5 ms·

I've had to send in stool samples several times for various reasons, and every time I imagined some poor lab tech having to handle it. Too bad they never did a

• zabzonk 2y ago
  actually, it was really easy to send in a simple to deal with. the NHS used a stool sample container that had a little spoon attached to the top (whole container is about 4 inches long and 1.5 wide, spoon about big enough to hold a pea) - procedure: - crap, but catch some on toilet paper - scoop some with little spoon - tests need almost nothing - send off to lab it was astounding how few samples we got, even from hospitals, that managed this.
  • adolph 2y ago
    "catch some on toilet paper" Have you ever tried to catch something behind yourself, or under yourself in a high squatting position? Something your body has some deep learning about not touching? Seems like labs would get a better response with putting some used TP in a bag.
    • zabzonk 2y ago
      have you ever wiped your bum?
  • YeGoblynQueenne 2y ago
    >> it was astounding how few samples we got, even from hospitals, that managed this. Yeah, I'll tell you why. I was asked for a stool sample once (don't ask). I looked at that tiny perspex cylinder with the tiny little fairy spoon in it and it was immediately obvious: nuh-huh. No way. I'm not handing my shit in a tube to some poor health person. Nope. No. Never. No way. TFE: Too Fucking Embarassing! You medical people have to think harder about all the things you ask your patients to do. Colonoscopies? Specula? Prostate exams? Shoving a rod up your nostrils to get samples for Covid? Come on. The human body is not just a machine. There's a little person inside that feels every single thing.