On Thanksgiving four years ago I wound up quarantined in a hospital room the size of a walk-in-closet.
The trouble started early on turkey day when I was cleaning the cranberries with my son Cary. I had some difficulty breathing and a tightness in my chest. After a while, at his insistence, we drove to a hospital ER.
There was an especially long wait because of short staffing, but I finally spoke to a nurse and my breathing problem got her attention. Heart tests first, then x-rays. Then more waiting for results.
A patch on my lung looked like an infection, so I was grilled about my recent travels, which included several third-world countries. My son joked about my risk-taking ways, and offhandedly mentioned the many possible problems of a globe-trotting mom, including tuberculosis.
Repeat after me: Do not say TB in an ER. (Especially on TG.)
Within a couple of minutes the nurse placed us into a sealed room. We waited on separate examining tables, confused, shocked and unsure of what was to come.
Cary and I both took patch tests, sputum tests and blood tests. The doctors and nurses who attended us suited themselves in protective gear like extras in The Andromeda Strain. I could hear outside the sealed room that some of them didn't want to come in.
A neurologist, clearly unhappy about being yanked from a turkey-laden table, eventually gave me a spinal tap, and I now had to wait for the results of that. And I would have to take a CT/biopsy scan.
So while my son got to leave the sealed room, I was told I needed to be put upstairs, in quarantine.
The hospital room seemed like a cage. Normally patients with similar possible diagnoses --a low level of TB-- would be allowed to leave the room and walk in the halls. But doctors wanted me to stay confined for the immediate future until they could perform more tests, and because they were understaffed and couldn't monitor me properly. And tests were slowed because of the Thanksgiving weekend.
As the days passed, both my sons alternated coming up from NYC, suited up in protective gear with shower caps, gloves and masks. It was a warm and fuzzy family holiday scene. About all I could concentrate on was Boggle. The room didn't have wireless, and I didn't want to watch the family-oriented shows of Thanksgiving weekend with my hazmat-suited sons.
I paced around my bed back and forth like a caged lioness, for exercise and for mental relief. And what if I did have TB? I imagined spending weeks in that drab space with a high-tech vent and an ultraviolet light that killed the bacteria sucked out of the room. My only view of the outdoors was a wall.
The tests took forever. I felt like a prisoner jailed for some made up charge. I learned that some statutes had vague criteria for release ("no longer a danger to the public health") and some, specific (evidence in sputum tests that the person is no longer actively contagious). Ten states had no statutory limits on the time a patient could be held without discharge or recommitment. I was afraid to ask what New York's policies were.
Even more: Several states do not require a court order or a hearing to commit someone to a facility. The hearing may be held with or without the patient. Only thirteen states explicitly grant the right to be represented by counsel in any part of the proceedings.
I didn't sleep or eat much. I became sure that this was all just a trick to lock me up.
Slowly my tests kept coming back negative, but the doctors still wanted to see a CT scan biopsy, and that meant I had to wait for the right doctor to do it, and he wasn't around. On the fourth day of confinement I was finally brought out of my room and rolled into the CT cylinder.
And then I rolled out a minute later. The patch seemed smaller! I didn't need a biopsy. I didn't have TB, and I could leave as soon as I got dressed and filled out papers and had a doctor ok everything. A few more hours, and then, finally, a chance to give thanks.
I flew out of that hospital faster than a pardoned turkey, and gobbled that long-overdue holiday dinner at home. It had been a lousy Thanksgiving weekend.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.
Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.