peeved

So my surgery is tomorrow morning.  Last Friday (a few days ago), I had to do pre-admitting and get blood drawn, etc. in preparation for the surgery which will make things go much more smoothly as we check in tomorrow.

ANYhow, the admitting person took great interest in the fact that I have Lyme disease.  But not in a medical-I-don't-believe-you way.  She really was interested.  She asked about when I was bit and how I was diagnosed, etc.

THEN, as a side comment as she was telling me that the surgeon and the anesthesiologist would be coming to talk to me right before the surgery, she said, "The anesthesiologist will probably be interested in your Lyme disease actually."  I said, "Oh."  And she continued typing and preparing.  Then I decided to ask, "Wait, so WHY will the anesthesiologist be interested in it?" expecting her to say, "Oh well, that anesthesiologist had Lyme too."

But no.  She said, "Oh well, he'll be interested because, you know, Lyme is blood-borne......"

"OH!!!" I said.  And then I started to stew!

Lyme disease blood sample

They don't believe you when you say you have chronic Lyme.  But the minute they are going to be around your blood, they have full confidence that it's not "all in your head".  Wow.

I'm sure many of you know this, but did you know that if you have Lyme or have every had Lyme, you cannot ever again donate blood?  Another example of the medical community believing you when otherwise they wouldn't.

*sigh*  I'm not mad and I won't BE mad at the doctors tomorrow because I like to believe in most cases it's just a lack of information for most of them.  But the general idea that they believe you and don't even ask for proof when they are dealing with your blood --- THAT makes me peeved.