What It's Like Getting Tested

I've been trying to be regular about getting tested, since I'm a sexually active adult. You should get tested every 3 months. It just so happens I'm not as regular as I'd like in that sense.

Today, I went with a friend to get tested. The last time I was tested was in late January. After that I was dating one person. I haven't been super sexually active since my last visit, but I still wanted to be safe since I did engage in somewhat risky behavior.

The SF City Clinic is my location of choice. It's kinda like a DMV experience but with nicer people, colorful murals and they touch your balls. They also had The Wiz playing for our enjoyment today. I usually bring a book and observe the interesting crowd that visits the clinic.

In terms of clinicians, they're usually volunteers. (RN's, students at UCSF, etc.) Today I had this somewhat less-friendly Russian or some other Eastern European country of descent woman. She was a bit cold but also this was the first time they used a computer to track information vs. on paper.

I usually like the older grey curly haired woman. She's awesome. I haven't had her in a while though.

The Experience:

1. Go In.
2. They Give You A Number and you wait in the DMV style waiting room.
3. They call your number and ask why you're visiting. They register you and you make a $10 if you can afford to do so.
4. You Wait. Watch The Wiz and people watch for like 30-45 minutes. Bring a book or mag if you choose.
5. They call your number.
6. The volunteer clinician brings you to a room and asks you about your sexual activity for the last year but concentrating on the last 3 months. Think "Do you have sex with men or women or both?" "Have you had sex with people who take drugs?" "Have You Had Unprotected Sex?" "Are you strictly top or bottom?" "Have you paid for sex?" "Have you had sex with people you've met online?" "Have you traveled in the last month and had sex abroad?"
7. The volunteer clinician asks you to drop your pants. They will then administer tests based on your activity.
8. The volunteer clinician tells you what tests they will perform and then he/she asks you to pee in a cup in the bathroom.
9. You wait in the waiting room.
10. They call your number, they administer blood tests and your give your urine sample to the volunteer. If you get a rapid HIV test (done on a sexually risky behavior basis) you wait for another 20 minutes. This test is based on antibodies and isn't super accurate based on activity in the past couple of months. They also draw blood for an RNA test, for which you will also get the results a few weeks from now.
11. You leave the blood test room.
12. They give you goodies (condoms, lube) if you like.
13. You leave. They may make an appointment for you in a few weeks to give you results if you need to come back in. Otherwise you can check your results online.

Expect the experience to be around 2 hours or more since it's low cost and done on a small budget. Easy Breezy.

Now you can ease on down the road to getting tested...

Posted via email from sunset to SUNRISE