"We don't see adults get this..."
When the sore throat started Sunday, I thought, "Uh oh, this isn't good." But, you know, it's a stupid sore throat and easy enough to power through. No time to be sick. Sunday night wasn't pleasant and Monday morning was awful. I was slated to work at our Chesterfield location that day, though, and the staff was depending on me so off I went.
On my lunch break I phoned the doc. The nurse took my symptoms and called back later to say, "Get over-the-counter chlortrimeton and take that for 2 or 3 nights. If you don't feel better in three days, call back." When I got to the drug store and read the label on the medicine, I realized that either the nurse is an idiot or the doctor is a hack, because chlortrimeton treats all kinds of symptoms, none of which I had. I purchased throat spray instead and headed home.
That night we took the first of the three finals we have this week. I had to wear knee socks, sweat pants, a t-shirt and two sweatshirts, and two wool blankets, plus sit a foot away from a space heater for an hour to get warm, but I finally did and feel that I did reasonably well on the final, considering.
Tuesday was worse, but I gamely headed into the office and put in a full day. Came home and took the second final, then fell in to bed. Zozer is nursing a cold so she was up all night, but it was okay because I was up all night, too. M got the most sleep of any of us, and I think he pulled in around 2.5 hours, maybe, if he was lucky.
So, yesterday morning, in so much pain that swallowing water made me cry, I finally admitted that I might be kind of a little sick, and called an ear, nose and throat guy my MIL recommended. Being pretty pissed about the allergy medicine recommendation from the other doc, I thought it best to go right to a specialist. He got me in right away (good man) and as soon as he saw me, and the swollen glands on my neck, he said, "Whoa! That looks really bad." He proceeded to gag me with a tongue depressor while this stream of speech poured from his mouth:
"Holy cow! Your throat is ripped up. Ulcers on both sides. Yep, bet it's in your ears too. Left side is worse, though. When did this start? Sunday? Yeah, it's bad now. Pretty painful, huh? Well, you've got a full-blown case of tonsillitis. Interesting. Normally we don't see adults get this. Are you allergic to penicillin? No? Okay, you're going to be on mega-doses of penicillin for the next two days, then regular doses after that. A regular dose is one pill three times a day. I need you to take six pills the first day and six the second. Oh, and do you have a child? Yes? Well, you're going to need to stay away from her because you're highly contagious, and she really won't be happy if she gets this."
Great. Tonsillitis. I haven't had it since I was in high school, when I got that and strep throat three times in six or eight months and the doctor threatened, "If you get it once more, I'm taking them out." Didn't get it again until, oh, the age of 35. Ridiculous.
So, yesterday was spent stumbling between the couch and the bed, taking my megadoses of antibiotics, and today is much the same. Only I had to go in to the office for a bit this morning to take care of some pressing issues (it's a royal pain in the ass to be a department of one). My office mates were gone for the day at our other locations, and I ran in and ran out in about an hour and a half, so I'm pretty positive I didn't infect anyone there.
Since the throat is much better (still hurts, but to a lesser degree than the past few days), we're tackling our last final this evening (our final final, I guess you could say). After that it's a bit of tweaking on one of the two final papers due Friday and then we're done with this term. And, hopefully, done with tonsillitis. Good riddance to both.
On my lunch break I phoned the doc. The nurse took my symptoms and called back later to say, "Get over-the-counter chlortrimeton and take that for 2 or 3 nights. If you don't feel better in three days, call back." When I got to the drug store and read the label on the medicine, I realized that either the nurse is an idiot or the doctor is a hack, because chlortrimeton treats all kinds of symptoms, none of which I had. I purchased throat spray instead and headed home.
That night we took the first of the three finals we have this week. I had to wear knee socks, sweat pants, a t-shirt and two sweatshirts, and two wool blankets, plus sit a foot away from a space heater for an hour to get warm, but I finally did and feel that I did reasonably well on the final, considering.
Tuesday was worse, but I gamely headed into the office and put in a full day. Came home and took the second final, then fell in to bed. Zozer is nursing a cold so she was up all night, but it was okay because I was up all night, too. M got the most sleep of any of us, and I think he pulled in around 2.5 hours, maybe, if he was lucky.
So, yesterday morning, in so much pain that swallowing water made me cry, I finally admitted that I might be kind of a little sick, and called an ear, nose and throat guy my MIL recommended. Being pretty pissed about the allergy medicine recommendation from the other doc, I thought it best to go right to a specialist. He got me in right away (good man) and as soon as he saw me, and the swollen glands on my neck, he said, "Whoa! That looks really bad." He proceeded to gag me with a tongue depressor while this stream of speech poured from his mouth:
"Holy cow! Your throat is ripped up. Ulcers on both sides. Yep, bet it's in your ears too. Left side is worse, though. When did this start? Sunday? Yeah, it's bad now. Pretty painful, huh? Well, you've got a full-blown case of tonsillitis. Interesting. Normally we don't see adults get this. Are you allergic to penicillin? No? Okay, you're going to be on mega-doses of penicillin for the next two days, then regular doses after that. A regular dose is one pill three times a day. I need you to take six pills the first day and six the second. Oh, and do you have a child? Yes? Well, you're going to need to stay away from her because you're highly contagious, and she really won't be happy if she gets this."
Great. Tonsillitis. I haven't had it since I was in high school, when I got that and strep throat three times in six or eight months and the doctor threatened, "If you get it once more, I'm taking them out." Didn't get it again until, oh, the age of 35. Ridiculous.
So, yesterday was spent stumbling between the couch and the bed, taking my megadoses of antibiotics, and today is much the same. Only I had to go in to the office for a bit this morning to take care of some pressing issues (it's a royal pain in the ass to be a department of one). My office mates were gone for the day at our other locations, and I ran in and ran out in about an hour and a half, so I'm pretty positive I didn't infect anyone there.
Since the throat is much better (still hurts, but to a lesser degree than the past few days), we're tackling our last final this evening (our final final, I guess you could say). After that it's a bit of tweaking on one of the two final papers due Friday and then we're done with this term. And, hopefully, done with tonsillitis. Good riddance to both.
posted by Amy at 12:30 PM
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