Strep

Last week I didn't feel great. My throat felt weird and one of my tonsils was really big, along with both glands on the side of my throat...So, at the urging of my boss, I went to the doctor. Going to the doctor is not like is used to be. Now that I am on an HMO health plan, I have to wait for at least an hour in the waiting room and a half-hour in the exam room before seeing a doctor; I believe the waiting time is mandated... Last week was even worse than normal and I had to wait for about two hours before I saw the doctor. Then, of course, she does the most cursory exam, swabs my throat a couple times and sends me on my way with a prescription I am not to fill unless I get a call from her office. I was done within seven minutes from the minute she walked in the door.

Even in this very brief time, the doctor was able to make me feel like I was a hypochondriac. She does this every time – even when I am shivering with a 102 degree fever. It's amazing. They must have taught her this skill along with "bedside manner" in medical school. Anyways, last week, the doctor said "I'll swab your throat to be sure it's not strep, but it doesn't look like strep to me. It actually looks like some food is stuck in your tonsil and it has caused a little infection. No big deal. Go home and gargle salt water."

So, I left feeling dumb and exhausted (both from my long stay in the waiting room and the fact that I was sick.) I spent the rest of Thursday laying low at home and returned to work Friday. I felt a little off all weekend, but figured it was just my body fighting the foreign particle in my tonsil (which the doctor so helpfully drew a picture of so that I could see how it really has lots of crevasses in it and it's not smooth.) I went to work on Monday feeling ok and blamed the lack of energy on the cloudiness and then Tuesday morning, I got a phone call from the doctor asking if I "went ahead and filled the antibiotic prescription."

I explained that I hadn't and she suggested I do it since my throat culture came back positive for STREP! She said it's a different kind of strep, but I should take the antibiotics to be sure to get rid of it.

While I was glad for the explanation for my exhaustion and general malaise, I was and remain a tad annoyed that it took from last Thursday until this Tuesday (that's six days) to let me know that the throat culture was positive. Also annoying: The fact that the doctor sent me home feeling like I was crazy and dumb when actually, I had strep.

So, I am now on antibiotics and seem to be slowly emerging from the haze. It's really too bad that I have to be afraid of my health care provider. HMOs are the devil.