I am so sick! It is now day 5 of the sore throat from hell, and I'm going to make another doctor's appointment when the office opens in another six hours. Remember how much I hate doctors when you consider that I will be seeing one twice in three days. That's how bad I feel.

I got the sore throat on Saturday, which wasn't really that bad. I could still eat and drink without a problem, but I just lay around a lot and felt generally miserable that day. By Sunday, I was feeling bad. My throat was swollen and a very angry red with lovely white bumps. John reminded me he was more than happy to take me to the ER several times that day. I was stupidly stubborn and refused to go, remembering the last time I went to the ER with strep and feeling like a wuss.

John stayed home Monday and took me to the doctor. Sure enough, I had strep. I got antibiotics that won't kill me (I'm deadly allergic to Ceclor), was offered Percocet, which I refused, and went on my way. I took my medicine as soon as I got home along with some liquid Advil (you have to take practically half a bottle of that stuff) and planted myself on the couch I called home the past couple days. I felt better by the afternoon but by evening, I was cursing myself for not taking the painkiller prescription. I had cramps on top of the pain of my throat. I balled up on the couch and cried. By this time, I hadn't been able to sleep at night for more than an hour at a time, waking myself up from not being able to breath. My throat was still quite swollen and red. I figured it would be better by morning.

Surprisingly, it was, and I even ate! Sunday and Monday found me only able to get down ice chips and a little bit of a Wendy's Frosty. By yesterday morning, I had lost six pounds for the week. For once, I was glad to see the scale go up by the end of the day. I managed to get half a cup of soup down for lunch and half of a cheese sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk for dinner. Healthy, I know, but bites of other things made my throat burn too much. My throat was still pretty red and sore, but it wasn't as bad or as swollen. I thought I might be able to sleep in bed for once and tried, but as you can see from the time stamp on this entry, that was pretty unsuccessful. I tossed and turned from 11 PM to when I got up at 2:30 AM. I'm psyching myself up to take some more Advil (I've graduated to taking pills again) with water.

I still hurt way too much for having taken two full days of antibiotic. My throat is still red and, though not as swollen as Monday, still pretty swollen. The glands on my neck haven't gone down a smidge, and I'm worried that what the doctor said about having mono on top of strep. I'm 34 years old, and I might have mono. I had it in college (the normal age for such things), and I'd heard you could get it again, but I didn't believe it. Now I might believe otherwise. Especially since visions of necrotizing strep have been dancing through my head ever since I read that Complications book. It's just like me to get strep after reading that. So if I never update again, you'll be able to appreciate the irony.

I think I'm going to choke this last pill down and try to take a shower. I haven't showered in days, assuming full sick privileges, but even I can't stand myself for too long. Maybe, just maybe, it will help me sleep. Real sleep would be so very nice. Swallowing without all the tendons in my neck sticking out would be nice too.

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