My friend Peter had not been feeling well for a long time…unfortunately, he does not have insurance and is working on a long term temp job for little money, so he put off going to the hospital.
Finally, he went - to Bellevue, and it is a long, ugly story - but to make it short, he paid $60 to get admitted to the emergency room. They did a few tests and the next thing he knew, he was wheeled into an isolation room and they closed the glass doors and he was locked in there for a week. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis!
It has been a nightmare for him…so far, it looks like things are going better - they released him but he has to wear a face mask until he can spit three days in a row and not show TB…he has to take medicine every day for the next six months…his place of employment was swarmed by the Board of Health and every employee was forced to be tested for TB (he is dreading going back to work as the co-workers weren’t all that friendly to begin with)…and now he is home, not earning any money, and still feeling not all that well.
He of course has no idea how he got TB, and is depressed and hoping to be well enough to return to work next week.
I only wish I were there to help him out, but luckily at least a neighbor has been generous enough to go to the store to buy him milk and bread and he has enough in his checking account to pull him through the month.
The poor schmuck has had a lot of bad luck in his life, but I have to admit, this is the topper.