Strep Throat
Orff was harder than I had remembered. I was tired, throat was sore and I thought it was just due to pollen/allergies. Pushed off on Wednesday. Again on Thursday. On Friday I tried to convince myself that I felt better. On the ride home, I realized I should go in to see a doctor as I wasn't feeling any better and still have one more week of Orff training that I do not want to miss!
I went into the doc. They took my temp and told me I had a fever of 100.2. I was completely unaware and had no idea as I didn't feel feverish. They asked me if I'd had one earlier to which I responded I hadn't even taken my temp because I was sure I wasn't running a fever. Though the fact that I was having aches and chills probably should have led me to that conclusion.
The nurse came and talked with me. She did a strep test with the long sticks (two of them) at a time. She apologized several times and said my throat must be in major pain. I told her it hurt. She showed me the sticks and there was blood on them. I almost cried when she did the test. Very painful. She said she was so sorry for causing such pain as it was apparent my throat was not feeling well. Said the test would be done in about 10 minutes.
It showed very quickly that I had strep throat. She gave me meds to take three times a day as I'm allergic to penicillin/amoxycillin. I have to drink tons and tons of water with it and avoid dairy. The pharmacist told me that it is known to cause diarrhea and to avoid the dairy at all costs. No problem! Thankfully all is good so far.
When asked about my pain level, I said my throat was at an 8-9 out of 10. I haven't been sick like this in a few years so it really hurt. Pain can be relative.
The doctor said she was concerned about my pain level and wanted to offer some solutions to it. One was that she could write a prescription for pain medicine "hydro-codone" or she could give me a mouth wash that has benadryl and other pain aids in it.
I was taken aback at how easily the pain medicine was offered. This is strep throat. It is not a major surgery. My throat hurts compared to every day normal health, but I truly feel this level of pain management should not be needed for strep.
I shared with her that I was not interested in either of them. The reason being that addiction to pain medication is in my family and that it wasn't an option I was willing to take. Unless I was having major surgery, but even then I'd be mindful of my dosage. She looked surprised that I'd say this. I wanted to say so much more. I also didn't want to offend her. I just wanted to make it clear that it was going to far to offer such a highly addictive drug for such a small sickness. (One day I'll share about all that has happened through the addiction of this drug with my brother Jim, but I'm not ready yet.) I also said I wasn't interested in mouthwash. Sleep and the meds specifically for the strep were all I needed.
Yesterday I slept virtually all day long. It was a rondo form day:
A: Eat oatmeal and take meds
B: Three hour morning nap
A: Eat toast and take meds
C: Do a little homework and teach Riley new piano songs
A: Eat Dinner (more toast) and take meds
B: Four hour afternoon nap
A: Eat a light snack of... you got it- toast
Then went to bed at 9:30pm. In total, I think I was awake for maybe 5 hours total yesterday. Today has been better so far! I've actually been awake for four hours straight and will be taking a nap quite soon.
Thankful to have gone into the doc on Friday and then picked up the prescription to have one more day of rest before another long week.
I went into the doc. They took my temp and told me I had a fever of 100.2. I was completely unaware and had no idea as I didn't feel feverish. They asked me if I'd had one earlier to which I responded I hadn't even taken my temp because I was sure I wasn't running a fever. Though the fact that I was having aches and chills probably should have led me to that conclusion.
The nurse came and talked with me. She did a strep test with the long sticks (two of them) at a time. She apologized several times and said my throat must be in major pain. I told her it hurt. She showed me the sticks and there was blood on them. I almost cried when she did the test. Very painful. She said she was so sorry for causing such pain as it was apparent my throat was not feeling well. Said the test would be done in about 10 minutes.
It showed very quickly that I had strep throat. She gave me meds to take three times a day as I'm allergic to penicillin/amoxycillin. I have to drink tons and tons of water with it and avoid dairy. The pharmacist told me that it is known to cause diarrhea and to avoid the dairy at all costs. No problem! Thankfully all is good so far.
When asked about my pain level, I said my throat was at an 8-9 out of 10. I haven't been sick like this in a few years so it really hurt. Pain can be relative.
The doctor said she was concerned about my pain level and wanted to offer some solutions to it. One was that she could write a prescription for pain medicine "hydro-codone" or she could give me a mouth wash that has benadryl and other pain aids in it.
I was taken aback at how easily the pain medicine was offered. This is strep throat. It is not a major surgery. My throat hurts compared to every day normal health, but I truly feel this level of pain management should not be needed for strep.
I shared with her that I was not interested in either of them. The reason being that addiction to pain medication is in my family and that it wasn't an option I was willing to take. Unless I was having major surgery, but even then I'd be mindful of my dosage. She looked surprised that I'd say this. I wanted to say so much more. I also didn't want to offend her. I just wanted to make it clear that it was going to far to offer such a highly addictive drug for such a small sickness. (One day I'll share about all that has happened through the addiction of this drug with my brother Jim, but I'm not ready yet.) I also said I wasn't interested in mouthwash. Sleep and the meds specifically for the strep were all I needed.
Yesterday I slept virtually all day long. It was a rondo form day:
A: Eat oatmeal and take meds
B: Three hour morning nap
A: Eat toast and take meds
C: Do a little homework and teach Riley new piano songs
A: Eat Dinner (more toast) and take meds
B: Four hour afternoon nap
A: Eat a light snack of... you got it- toast
Then went to bed at 9:30pm. In total, I think I was awake for maybe 5 hours total yesterday. Today has been better so far! I've actually been awake for four hours straight and will be taking a nap quite soon.
Thankful to have gone into the doc on Friday and then picked up the prescription to have one more day of rest before another long week.
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