- Joined
- Apr 12, 2005
- Messages
- 18,981
- Reaction score
- 6,933
- Location
- At some altitude
- Website
- www.jamie-mason.com
So a little over two weeks ago, I got the flu. I'd never had the flu before and it kicked my ass. The only time I've ever been sicker was a flogging I took nineteen years ago from mononucleosis. I was in enough pain to warrant a trip to the doctor and was sent away with Vicodin and Tamiflu. I died for about for four days, wilted for another two and then started feeling better.
As soon as I pinked up (this was six days post Tamiflu and nine days since my last Vicodin), I noticed a small red splotch on my torso and thought maybe my brassiere had rubbed me wrong. Over the next two days, a few tiny red bumps. Then a full bloom of both rosy smears and red pinpoints all over my ribs and belly. Today is day eight and it's migrated north and south and has wrapped around in a hug of sorts. It doesn't really itch or bother me, it's just weird.
So I call my health insurance's nurse line. She doesn't like the sound of it and says that I might have a bacterial infection which sometimes chases the flu. (My daughter had strep and my husband had some sort of sinusitis attack in the interim, so we've had noseeums floating around in the house.) She wants me to get to the doctor ASAP, even though I feel fine.
So I spent the morning in the doctors office. I wait for an hour. The nurse takes my temperature and blood pressure and then I get to wait another twenty minutes for the doctor to come in.
He barely looks at me and says, "You're fine."
I say, "Great. They were just concerned that it could be strep since it was in my house at the same time I was sick."
He says, "No. If it was strep, you'd feel bad. There's nothing wrong with you. I'll write you a prescription for Prednisone."
"But you said there was nothing wrong."
"Right."
"Then I'd prefer not to take a course of steroids."
"Okay, take a Benadryl."
WTF? As far as I know, the recommended treatment for 'everything's okay' is to go home and get on with your life. But this guy has pen poised to nuclear bomb my healthy ass in repayment for the ninety minutes I've lost in waiting for him. Apparently, putting me into a Benadryl stupor is King Solomon's solution.
This is no way to run a railroad. Come to find out, not only was it wasteful and not very healthy to offer me Prednisone, but once I told the man I'd been exposed to strep, he should have done the test. Not everyone presents the same way. So, now I'm out a co-pay and a Monday morning and I might be fine or I might be sick. Irksome.
As soon as I pinked up (this was six days post Tamiflu and nine days since my last Vicodin), I noticed a small red splotch on my torso and thought maybe my brassiere had rubbed me wrong. Over the next two days, a few tiny red bumps. Then a full bloom of both rosy smears and red pinpoints all over my ribs and belly. Today is day eight and it's migrated north and south and has wrapped around in a hug of sorts. It doesn't really itch or bother me, it's just weird.
So I call my health insurance's nurse line. She doesn't like the sound of it and says that I might have a bacterial infection which sometimes chases the flu. (My daughter had strep and my husband had some sort of sinusitis attack in the interim, so we've had noseeums floating around in the house.) She wants me to get to the doctor ASAP, even though I feel fine.
So I spent the morning in the doctors office. I wait for an hour. The nurse takes my temperature and blood pressure and then I get to wait another twenty minutes for the doctor to come in.
He barely looks at me and says, "You're fine."
I say, "Great. They were just concerned that it could be strep since it was in my house at the same time I was sick."
He says, "No. If it was strep, you'd feel bad. There's nothing wrong with you. I'll write you a prescription for Prednisone."
"But you said there was nothing wrong."
"Right."
"Then I'd prefer not to take a course of steroids."
"Okay, take a Benadryl."
WTF? As far as I know, the recommended treatment for 'everything's okay' is to go home and get on with your life. But this guy has pen poised to nuclear bomb my healthy ass in repayment for the ninety minutes I've lost in waiting for him. Apparently, putting me into a Benadryl stupor is King Solomon's solution.
This is no way to run a railroad. Come to find out, not only was it wasteful and not very healthy to offer me Prednisone, but once I told the man I'd been exposed to strep, he should have done the test. Not everyone presents the same way. So, now I'm out a co-pay and a Monday morning and I might be fine or I might be sick. Irksome.