Night Music: Vincent

Antigen Tests at LifeLabs

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I may have mentioned before that I am certain I am suffering from long covid. I can barely walk half a block without resting and even the simplest of tasks leave me breathless. This situation began soon after the everloving and I both suffered from a week-long bout of terrible flu-like symptoms in January 2020 — just before covid was announced as a public thing.

Since then, I have had several lung tests and two detailed heart examinations, all of which were clear, leaving both me and my various medical specialists in the dark as to the underlying cause of my problems, though none of the professionals was willing to speculate on long covid.

I just noticed that LifeLabs offer an antigen test that will show whether or not one has ever had covid. Great idea, I thought, even though it costs $75 which is a stretch. I am willing to pay the price to know, but the other conditions add a significant burden to Provincial expenses.

You can only get the test by having your GP sign the requisition, and only the GP gets the results. That means two visits to the doctor’s office (one to get the form signed, and another to get the results), and therefore two payments by BC Med to the doctor. I don’t begrudge the doctor their payments in any way, but surely there must be a more cost-efficient way of dealing with this.

Surely, if I am willing to stump up the fee for this test I should be able to put the order in myself (at least once) and receive the results directly (as I do with all my other blood work).