Ok, I am conscious enough to sit up and write, so I am going to do it.
I've been sick for six days now. Brilliant. It wasn't until Sunday that I broke out in sweats and chills, and needed to lie down all day. It wasn't until Sunday night that John suggested we move down to my room, where it would be cooler. It wasn't until roughly five in the morning, after tossing all night, that I realized the sore throat had spread from the left side to my entire throat, that there was too much phlegm to breathe through, and that spitting was not working. I asked for some hot water to melt it out, then tried to drink it as John went through the phonebook for clinics that would be open on the holiday.
We tried to sleep until morning, when we could leave. The active word is "tried". At eight I was up, hacking into the sink, staring at the back of my throat and my swollen uvula in the mirror. By ninethirty we were in the car, looking for a clinic that turned out to be nonexistent. I couldn't talk at all by this point, had to spit out the window since I also almost couldn't swallow. So we said fuck it and went to the emergency room. That was a good place to go. They let John in too, which was good. The doctor couldn't possibly have been more than 27 or 28, and looked Much younger. He looked my age. But I was having a hard enough time telling him my symptoms without also asking insulting questions that he clearly gets all the time and is extremely sick of. Anyway he was very nice. He did a strep culture, which came out positive, and gave me a prescription for amoxicillin and vicodin. They also gave me a dose of each right there. I was swollen enough that it took me at least four tries to swallow the damn things, but I got them down, and that was good. Then I got very loopy very quickly, but I guess two vicodin will do that.
He also said, "so are you two, I, um..." (at this point I started nodding yes, being unable to speak) "...friends, partners, significant others..?" and John said yes. So the doctor wrote him a prescription for amoxicillin too, to save us another trip to the emergency room if/when he catches strep too. So THAT was nice.
Then we had to go run around getting prescriptions filled, which was also fun on Memorial day. But Meijer was open, and we got drugs and pudding and applesauce, and got stupid movies at Blockbuster. Then we went home and I collapsed entirely.
So. This is the first day I've been voluntarily out of bed for more than an hour at a time. So I suppose we shall see how able I am to go to work tomorrow. I'm still all swollen and horrible and feverish and achy, but I can talk at least.
And my moron roommates don't seem to realize what strep is. "Hey, do you want some coffee?" Good god, I only was able to drink apple juice yesterday afternoon! Before that, it was too acidic! And they think I can drink coffee!? Then they keep bringing friends over. I'm going to start a fucking epidemic. It'll be great.
Also. I used to get strep a lot when I was little. A lot. So I knew I was vulnerable to it and everything, and thought I could accurately recognize the symptoms. Ha ha, no. Strep is quite different when you are an adult. Much worse. Very nasty stuff. Oh my.