well this has been just about the WORST WEEK EVER.

last saturday night, i got a little tickle in my throat. hm, i think, i should take some vitamin c and get some sleep. sunday morning, it was a full blown sore throat. monday morning it had spread to include an earache, and my lymph nodes swelled to the size of grapefruits. so i went to the doctor.

i don't have a proper doctor, because i don't get sick very often, and my craptastic health insurance doesn't cover "wellness visits" anyway, so i found the closest ER that's covered by blue cross. i checked in, gave them my info, they put me on a bed where i stayed for about an hour, when someone finally came by - not to check on me, to take my insurance information. i waited another hour, and a doctor came thru, asked me a few questions, checked out my throat, ears, nose, etc. then he left. then an hour later ANOTHER doctor came thru, and did the exact same things, only she took a throat culture.

"call back in a day or two to get the results," she said. "honestly, we usually have these done in about 12 hours, but if you call back wednesday morning, it should be ready by then." and they discharged me.

so i went home, and was miserable for another day. tuesday, i called them for the results. "oh, that's not ready yet," they said, "call back tomorrow."

wednesday, i called them for the results. "oh, that's not ready yet," they said, "call back tomorrow."

thursday, i called them for the results. "oh, that's not ready yet," they said, "call back in about an hour."

i should mention at this point that i haven't had anything to eat since sunday. i can barely drink anything at all. when i try to sleep, i manage to sleep for an hour or so and then wake up for an hour, or i drift in and out of fever dreams. i can barely talk; so much so that i'm writing dave notes in order to communicate. it takes all my energy to say "i'm calling for the results of my throat culture," and when i do, 9 times out of 10 they don't understand me.

so, i waited an hour and called again. "everyone here is really busy," the lady said, "can you call back in 20 minutes?" i waited 20 minutes. "now they're even busier than when you called before! can you call back in an hour or so?" so this went on, i called them 6 times on thursday and finally gave up and went to bed, but not before spending 45 minutes dry heaving over the toilet, becoz my body for some reason wanted to vomit up my completely empty digestive tract.

friday morning, i woke up coughing and spit up a little blood. a perfect reminder to call for my test results. "oh my," the lady said this time, "did no one prescribe you antibiotics before you left here on monday?" "NO," i said. "are you SURE?" she said. "i'm POSITIVE," i say. "well, i'm prescribing you some amoxicillin. it'll be ready at walgreens in about an hour."

so it WAS an infection. not only that, but i could have been on antibiotics DAYS AGO.

i still haven't had anything to eat; i think i've lost about 6 pounds. i'm trying to down some orange juice right now, but it's not working. i think i've forgotten what it feels like to be well. oh, and i used up all of my sick days at work in one fell swoop. here's hoping next week is better, huh?