the unclean plebotomist

Subjects in this message: me, my 94 year old grandfather with type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's and dementia, and a phlebotomist.

The story:
I allowed my grandfather to be seen by a phlebotomist who didn't change her gloves. I have no reason anyone she saw had a disease but I can't get the thought out of my head that I may be even slightly responsible for infecting my grandfather with a deadly disease. This happened 1 year and 5 months ago. In the time since this there hasn't been any abnormal symptoms. About 6 weeks after this incident he had an episode where he wasn't "feeling good" but he apparently recovered. All that goes through my mind is how stupid I was for allowing it and hating myself for not saying anything. I'm being tortured in my mind over this. My biggest fear is something in the urine the lady handled or the blood she handled may have had a disease. I saw no visible signs of any blood or urine on her hands but I'm still tortured in my mind over this. I don't know what to do or how I can get peace over this.

Concernedgal said:

1 simple thing you can do to quickly resolve this is donating blood. When you donate blood, it is tested for everything involving infectious disease. You are required to give your name , address, phone number and all that stuff before donating. They will send a letter or call you in they find anything. It's the law yhat they inform you of any problems. When my brother told me he was hiv positive, I went and got tested every 6 months despite the fact that I had barely any contact with him in along time. Of course I was negative but, th e thought always was in the back f my mind. The point is though .... make sure your your loved 1 is ok. Get him to donate blood. It's like a free medical exam .

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He's 94 with type 2 diabetes on blood thinners. I don't think donating blood is an option. I do thank you for your response though. I was being reckless. I have told my grandmother about this and she hasn't done anything about it. She's the one who has power of attorney over my grandfather. It may be out of my hands at this point.