A Close Call

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Last week I had accidentally cut my finger on a scalpel blade while in the morgue. It would have been fine if the scalpel blade was clean, but it was right in the middle of my organ dissection.

As I was cutting the organs on a raised table I needed to grab my long 'slicer'. This is the long knife that is typically used to section through or bread-loaf organs. I reached for the handle, but it was out of my sight (big mistake) and adjacent to the table. As I grasped the handle, I could feel a slight scratching motion run across the tip of my index finger, but it honestly didn't feel like a cut. Of course, I was wearing two layers of gloves, but it wasn't a feeling that one would normally feel while wearing gloves, so I took a look at my finger and I could see that the glove had a cut through it at the tip of my finger. I knew then that I was in trouble.

I unconsciously exclaimed an expletive and took off my gloves. Sure enough, a drop of blood formed at the tip of my finger. I was incredibly surprised because the pain was almost nonexistent. The cut was so smooth and clean I could hardly notice that my finger had just been cut. Looking back at my table, I could see how I had gotten cut.

It turns out I had unbeknownst placed a scalpel next to the slicer handle (or the slicer handle next to the scalpel) so that when I reached to grab the slicer handle, my finger inadvertently rubbed across the scalpel blade. It was a perfect cut.

The biggest danger of being exposed to blood from another person (even if they are dead) is the risk of the transmission of disease. There are three big diseases that you should be conscious of in an exposure incident. They are, HIV, Hep B and Hep C.

Hepatitis B vaccinations exist and that is why we students, upon matriculation into this program, are vaccinated for this virus before we start the program. I'm definitely glad I was already immune, so I didn't have to worry whether I was exposed to it or not.

No vaccination exists for HIV, but fortunately, due to the nature of the virus, it is not easily spread even if you are exposed to it. Also, the number of persons in the US infected with HIV is relatively low.

My biggest fear was hepatitis C. It is more transmissible than HIV and a larger percentage of people have hepatitis C than HIV. Like HIV, there is no vaccination available for Hep C.

I immediately washed my hands with anti-microbial soap and tried to force out as much blood as possible from my finger. The morgue technicians were kind enough to draw some more blood out of the cadaver for me to take to the employee health office to test for antibodies in the cadaver blood. (The cadaver was already pretty 'dry' and it was really difficult getting any more blood out of it.)

I handed the blood off at the employee health office and eagerly awaited their response. I was in limbo. What if the body really did contain hepatitis or HIV? What if I really did contract some disease? It was a definite possibility that my whole life could change. I'm the type of person who for better or for worse, always imagines the worst outcome possible, and the worst outcome possible was definitely a grave one. I began to think about how I should conduct my life if I were to become infected. Could I still get married? What if I gave this disease to my fiancee? I'd never be able to forgive myself. What about having children and a family? What if my children were born with these diseases? Perhaps I should give up on the idea of raising a family.

Strange thoughts like these go through your head while you are waiting. The next day, they called me but unfortunately couldn't get a satisfactory lab result. Hemolyzed blood is more difficult to test with (well, after all, it's from a cadaver) and they needed to send out the blood to an outside lab.

It was all out of my hands at that point. I waited as patiently as one possibly could. Friday. Saturday. Sunday. Monday. Finally, today, the results came back.

Negative for both HIV and Hep C.

It's a load off of my shoulders to finally know. I do feel guilty that the hospital had to spend a good amount of money to get those tests done. I'd imagine that it was at least a couple of hundred dollars. Someday, when I have more discretionary money, I'll need to pay back the favor.

Life continues on as normal but with one important change. When you're working with your tools, always look at where your hands go.