I get sick every year around this time. Although, I think this year it's settled in a little bit earlier than usual. Last year the week before Christmas I had no voice at all, and was swaying on my feet I was so weak. But, I trucked on through it, and was fine. I tried my best not to have to speak to too many customers, so no cash register work, but aside from that I was mostly ok.
It's started this year. Last night at work I could feel it coming on. The dryness in the back of my throat that just won't go away no matter how much water I had to drink. The slight tinge of soreness when I tried to swallow, and just a little bit of something in my ears. This morning? My glands are swollen, I can barely swallow, my ears feel slightly sore, and I have a bit of a fever.
The smart thing to do would be to go see the doctor, right? Yeah, the doctor doesn't have an appointment until Wednesday. In fact, they didn't even book me in for that appointment. The lady I spoke with said, that's too long to wait, let me have a nurse call you back. It's been two hours, and no nurse.
I considered going off to the emergency room. And I still might do that, but just as I was about ready to leave, my throat stopped hurting quite so much. I know that this doesn't mean that I'm getting better, it just means that it's the middle of the day when I always feel better, no matter what the illness and that later, it's going to be much, much worse. But, going into the emergency room feeling mostly fine seems like a grand waste of time. Of course, when I have to drive myself over there at 1am and spend the whole night there, I'll wish I'd gotten over there earlier in the day.
There are several reasons I'm worried about this. A) I can't take time off work. I do have 8 sick days, but there is nobody else to work if I'm not there. B) It's Christmas soon and I'd like to be healthy. C) One of the girls at work had these very same symptoms last weekend, and now she's been admitted to the hospital. I don't know what she's got, but I assume because it was left for so long it got worse. (Hello Doctors office, are you listening to me?!?)
Anyway, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do at the moment, but if it gets worse later on today I'll be off to the hospital for sure.
Posted by Michelle at December 10, 2004 10:41 AM