Wednesday, April 27, 2005
meds! gimme meds!
so, yes, I'm still sick. Fever up and down. Swollen tonsils. Been taking everything anyone suggests. Mon. Night checked out my tonsils for the umpteenth time and lo and behold, white spots.
*yes*
White spots on the tonsils are usually a good indication of strep throat. A bacterial infection. You know what helps with bacterial infections? ANTIBIOTICS! I can be healthy in a few days! But I don't have medical insurance.
5 minutes away from doing a TJ run to pick up some amoxycillin, I realized a couple of things.
So I went to Urgent Care instead. No wait, went right in, did a rapid strep test and chatted with the nurse about my upcoming nuptuals. She informed me that the doctor would be in to see me in a few minutes, and left the strep test in the room, 2 stripes means positive.
I felt like I was taking a pregnancy test. Every 2 minutes I glanced over at the test..still nothing...still nothing...there's a stripe! Ok, just one more, come onnnnnn strep! Gimme an S! Gimme a T! Gimme an R!
In the middle of my cheer the doctor walked in. Why is it that all doctors have the same blank, unemotional look in their eyes, regardless of whether they're smiling or not?
One stripe. No strep. The doctor explained to me that there's maybe a 5% chance that it's a bacterial infection, but in 90-95% of cases in which the rapid strep test is negative, it's a viral infection. Viral Pharyngitis to be exact. Took a throat culture to be sure, but basically, $170 later, I got a goodie bag full of the same crap I've been taking for the last week.
I will say at least I've got a bit of peace of mind. Normal healing cycle is two weeks, so I've got a week left. More than enough time for the wedding.
Just hope I don't get the stripper sick.
-z
*yes*
White spots on the tonsils are usually a good indication of strep throat. A bacterial infection. You know what helps with bacterial infections? ANTIBIOTICS! I can be healthy in a few days! But I don't have medical insurance.
5 minutes away from doing a TJ run to pick up some amoxycillin, I realized a couple of things.
- The last time I got antibiotics from mexico I broke out in a horrid welty rash.
- I'm getting married in a week and a half.
- the last time I was out of the house and walked around for an extended period of time my fever shot up to 101.
So I went to Urgent Care instead. No wait, went right in, did a rapid strep test and chatted with the nurse about my upcoming nuptuals. She informed me that the doctor would be in to see me in a few minutes, and left the strep test in the room, 2 stripes means positive.
I felt like I was taking a pregnancy test. Every 2 minutes I glanced over at the test..still nothing...still nothing...there's a stripe! Ok, just one more, come onnnnnn strep! Gimme an S! Gimme a T! Gimme an R!
In the middle of my cheer the doctor walked in. Why is it that all doctors have the same blank, unemotional look in their eyes, regardless of whether they're smiling or not?
One stripe. No strep. The doctor explained to me that there's maybe a 5% chance that it's a bacterial infection, but in 90-95% of cases in which the rapid strep test is negative, it's a viral infection. Viral Pharyngitis to be exact. Took a throat culture to be sure, but basically, $170 later, I got a goodie bag full of the same crap I've been taking for the last week.
I will say at least I've got a bit of peace of mind. Normal healing cycle is two weeks, so I've got a week left. More than enough time for the wedding.
Just hope I don't get the stripper sick.
-z
