death defying!

Today I placed a PPD on my HIV+ patient. It was completely benign, just three little 27-gauge needles and three little syringes of tuberculin, candida, and aspergillus. But still. Needles! with HIV! and his blood!

My homeless HIV+ patient was so dirty that the alcohol swab I used to clean the area actually rubbed off brown dirt. Then he hacked and coughed so hard that he threw up. Awesome. Despite my little microfilter-isolation-mask, I held my breath and tried not to imagine the aerosolized particles of DISEASE floating in the air.