough to know that there weren’t any great answers.

“When was I exposed?” I had all these questions in my head but could only fully form one at a time. I felt angry and scared at the same time. I remembered that one of the symptoms was a persistent cough. I didn’t remember having a cough, but I could imagine myself coughing up blood at some point if I tested positive.

“The patient came into your clinic in March and he died in May. We didn’t know that he had the live virus until after his death”

“This happened in March and I’m just now finding out about it?” I was getting angrier as the conversation progressed.

“Can you come in tomorrow to be tested? You may have to get permission from your supervisor. I can talk to her if you want me to.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow morning. I’ll talk to my supervisor and I’ll make sure she knows what’s going on.”

I talked to my supervisor and told her about the phone call. She seemed a little concerned because if I had come in contact with the virus then there was a strong possibility that she may have come in contact with it as well and when you think you’ve been in contact with a virus that can kill you – you tend to worry a little bit.

As I thought about it I was a little relived that I had already taken my yearly TB test and it was after the exposure, so the chances of me actually having Tuberculosis was pretty slim, but even so, I wasn’t about to take any chances.

The next day I showed up at employee health before they even opened their doors. The nurse was very kind and tried to answer my questions, but she didn’t seem to know what to do. This must have been her first investigation because she called the doctor in to find out what to do.

The doctor came in and started asking me all sorts of questions. She told me the name of the patient and even showed me a picture of him while asking me if I remembered talking to him. I told her that I didn’t even remember the patients I talked to yesterday much less someone who I had talked to months ago. I don’t tend to remember patients unless something out of the ordinary happens – they can be either really mean and nasty to me, or really nice and I’ll remember them, but otherwise I don’t tend to remember people.

The doctor told me that it was unlikely that I had the virus, but they had to follow protocol and test everyone who may have come in contact with the patient at his last visit. I told her that I didn’t think I had it because I had been tested in the time between the exposure and the time I was notified because my yearly TB test had fallen in that time and I had been negative. She then told me how the patient would have had to have stood within six feet from me and talked directly to me so that the virus could spread from him to me.

She asked me a few more questions, which I answered as best I could. I filled out the exposure form and then she left the nurse to do the test. The nurse injected my arm and all we could do then was wait the two days to see if I had a reaction.

The next two days were really quite normal because I was sure that I did not have the virus. I did joke with everyone at work that if I had it I was going to cough on everyone and everything because if I was going down I was taking them all with me. I joked but at the same time I don’t know how much of it was really a joke. Don’t start a pandemic with me because I will spread it

This story is pretty anti-climate as most of my stories tend to be (at least that’s what my friend David says) – the test came back negative and I was ok. The thing that worries me about this whole thing is that every day we come in contact with people who are sick with who knows what – it’s just a matter of time before someone’s test comes back positive…and then what?

During meetings at work I tend to doodle, I added my little zombie doodle for effect