Today I had my second doctor visit of the week, this time
with Dr. G my Infectious Disease doctor. It is strange to have an Infectious Disease
doctor when my infection is non-contagious, but he gets the job done. He is a
lot different from my Infectious Disease doctor in Columbia – in a good way,
but that will be the subject of another blog,
The main purpose of today’s visit was to see if I am
colonized with Strep B in my vaginal tract. If I am there may be a procedure
they can do at the Mayo clinic, which might help combat my systemic infection.
Anyway…the idea of being colonized got me thinking about how
I am a host for very opportunistic bacteria. They are thriving on something within
my body and I have been thinking of them as a hostile enemy that I am battling.
It reminded me of a Star Trek (TNG) episode where nano-sized
aliens were taking over the computer system of the Enterprise. The crew had to
figure out how to communicate with them to get them to leave the star ship before
their life support system shut down. Of course at the last minute they did, and
both the aliens and the crew of the Enterprise went on about their business.
I am not sure if I can communicate with the bacteria in my
body, but if I could I would tell them if there is some way we could live
together, I would. We have lived in harmony before - many people carry Strep B
harmlessly their entire lives. However, if they continue to overpopulate me,
there will not be any me. So, I would ask them to sacrifice themselves for the
good of their host and reduce their population as soon as they possibly can.
Then we too can go about our business.
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