There is evil in my tonsils (whiny)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This isn’t quite up to Pit level, but Og. Damn. What the hell is this virus, and how did it get so strong?

About two weeks ago, our four year old went down with it - fever of 101-103 for four freaking days, plus (perhaps more worrying) total lethargy. Wound up going to the urgent care because the doctor’s office was slammed the second and third of the month. She had to have a chest X-ray because they thought she might have pneumonia. A day later, she was mostly recovered, thank goodness.

Of course, then my husband got it a day or so later. He’s still/again sick with horrible sinus pressure, fatigue, and cough. Last night his temperature was unusually low, which freaked me out, but he says he feels a bit better today so I won’t hound him to go to the doctor . . . yet.

I thought it might be the flu, especially since I was escaping infection for a good week and a half (I’m the only one who got vaccinated), but no. Tuesday I started a mildly sore throat - by Thursday I was in for a strep test because the pain was so bad, and I was running a low fever. Negative test, “try salt water gargles and the Neti pot” and sent me on my way. Never mind that my tonsils are twice their normal size and brimming with pus. The doctor also cheerfully told me that hundreds of people have come in with a similar thing, and it lasts three weeks.

Friday night it got so bad I didn’t know if I was dying or if I wanted someone to kill me. Luckily the doctor has Saturday morning urgent care hours, so I went back for another strep test - negative. Strangely the fact that I was crying as I described the pain, and rated it a 9 didn’t seem terribly significant, but they thought maybe I could have a sinus and/or ear infection, so they gave me some antibiotics that I could use if I didn’t get better in a day or so. I filled them right away, and in the first 24 hours the pain went from a 8-9 to a 5-6, then to a 2 or less in the next day. So I’m guessing something bacterial was involved.

So I’m relatively happy now that every swallow doesn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out in pain. But the virus is still hanging in of course, and today’s new symptom is interesting. My nasal passages are fairly clear - I can breathe through my nose - but when I lean over my head feels so pressurized it might conceivably explode. I wonder what will come next, given this is only the end of week one?

Where the hell did this bug come from, and how did it get so badass? Whatever happened to 7-10 days as the normal limit of a cold? In the past few years it’s been extended to “up to two weeks,” and now freaking Captain Trips here is lasting three weeks! It’s enough to make me consider a career move to “hermit,” so I can avoid all the sick people from now on.

2

Best to be sure it isn’t this with you guys, I would think. Good luck.

3

We have the same crud going around at work right now. I was off work for 4 days with the high fever, sore throat that hurt like a mofo, listless, earache, cough, sinus pressure that was insane.

2 weeks now and I am still not fully over it.

4

Thanks for catching that - it certainly has a lot in common with mono. I’ve been schlumping around moaning, “I haven’t been this sick since I had mono!” But, as you may have guessed from that, I already had it (as has my husband), so unless it’s some super mutant strain, our spleens at least are safe.

So if ems has it too, not only is it an evil ubervirus of ridiculous tenacity, it is also literally sweeping the nation. Grab a face mask and wield Purell copiously, people, or it might get you!

5

Once you have mono, you carry it in your body the rest of your life. (And sometimes your saliva is infectious, without you even knowing it.) It is possible to come down with it again, even years later. But, it could also be some kind of throat infection, which is what the Mr. has. I was thinking it might very well be mono again with him, in fact. He hasn’t been this sick in YEARS. But, he does have some symptoms this time around that he didn’t have last time, and the Doctor says it’s a throat infection. (Though he didn’t culture it to see if it’s strep, and this bothers me.) Mr. Clawbane is taking doxycycline, and I hope it cures him.