Well now, THAT was a rough one

So Saturday I am going along doing my wife and mommy duties of shopping, laundry, getting ready for the family Christmas party when about 3 PM I start feeling very tired and hurting all over. I start thinking, "I hope I am not coming down with flu. I did get my flu shot after all."

I laid down on my bed for about an hour then gimped out to the truck to attend the family party with my monkeys. I don't have a really great time, due to hurting so much. I wanted to go visit with everyone, but didn't know if it was the arthritis or something else causing me such pain and discomfort. We had a terrible waitress, who walked off the job when I pointed out that the glass she brought my son was more carbonated water than mountain Dew. What?! Being the therapist, I wondered what else she had going on that no one else knew about.

So we do the party. We ate, we did our gift exchange; in which Mini-Me Monkey tells this funny story using the words left and right and we moved our gifts in the direction that was given. Turns out we have some family members who aren't good sports and they hid gifts they wanted under the table rather than passing them along. Well, the rest of us had fun, and a clear conscience. Following the gift exchange I could take no more pain and Mr. Monkey helped me gimp my way back to the truck and we all came home.

Once home I tried to get my joints warm. No luck. Then about 9 PM my throat started hurting. I'm talking really hurting. Mr. Monkey insisted I try Ny Quil for all the pain. That stuff is so nasty. I used orange juice as a chaser. I take it, hoping it will help. All night long the pain continued in my throat. To tell you the truth I know my body hurt, but the pain from my throat was so much worse that I noticed it more.

I finally got up at 8 AM cause my tummy was grumbling for breakfast. Yeah, like I wanted to pass anything with substance past that painful place. I drank some orange juice and read the blogs of my friends. When Mr. Monkey got up (he slept in- probably because I kept him up all night) I insisted we go find an urgent care center and if not then we will go to the E. R. to find out what this pain in the neck was all about.

Mr. Monkey tells me that of all the people in the house who get sick he hates it worse when I am. Is this because I can't do what I normally do? Is this because he has to do all that I normally do? He says it's because it causes me more pain and he doesn't like to see me hurt. Awww. He's definitely a keeper.

Doctors think they are so clever. I'll get back to this in a minute. We go to Riverwoods Urgent Care. The. Nurse. Was. Soooooooooo. Slooooooooow. We sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes! Now if the office is busy, that is understandable. However, WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE!!!!!! What are they doing back there? Grrrr. Finally we go back. The blood pressure machine doesn't work. Darn. She will have to do it the old fashioned way. Then she gags me with that cotton swab. I knew that was coming. Didn't like, but knew it was necessary.

10 minutes later the doctor comes in. He asks me what brings me in here today. I tell him the wretched pain in my throat that even Ny Quil won't take the pain away! He casually says, "yeah, you've got strep throat. I looked at your test on the way in." Uhm, excuse me, but if YOU knew THAT, then WHY ask ME?!!!! Dork. See he thought he was being so clever.

We are given the treatment options. Pills that you take several times a day; like I need another pill to take. A shot that is more intense, more effective, and lasts longer that pills. Hmm. That is a tough one. In a split second I say, "I'll take the shot." I later regret that quick action.

They forgot to tell me HOW BAD IT HURTS!!!! It hurts going in. It hurts afterward. They have to watch you for 15 minutes. Through the walls and closed door, I might add. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. I wasn't in enough pain. I just had to have more. It hurt when I went home and went back to bed. It is Tuesday and it still hurts. Who thought this up?

Now colleagues, we need to make a better, longer acting, faster acting medicine with this penicillin medicine. Since it will be so much more effective, lets make it painful, too. Bwahahahaha

Ok, so I realize that they don't sit around and try to punish us for getting sick. It still hurt.

The end result is I sound terrible for two days. My throat hurts for 3 days. I lose 2 lbs. Now today I finally sound more like me. I miss two days of work. I still get to make up the missed appointments. That's how it works in my field.

I called the boys that were scheduled for Monday and today and reschedule them throughout the week. They chuckle at my deep and throaty sounding voice. They also all tell me to get feeling better soon.

I stay in bed for two and half days. Which, by the way is not near as fun as it might appear to sound. Today will be spent changing sheets and sterilizing whatever I think might spread this awful bacteria!

The good thing about all this is that it wasn't on Christmas that I was sick. I'll be better by then. Yay!!!