Dirty Little Needle

A few days ago, at work, I was administering insulin to a patient who is known to have hepatitis C.

I was giving the patient the insulin in the arm when I felt something sharp in my left hand.

Somehow I had stuck myself with the dirty needle.

It's bad enough to have stuck myself with a truly filthy dirty needle, but it was as if my employer had no idea how to handle the situation (that's another story).

Mentally, I'm a mess. The data is overwhelming, and maybe because I'm such a mess, I haven't dedicated a lot of time to doing any serious research. Since I was never given the opportunity to speak to a doctor at my facility (I work a hospital for goodness sake!), I called the base. Then I called the base ob/gyn.

This was going to be the year to get pregnant. (Serendipitously, the day after the exposure, I received in the mail my referral for a fertility doc off base.)

The ob/gyn nurse on base called right away, spoke to the doctor, and called me back within a half hour. The verdict: "no baby making for 6 months. Practice safe sex. Use a condom. I'm so sorry and good luck."

Information on the internet is confusing; the CDC's website has my head spinning.

Statistically there is a 1.8% chance of seroconversion.

The CDC states that health care providers exposed to HCV (hepC) don't need to take special precautions to prevent transmission during the follow up period (6 months). While I 'should' (i.e. won't) be donating blood, plasma, etc in the next few months, the CDC states that the exposed person (me) does not need to modify sexual practices OR refrain from becoming pregnant.

HUH?! but the doc on base said otherwise....

I think I also read that 5 out of 100 babies are HepC+ when born to HCV moms.

Maybe the CDC says I don't need to refrain because the combined factor of 1.8% chance to seroconvert and the 5/100 odds.

But still. I wish I was in school again and could talk to someone about all this (better yet, I wish I could go back to Wednesday night and redo that insulin shot).

I'm doubt that I'm even interpreting all the information correctly (there's a 1.8% chance, but a range of 0%-7% to seroconvert....what does that mean??)

For now though, I sit and wait. My blood will be drawn again at the 6 week, 12 week, and 6 month mark. And I will sit with my fingers crossed, hoping.