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- May 13, 2015
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I guess the purpose of this post is to both vent and to find support....
One month in to intern year of a surgical sub specialty. Everything has been great. Last week, however, I had a fluid splash to the eye in the OR. I was wearing protective glasses, but of course a drop of fluid during debridement ended up in my eye. Called the exposure in to our occupational health department. Fast forward to today, and I hear back that the patient is positive for hepatitis C anti-body and has an active infection. (Negative for HIV.) I'll be having my blood drawn tomorrow for baseline labs.
Part of me is extremely nervous. I know the transmission rate of hep c through mucous membrane exposure is thought to be extremely low. But still, it's scary. Part of me is still in denial. The biggest part of me is angry. I find myself really mad at the patient. He's an IV drug abuser, who won't admit he's using. He's been admitted 3 times in the past month for abscesses from injecting. And now, as we've tried to help him time and time again, I end up exposed to hep c. Intellectually, I had known this was a risk of being a surgeon. But wow, it really sucks when it becomes your reality. Its my day off today, so I'm not really around anyone. I just needed somewhere to vent about it. Thanks for any support or thoughts anyone can share. Quick question...does a person's hep c RNA viral load correlate with his or her ability to infect others? His viral load is low (348 copies / mL). I know at this point, it doesn't change anything, just looking for a little extra hope.
One month in to intern year of a surgical sub specialty. Everything has been great. Last week, however, I had a fluid splash to the eye in the OR. I was wearing protective glasses, but of course a drop of fluid during debridement ended up in my eye. Called the exposure in to our occupational health department. Fast forward to today, and I hear back that the patient is positive for hepatitis C anti-body and has an active infection. (Negative for HIV.) I'll be having my blood drawn tomorrow for baseline labs.
Part of me is extremely nervous. I know the transmission rate of hep c through mucous membrane exposure is thought to be extremely low. But still, it's scary. Part of me is still in denial. The biggest part of me is angry. I find myself really mad at the patient. He's an IV drug abuser, who won't admit he's using. He's been admitted 3 times in the past month for abscesses from injecting. And now, as we've tried to help him time and time again, I end up exposed to hep c. Intellectually, I had known this was a risk of being a surgeon. But wow, it really sucks when it becomes your reality. Its my day off today, so I'm not really around anyone. I just needed somewhere to vent about it. Thanks for any support or thoughts anyone can share. Quick question...does a person's hep c RNA viral load correlate with his or her ability to infect others? His viral load is low (348 copies / mL). I know at this point, it doesn't change anything, just looking for a little extra hope.
