Phewwww

Maybe the title of this should have been "test". But then I thought someone might have thought it meant "test" like not a real entry. But I digress. Well the test in question is an STD test (Is that what it's called?). The whole she-bang. Sorry I meant shabang. Anything they can test for I asked them to test for. Not that I had any reasons to worry. Ok maybe a few, but that was a long time ago under an assumed name. Well the good news is everything came back negative. The weird thing was I wasn't even worried in the least. For a test that could foreseeable ruin your life (if you had HIV), it would seem that it would be something of a concern. Especially, since this was the first time I have ever had any test like this, and therefore had to think back to every girl I had ever been with in my life.

More importantly (maybe not more importantly but it seemed like a good segue anyway) This whole issue made me think about some other issues regarding these types of tests. When I was driving home thinking of what to write about the test popped into my mind. However, I wasn't sure if I should write about it. Is this topic something your supposed to talk about? I've never spoken to anyone about this type of thing before. I've only told one person so far that I had the test done (and that was before I had the results). He relayed a story back to me of a time when he got tested. He was a little worried at the time since he had just gotten back from Thailand (I didn't ask him to elaborate). That made me think "well I guess everyone has these types of tests done but no one talks about it". Why is this issue taboo? I remember calling to set up the appointment and being extremely embarrassed. But what is there to be embarrassed about? You wouldn't worry about getting a polio (am I dating myself with this comment?) or a strep throat test. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that people with STD's are considered "dirty". But this doesn't really make any sense. You only have to have sex with one person to get something. No one would consider you "dirty" if you had the flu or diabetes. Wouldn't having crabs be better than having say gang green? I mean it at least shows that your getting some, and you don't have to worry about having an appendage cut off. But I guess these are just societal norms. STD's and mental disorders are embarrassing but other diseases aren't.

One more thought on the subject before I finish. I was notified about my results with a phone call in the middle of the day, and a thought occurred to me. How come whenever you have any sort of test done by a physician they call you with the results. However, if anything comes up out of the ordinary they won't tell you over the phone. If your tested for X and they won't tell you over the phone you don't have X but need to come in... well wouldn't that tip the person off that they have X? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of not telling them? The only thing that I could think of is that maybe they never just test for one thing, so that you could never be sure what the bad news was going to be. Hmmmm.