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Sputum sample drop off protocol
Hello!
For all of you who provide regular sputum samples to your doctor/lab. When you produce the sample, do you need need to keep it cool during transport or is that not a concern?
My 3yo brought home a cold, which I got. Last time I got COVID in June, it turned into the h. flu and required antibiotics so I'm doing my 7% saline + Aerobika 2x a day, Flonase, Mucinex and Vit-D. So far my mucus is clear to pale yellow but getting more of it. Hoping this doesn't turn into something but seems like the right thing would be to drop off a sample in the next few days in any case.
Thanks all!
Kate
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@kdiago1564 Hello - The answer is "it depends" - my lab is 15 minutes from home, so I don't worry about keeping it cool. However, when I was in Texas and had to submit one, it was 45 minutes to the lab and the temps were in the 90's - I put it in a small cooler with an icepack.
Yes, when you have any kind of easy to bring up sputum, it's a good time to bring a specimen.
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3 ReactionsThank you @sueinmn for responding! I will play it safe and just drop it in a cooler with ice pack.
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2 ReactionsJust make sure the ice pack is not directly on the sputum bottle. I did that once and the sample froze and could not be used 😩.
Had to do the whole procedure over again.
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2 ReactionsI live 30 min. Away from lab. The Dr. Said put culture in refrigerator & bring in in the morning. Took it in & the lab said I killed the culture.,they said it would of been better at room temperature.
@dogtag Sorry, but I believe the lab was wrong. My cultures have been refrigerated before delivery at least a dozen times, some grew MAC or Pseudomonas, others did not. Most labs know little about processing our cultures. Please report this response to your ordering doc.
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1 ReactionI did tell my doctor & he just shrugged his shoulders & said maybe next time he would do a bronscopy.
Then he said he would see me in one year. So no I'm on the internet researching.
@dogtag FYI: I have sent cultures into NJH in Denver that were not refrigerated after I made the sample in the vial and sent it via Fed Ex. I have refrigerated samples after having made them in the vial and then sent them onto Tyler, Texas via FedEX. I am in OKC. All were accepted.
I think some of the lab people, or those who answer, understand and believe it to be one way only and others have different beliefs or information in the same lab or facility. It shouldn't be that way but we all are different in what be believe?????? Don't really know. I had one NJH person tell me, after my original sputum sample was accepted for preparation for my visit a few weeks out that I sent up there via Fed Ex, that it would not be accepted if the sample was made a day or so out from the day NJH received it. That did not make sense to me after my previous experiences etc. Go figure.
Barbara
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1 ReactionThank you for this information. I live 30 minutes from the nearest hospital in a town of aox. 12k people. I feel this situation was totally about $$$ because the dr. then wanted to do a CT. So in my conclusion it was all about money.
@dogtag If you have not had a C Scan without contrast it would be good to have if you haven't had one....the best way to see the problems with the lungs.
Hard to understand medical decisions made by doctors sometimes which means we have to give much time and research often to figure out what is best for us for no one knows us better than ourselves.
Barbara