Monday, March 16, 2009

Ahhh.... Modern Medicine!
























So, it turns out that what I thought was the beginning of the mother of all colds was actually, in fact, strep. Great. I've only ever had strep throat once before and that was nearly 20 years ago.

I went to the doctor, who ran a Rapid Strep test. The poor nurse - twice I backed away from her, the third time, I pushed her away. The fourth attempt was the charm (what can I say? I hate throat cultures. Gack!)

Long story short, the test came back negative (WTF!@#$!???), but my doctor said that it's only 80% accurate to begin with and, judging by how red my throat was, she was fairly certain I fell into the 20% who have it despite the negative. So she prescribed me Zithromax and sent me on my way.

Wonderful stuff, this Zithromax. By Saturday night, my throat was almost 100% better. By last night, I was thisclose to my old self. Yay!

However, what also might have helped was that, for the first time in forever, I actually crawled into bed and got some real rest. I stayed in bed, in my jammies, all day Saturday (once I got home from the doctor's) and all day Sunday. I never do that. Isn't it funny how, when men get sick, they expect the world to just stop for them and they crawl into bed, sleep for two days, and spring up healthy as anything? But women don't get that luxury. For some reason, the world does not stop for us, no matter how lousy we feel.

Well this time, I made it stop. I stayed in bed and did nothing but read. For two days. I can't remember the last time I did that where childbirth wasn't involved. It was probably at least 8 years ago - BK (Before Kids.)

My husband's birthday was Friday, so earlier that week, I was in B&N to get part of his gift when I remembered I hadn't bought Janet Evanovich's most recent Stephanie Plum novel. They usually come out in May/June, so I was waaaaay behind with this one. Truth be told, I wasn't all that thrilled with the last few Plum novels, so I just never got around to buying the Fearless Fourteen. Just kind of forgot about it.

So I bought it as well. And read it in about six hours. It was hysterically funny in parts. Despite feeling so lousy on Friday, when I started it, I burst out in such laughter at one point, that my husband actually came to see what was so damn funny.

Since Friday was his birthday, I'd invited a whole mess of family for dinner. I didn't want to cancel it on account of a silly sore throat (it wasn't until later Friday night, when I really started feeling awful, that it dawned on me that I probably had strep) so I made dinner for ten people despite wanting only to crawl into a hole and die. I kept my distance from everyone, though, so all should be well. I hope.

When I got back from the doctor's on Saturday, I curled up in bed with Fearless Fourteen and blazed through it. The earlier Stephanie Plum novels were (and still are) some of the funniest books I've ever read, and Fourteen seemed to recapture it. When I finished it, I went back and dug out Lean, Mean Thirteen and re-read that. Same thing - funny as hell.

Since I was feeling better, I went and pawed through my books to find the other twelve Plums. So far, Hot Six and Twelve Sharp are still missing, which kind of sucks because Twelve is a hardback. They're probably in a box in the attic. I hope.

I figure by the time I finish re-reading them, book fifteen will be out. And hopefully I won't be disappointed.

So even though I felt like hell until last night, it wasn't really a bad weekend at all. In some ways, it was nice to just enjoy the peace and quiet. And I actually had peace and quiet. Even the kids seemed to understand that Mommy was sick and my husband kept them fairly occupied so I could rest. I think it was my going to the doctor that had him thinking I was thisclose to death, since I never go to the doctor when I'm sick.

Anyway, now it's Monday and, for the first time in a loooong time, I'm feeling pretty good. Of course, I think the Boy is coming down with something again (I can NOT wait for spring!!!) so by tomorrow I may be sleep deprived and cranky again. We'll see.

2 comments:

smsarber said...

Hope you're well now! My wife likes the Plum novels, too. She says if you want a really funny book, read "The Spellman Files" by Lisa Lutz. I haven't read it myself, but I can usually trust her judgement.

Kim said...

I'll have to get that one - I LOVE books that make me laugh out loud! Thanks for the suggestion!