11 Mar Strep throat
So imagine this: you wake up one morning and you feel a slight sore throat. OK, no problem, you've been sick before. Let the team know you'll be working from home, and drink lots of fluids. "Hope you get well soon!" coworkers cheerfully reply to your email.
The next day lymph nodes swell up. A small fever starts. You Uber to the urgent care clinic and they administer a flu swab. Negative. Then comes a strep [rapid swab](http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/rapid-strep-test-for-strep-throat). The nurse shoves a long cotton swab into your throat and moves it around. You push her hand away reflexively because OMG I almost just threw up all over your face!
"OK," she says, walking away, "This should be fine." The results are negative. Doctor says it's just a normal cold. "Lymph nodes swollen? Not to worry". You go home and eat ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Fever's not going down. You up the dosage. 500mg of acetaminophen and 400mg ibuprofen. You go to bed, putting cough drops, water, and medicine beside you.
You can barely sleep. Your throat hurts like knives stabbing each time you swallow. You haven't been eating much. You want to spit out every bit of saliva in your mouth, just so you don't have to swallow. Swallowing your saliva becomes a chore. You have to steel yourself to do it. "OK...3...2...1, _\*gulp\*_". Your eyes water in pain. Only 4 more hours till morning...
Next morning you feel worse. Fever's still not going down. You start feeling dizzy. You can barely make it to the medicine cabinet. You call the clinic. They say "Yeah sure, come back for a follow up!". Yeah, like it's really that easy. You're struggling to even drink water. At this point you just want to get better. Administer all the Western medicine ever researched please.
You make it back to the clinic. Ask for a rapid and throat culture. They do both at once so you don't have to gag twice. Ugh. But thanks. No seriously, thanks. This time, the rapid test comes back positive.
Well now I'm on a 10 day amoxicillin course. The second dose is over, but I'm still swallowing knives. Yeah this is not fun. If you're sick, just stay out of work! Everyone will thank you.
Comments
Ohhh...:( hug
That sounds awful :( hugs & feel better!
Feel better dude.
your symptoms are much worse than mine! D: i feel like even tho it's painful swallowing, drinking water still helps the process of recovering, yeah? get well soon xx
Thanks all so much for the well wishes :) @Corgi, drinking water should help a lot, but only if you can swallow it lol! Hope you're feeling better as well.