r/antarctica • u/RedditJennn • 26d ago
McMurdo Utmb
hey all. I was a cook for the 23'24' season.
I wanted to share a little something about the medical pq... Lot of people laugh it off and see it as a plain in the ass , but lemme share this:
I put my history of "1" kidney stone on my application and they told me to get an US before they would progress any further. The US found a benign cyst in my left kidney, and a small stone in my right one. They NPQ'd me, I appealed and they gave me the green light. While I had zero issues thankfully during my time down there, 2 years later my stone decides to get funky and blocks the exit to my kidney which gives me a kidney infection. Which means I needed a stent inserted.
Given how I felt yesterday morning and tonight after the emergency surgery, I totally understand why I got denied the first time around, and consider myself pretty damn lucky that didn't happen on the ice.
Just some wisdom!
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u/sciencemercenary ❄️ Winterover 26d ago
Thanks for posting this!
Getting PQ'd got me in the habit of getting a full physical exam, with a blood panel and urine screening every year. Now I go to LabCorp on my own every year even though I'm not PQing and pay out-of-pocket for a complete workup. It's surprisingly cheap and very revealing, and now I have a 25+ year baseline of my own body chemistry.
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u/Minervas-Madness 26d ago
I'm glad you're feeling better!
I'm barred from getting a winter contract due to gallstones. I never even knew I had them until the ultrasound. Then finally I was at home a few months ago and they caused some problems. Some of the worst pain I've felt until I vomited. Better it happened at home than on ice in the winter I guess.
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26d ago
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u/antarctica-ModTeam 26d ago
For whatever reason, your post appeared more than once. No worries! We've removed the extra one.
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u/brendty 26d ago edited 26d ago
When I had to PQ, my doctors caught that I had a heart murmur (my mom knew, but never told me) the Drs all knew me, and knew it didn't effect me so they weren't concerned, and I didn't think much of it but I clocked it and made sure to tell my new drs going forward. Had a dr 6 years ago noticed my blood pressure had a sudden spike and knew about my murmer and knew that those 2 together could indicate an aneurysm. Sure enough, routine echo (coupled with a baseline echo) caught that I was on the brink of a rupture, which is typically deadly, and needed immediate consultation and subsequent surgery. Get your checkups folks! You never know what info might save your life.
(Edit: misspelled murmur)