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So I had to get a tuberculosis skin titer done - all School of Education students must before they can be admitted to the Teacher Education Program.
I will now commence 48 hours of staring at my arm for any sign that it will be positive. five minutes after leaving the doctor's office I called my husband in a panic (he gets them yearly in his job) "Is it supposed to be purple??!!??"
He answers "That would be blood - yes, it's fine."
Then the nurse told me to not rub it and to try and keep from bumping it. Great! I'll be cradling my arm for two days. Maybe I should just go ahead and get a sling.
All you medical types can now tell me how I'm silly, and that even if it is positive, it's most likely a false positive and a chest xray will clear me. Go ahead, lecture me.
But it will not stop my obsessing over this for the next two days.
*glances at arm once again*
What? It could have changed in the time it took to type this post!
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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And tomorrow, in yet one more journey down the road toward teacher certification - I get to be fingerprinted by a cop for a background check! Woo hoo!
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I had to be fingerprinted for my NASD certification. I think the cop was happy to be fingerprinting someone who wasn't being booked.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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That's what happened to me-- I got fingerprinted to work at a daycare, and the cop had trouble getting me to hold my hands right, I guess, and he said, "You've never done this before, have you?" I said, "Not since I was four!" He said, "That's a good thing!"
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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At one point, I was getting a new TB test every 8 months or so. My frequent co-op jobs all seemed to require one. Along around the fifth year of this, the nurse doing the test looked at my chart and asked "Is this a yearly ritual for you or something?"
Best of luck, Belle!
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Did any of you have to pay the police to fingerprint you? Our campus police department wanted $25 to do the fingerprinting! I found that pretty outrageous, considering I was bringin my own cards and everything.
Then, I thought to call the local sheriff's office and they said they'd do it happily, if I brought the cards, for no charge. So that's where I'm headed tomorrow.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I had no ties to the university, so I was fingerprinted by the local police department. If there was a charge, it was covered by my company (NASD and Blue Sky certification is expensive).
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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I had to be fingerprinted in order to be a chaperone for a school trip. Our department now has a digital scanner system, which was kind of neat to see in action.
Oh and no charge, Belle. Maybe it's the difference between being done by the school and being done by law enforcement?
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I paid $15 to the Sheriff's Dept. to fingerprint me-- but they provided the card and filed it with the state for me.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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As a health care professional, I get my Mantoux (TB) test annually. And I give it, as well. In fact, just this morning, I did my own test, because the nurse wielding the needle isn't as good at it as I am.
Really, Belle, it's no biggie. There is no need for obsessive worry. Or even the non-obsessive type. And if it DOES show positive, that doesn't mean that you have tuberculosis. I just means that sometime in your life, you were exposed to it. And that you will never again have to submit to that test again (once positive, always positive).
Relax, for goodness sake!
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Oh, I know - the nurse told me the false positive rate is higher than I might think and that if it IS positive, they would do a chest x-ray. My school will accept a clear chest film for admission, as well.
I know it will be all right, I just have a tendency to stress over things that I shouldn't. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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After three years in the South Pacific with the Marines in WWII, my dad always tested positive, then he would take the X-ray. One year the Dr started worrying about all those X-rays, so from then on, the Dr.. would just review the record and sign a letter for the School District. He was told that sometimes persons who grow up on family dairy farms also test positive.
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I just took the same test this week. No worries Belle, by the time the two days pass you might not even be able to find where the shot was!
Posts: 66 | Registered: Jan 2006
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In this area, it's pretty normal for the police department to charge for fingerprinting (even if they're not providing the cards). It seems to run between $10-25 depending on the city. This year when I had to go get fingerprinted (our facility has an ATF license), we found out the city no longer will do fingerprinting so we had to go to a private place that charges $30/card.
I'm sure everything will go well with the TB titer. I remember being weirded out when my valley fever skin test was positive, yet the blood test was negative. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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It's so funny how some people will react from one exposure, some never do. My mom has been exposed many, many times over the years-- and has never even reacted once (she's a ped. nurse.)
I have been exposed at least three times I know of and similarly have never reacted.
I've read that contracting TB has to do with many factors, and that some people have a stronger genetic disposition. Perhaps some people have such a genetic immunity that we can be exposed and neither get sick nor even react to the tests? Who knows.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Belle: Did any of you have to pay the police to fingerprint you? Our campus police department wanted $25 to do the fingerprinting! I found that pretty outrageous, considering I was bringin my own cards and everything.
Then, I thought to call the local sheriff's office and they said they'd do it happily, if I brought the cards, for no charge. So that's where I'm headed tomorrow.
I didn't have to pay anything when I got fingerprinted! Of course, I didn't get to keep the fingerprints...
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: I paid $15 to the Sheriff's Dept. to fingerprint me-- but they provided the card and filed it with the state for me.
Ditto, except it was $25 (I think). And the fingerprinting was electronic.
