I knew the time had come for my saliva sample, but since you have to avoid eating or drinking for 30 minutes before you do it, I decided to wait until I got home from work. Lucky you though, you don't have to wait for my photojournalistic recap. Because It. Starts. Right. Now.
When you close the lid on the spit funnel thing, it releases a magical liquid that turns your saliva into mystical genetic-revealing ooze. Ok, just kidding. Maybe it's just some sort of clear liquid and I have no idea what it does. But it's supposed to be there. Anyway, you remove the funnel and replace it with the "small cap" (it was a pretty average-sized cap, if you ask me). Then you shake. For 5 seconds. It didn't say to shake vigorously, but really, is there any other way to shake?
Once your spit-magical-liquid is nice and bubbly, you put it in the Specimen Bag. Because it is now officially a Specimen. Requiring a Bag. The bag has a little piece of tissue that says "keep in bag", though I have no idea why. The bag is also labeled "biohazard", which I can only take to mean that the liquid in the funnel lid is somehow hazardous, cause y'all know my saliva is pretty standard issue. Maybe you didn't know that. Maybe this has been way too much information about my spit. Oh well; it's my blog.
After you take your now-biohazardous saliva and place it in the aforementioned Specimen Bag, you place said bag in the postage pre-paid return envelope. It's tiny and padded and kind of adorable, if I'm being completely honest. Seal the envelope and drop it in the mail and you're all done!
The whole thing from opening the box to sealing the envelope took about 5 minutes. It was kind of fun, and I can't wait to get my results!
Did anyone out there get a test of their own? Have you done something similar in the past? Are you madly, insanely jealous and hoping that next year on DNA Day, they offer the same deal?
I thought so. :)
I was soooo tempted. I can't wait to hear how it turns out!
ReplyDeleteI think it's so awesome that you're doing this, and I can't wait to find out what you find out, but I'm so afraid of saliva that I could never do this. I don't know what it is, maybe it's because my brother's used to pin me down and drool saliva in my face, but it turns my stomach more than any other thing in the world. I'd rather deal with someone's poop than their saliva. Am I crazy?
ReplyDeleteTricia, I don't think you're crazy...just traumatized.
ReplyDeleteColor me jeal. I love medical/scientific/genetic things. Can't wait to read about the outcome!
ReplyDeleteFascinating! Neat how science can be like magic. :) Keep us posted on what you find out!
ReplyDeleteOMG the thing about the drooling saliva in the face is nasty. No wonder you hate it so much Serious Girl! Kim I can't wait to hear your results. Unless they are scary bad, but I guess then I can't wait either. What sorts of things do they tell you?
ReplyDeleteI just got the email with the link to the website/results, but I haven't gone through it all yet. I'll definitely post something once I've sorted through the site and gotten an idea as to the kind of information I will find! Already, I've gotten an invite to connect with a "potential relative" - which I have ignored for now, because, um, I'm not ready for that yet.
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