Strep Throat

Strep throat shorted from its causative agent, Group A streptococcus, is a bacterial infection that can cause the tonsillitis shown in the above picture (my throat-- it looked worse yesterday, but I was too sick to take a picture or write a post yesterday) If left untreated, it can result in Scarlet fever or Rheumatic fever, which can go on to destroy heart valve and a bunch of other bad things.

Symptoms include: Swollen sore throat, pain with swallowing, lack of appetite (one bowl of soup has fed me for 3 meals now), fever (101.7 yesterday), chills so bad that you can't stop shaking, body ache so bad that it hurts to sit or move any muscle at all, fatigue induced sleep all day long, headaches. I think that pretty much sums it up. It was definitely enough to get me out of work yesterday.

I have been seeing so many people with strep throat lately. Then, Thursday I sort of had a sore throat all day. Thinking back on how many people I had seen with strep throat this made me nervous. But, I tried to pretend it was nothing because Derek and I had received a free night's stay at a luxury condo out in Midway for the night from one of the partners at his firm

As I left work, I was feeling like I just had a sore throat. But as we drove out there, it got worse and worse. Every muscle on my body ached, nothing sounded good to eat, I was fevering and chilling. We ate at a nice restaurant. Derek ordered some big pork loin thing, and I ordered a bowl of Pumpkin soup. I felt like such an anorexic chick. All I ordered was soup, and I honestly ate like 5 bites. It looked like it hadn't even been tasted. To the soup's credit, it was actually very good.

My friend Traci from work said I needed to pick up some sexy lingerie on the way out to the luxury condo, but the only think I really wanted to pick up was NyQuil. That night I did sit in the luxury jet tub which got rid of the chills and some of the body ache. Then, I overdosed on Ibuprofen and NyQuil and put myself into a medication induced coma.

I woke up feeling less feverish, but my throat hurt worse. I got to work, looked in the mirror at my throat, and knew immediately this was strep. The doc checked me over, and Traci gave me a shot of Rocephin in the butt. Then, I went home and spent the afternoon with fevers, chills, and a bad sore throat. After half a bottle of Ibuprofen, I was able to read a book for a while which helped me to drift off into a world free of strep throat, until the Ibuprofen wore off and the fever/chills returned.

I don't think I ate a thing until my good friend Deb came to the rescue with Raspberry Sherbet. It was the best! I honestly felt better just having her there (even though I made her sit across the room from me so she wouldn't get sick). But we sat across the room from each other, eating sherbet, and just chatting the afternoon away. Thanks Deb! You are a lifesaver.

Today, I felt good enough to go see Twilight which I actually thought was done pretty well. No movie is ever as good as the book, but I thought it was pretty good. My throat still hurts, but no more fever or chills. I'm starting to get some of my appetite back. And, supposedly 24 hours after starting antibiotics I am no longer contagious. So, I may go to a football party for the big BYU vs. U of U game tonight. Sounds better than staying home to suffer in solitude with my sore throat.