By CA law, all HS teachers must be fingerprinted and run through the database. When that became law (~4 years ago, IIRC), there were a LOT of police stations having to deal with a flood of teachers.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I used to have to do the TB test every year. Thank goodness that's not the case anymore. And yeah, I had to pay for the TB test and for the fingerprints. And being fingerprinted for adoption purposes did not carry over for teaching purposes.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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One year when renewing her teacher's license my mom had to be fingerprinted, if she did it in our town it would be $25 if she did it in Indianapolis at some state office it would be free. We were going to the zoo anyway, so she just had it done there.
I had to have two TB skin tests in 4th grade, apparently about a third of the way through the school year an extended day staff member had tested positive even though they'd been negative when hired. I think one of the girls in our group actually had to have a chest xray but she ended up ok.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: And being fingerprinted for adoption purposes did not carry over for teaching purposes.
I'd been fingerprinted (twice) by the BHPD for when I was a volunteer (ham-radio-related) there, and there was no way to transfer that either.
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I was fingerprinted as an employee of the federal government.They took me to the police department during a work day. I also got the TB test when I had been around an infected person, usually once every couple of years.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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During my own process of becoming a certified teacher I've had to have about 4 police checks done over the last couple of years. Each cost $26. It's the most annoying thing ever, but at least I don't have to get fingerprinted. What I do need to do, and haven't gotten around to yet, is get my doctor to sign some papers saying I'm in good health as well as getting a TB test also. It's stupid because he already did that about 6 months ago (but with a chest x-ray instead of a TB test), but that was to meet a different school board's requirements, and now it's not recent enough anyway.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Interestingly enough, the job I worked at accepted any TB titer done within the past 2 years.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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My husband was fingerprinted & had a background check at a May job fair for the local district. He subsequently got a job with them, and is now at central offices getting fingerprinted AGAIN. Talk about not transferring!
Seriously, though, it's possible he won't have to do the fingerprinting and background check again. He was told to "be prepared" to do them, which I suppose means "we're not sure if we'll be able to find those records or not."
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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It's still purple, but it's flat. My hubby tells me that they look for raising, not color and the purple just indicates the needle nicked a vein and it bruised, so not to worry. It did bleed alot after it was done.
It's completely flat, though - you can run your hand over my arm and not feel it, so that's a good sign.
I didn't make it to the fingeprinting today, I'll try tomorrow.
I don't have to pay the police department anything, but I have to pay the State of Alabama a $50 processing fee (by money order, natch). Grr.
And most school districts require a TB titer that's within a year so I will have to do it again before I can be hired.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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So... 3 days ago I went in and got my TB skin test done. You see, I've recently been offered a teaching position, and this is of course one of the last hoops to jump through. I go in to get it checked yesterday, no big deal, I can barely tell where they stuck the thing anymore, I just want to get the paper signed and go on about my business. My doctor thinks otherwise. He looks at it... Then, he looks at it more carefully. He runs his finger across it, and does so with the other arm as well. He proceeds to take out some kind of chart and hold it next to the very slightly red spot which is only visible if you know to look for it. He then says to me with obvious surprise in his voice, "I think we have a positive test here." I say, "What?! That's not possible!" I go on to explain that I'm in perfect health (he should know, he examined my 48 hours ago), I don't cough, I don't have chest pains etc. and reminded him that I had a perfect chest x-ray 6 months ago. He kindly explains that none of that matters, and that I should book an appointment with the specialist. After that, I can come back to see him to discuss "treatment". (WTF!)
Long story short: I just got back from seeing both the specialist and my regular doctor (they're in the same clinic). The specialist was cool. It didn't take long to convince him that I DO NOT have TB, but for whatever reason he could only describe the test as "borderline" or "inconclusive". He also explained that my first mistake was getting one of these stupid skin tests in the first place. Apparently he's seen enough inconclusives and false positives to have last faith in them. In the end, both doctors agreed to call it negative and to put that on paper along with noting that my last chest x-ray was fine.
The annoying part (other than my doctor trying to make me think that I could have TB) is that I missed my orientation at the school I'll be teaching at. What a stressful couple of days!
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*shrugs* My brother came off his mission in Taiwan and got tested. He showed me the arm and I noticed it was bright red, and said, "Ummm.....I think that's supposed to indicate a positive." He said, "Oh right you MUST have it backwards." The doctor looked at it and said, "Well looks like you're not going anywhere in the next few minutes."
He had to take pills for months before the unhatched TB eggs attached to his lung just waiting to pop went away.
You don't want to be to lax when it comes to TB.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Yeah, I might have been more concerned if I thought there was even a reasonable chance that I had been exposed to TB in the 6 months since my complete annual physical. As it is, I was only concerned about losing my job if I couldn't get something definitive on paper.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: Yeah, I might have been more concerned if I thought there was even a reasonable chance that I had been exposed to TB in the 6 months since my complete annual physical. As it is, I was only concerned about losing my job if I couldn't get something definitive on paper.
You can't account for all the hands you have shaken and saliva you may have inadvertantly breathed in while going about your business for 6 months. My brother certainly was not doing anything different then what you or I do in terms of human contact.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Very true, but he was in a part of the world where TB is much more prevalent. In any case, since two doctors decided to give me a clean bill of health, and all they could say about the skin test with any certainty was "inconclusive", I think the odds are very much in favour of it just being a half-assed test.
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