Well, here I am at home on the 2nd day back to school after Christmas break. I started getting a sore throat and some achiness a week and a half ago. It wasn’t constant, so I wasn’t alarmed…until yesterday. When I woke up, my throat felt worse again. I made it through the day at school, though it was tough at times. First day back, and the kids were haywire and distracted. Upon getting home, I was exhausted, my body ached, and my throat was killing me. After some consultation with my mom, I headed out to urgent care before even eating dinner.
I didn’t even get in to see the doctor till 7:30 or so! The strep test came back negative, but the doctor was concerned because my throat “looked like raw hamburger” and my lymph nodes were swollen. And the fact that I’d had a sore throat for 10 days was concerning. I have felt achy and exhausted off and on too, but never had a fever and the soreness was bearable, so I thought I was ok. Apparently, I have another kind of infection – the doctor didn’t even have a name for it, but he said there are lots of bacteria that can cause stuff like this. So he sent me on my way to get antibiotics – with a diagnosis of “acute pharyngitis.”
But since it was an urgent care center, I had to bring the prescription in myself and had to wait at Walgreens for it. I felt so weak and was starving! It was nearly 9:00. I ended up buying a protein bar and asked if I could eat it in the store while I waited (I briefly explained the situation). The guy at the register was funny. He said, “Oh, of course! In fact, you could eat an entire meal in here if you wanted to as long as you’ve paid for it!!” Haha
I finally got my medicine at 9:15 and headed home to eat dinner and take it. Being so late, I felt even more miserable. I’m such a perfectionist and felt like I couldn’t miss school today. But I talked to my sister on the phone, and she convinced me that I need the day off and how to make my lesson plans work for a sub. Finished the plans at 11:00 pm with my trusty helper. ;-)
Antibiotics are amazing when you need them! Though I still feel tired, my throat is almost back to 100% normal! I am thankful for urgent care that is open till 8 pm, antibiotics, friends and family that helped me make decisions, and sick days (even though sub plans are a huge pain). :)