Helllp

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So I just got accepted to nursing school and ironically the same week ended up in the hospital and in surgery. I've been having pain in my neck/jaw for a while and long story short I just found out have extrapulmonary tuberculosis! sheesh. They removed 3 lymph nodes and one of my salivary glands. talk about a roller coaster of emotion this week. ......my question is, is me having tb going to prevent me from being able to to clinicals, etc? It technically is active tb, but apparently i've had it for years and its not present in my lungs, therefore i'm not able to transmit it....So its not contagious, but it technically is active TB disease....I haven't told the nursing school yet, (I don't start till october) so I just don't know what to do! any thoughts? anyone have any experiences with tb/being a nurse?

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Medical Intensive Care.

It is definitely hard to say. To be on the safe side, contact your nursing school and inform them of the situation. They should be able to tell you if you are eligible to attend or not. Also, think about this. Failure to report crucial information to your nursing school could result in your becoming a risk to your patients during clinical rotations.

I hope all works in your favor. Good luck and congratulations on being accepted into a nursing program! It is no easy task. :)

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no I totally intend to tell them! I wasn't going to keep it a secret or anything :) I just don't know that much about extra-pulmonary tb! so i wasn't sure If i maybe could still transmit it other than through respiratory.....I would never selfishly jeopardize patients health just to continue school. I have an appointment with the pathologist tuesday and they will be starting me on a cocktail to eradicate the bacteria in my body. So it will be on its way...I guess I'm just a little panicky, i've spent uncountable weekend nights studying a&p, etc for the past couple years to get to this moment, I dont want this to cause any more delays.

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Specializes in Family Medicine, Medical Intensive Care.

It sounds like you are doing the responsible thing. Present your questions and concerns to the pathologist, and he/she will be able to answer your questions and clear up any doubt that you may have. Just relax. Everything should work out fine. :)

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Did you pass the tb test with that?

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yeah for some reason my PPD skin test came back negative? But when they biopsied my nodes they tested positive.? Weird huh?

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