Now is not a great time to be sick with anything. But apparently my body decided to go ahead and get sick anyway. And not just “meh” sick, but the sickest I’ve been in more than 8 years, back when I got the flu on the last day of a cruise. Fun times! Then and now!
Emma had strep 3 weeks ago, and our 4-year-old friend next door had it last week. We last saw her on the 18th — which is also the last time we interacted closely with anyone — and two days later my neighbor texted me to let me know our little friend had come down with a fever that turned out to be strep. Honestly, I wasn’t worried at all and had totally forgotten about it! But even though everything tells you strep symptoms show up 2-5 days after exposure, they seemingly chose to simmer for quite a while.
(The only other possibility I can come up with is that I got it from groceries or the park, and despite the worries going around about the potential for disease exposure from groceries and playgrounds, I find those much more far-fetched than concluding I got it from the neighbor.)
On Saturday afternoon I went out for a run. When I left the house, I felt totally fine. I went 4.5 miles, which was my longest distance of the week. When I got home, I felt a little off but it was warm and humid outside and I attributed things to the run. Within a couple hours though, my throat was really starting to feel sore and I told Jose “I think I’m getting sick.”
I tossed and turned all that night, and after making a brief appearance for coffee on Sunday morning, I quickly realized I need to lie back down. That turned into spending the entire day in bed. My throat felt very swollen and swallowing was very painful. I started running a low fever despite taking tylenol at regular intervals, and my whole body ached. I’m not exaggerating to say that I have not felt that awful since that bout of the flu in 2011.
Thanks to current events, both Jose and I were feeling a bit panicked about the situation. There were multiple rounds of googling “covid-19 symptoms” and “covid-19 vs. flu vs. strep”. I felt pretty strongly that I did NOT have coronavirus because 1) no cough, 2) no shortness of breath, 3) fever never got above 100.5. I suspected strep, based on how bad my throat felt. But I’ve also had strep before and never felt THAT BAD. So maybe flu? I did have a flu shot, but I know that’s not always a sure thing.
But still. Maybe it was covid? Could we really say for sure?
Since it was Sunday and I felt SO awful, I called an urgent care, but they weren’t seeing anyone without specific covid symptoms. They recommended doing an e-visit, which I did…and which was totally worthless since all it involved was filling out a checklist. They promptly diagnosed me in 5 minutes with a common cold and gave me a prescription for nasal spray. I mean, huh? Glad I wasted $25 on that. Ugh.
So we were resigned to waiting until Monday morning, at which point we called my regular family medicine doctor and made an appointment. Going to the doctor in the middle of a pandemic is weird, y’all. After checking in, I was sent back out to my car to wait. When a room was available, they called me on the phone and I went back in. Everyone in the office was wearing face masks, from the doc to the nurses to the receptionists. And when the nurse came in to perform the flu test (nasal swab) and strep test (throat swab) she had on a face shield too.
My strep test quickly came back positive, so they didn’t perform a covid test. The doctor said he had performed 26 tests at his office — all negative! — and had about 15 tests left, which they were saving for anyone who has symptoms but tests negative for strep, flu, etc.
I was so relieved to confirm that it was “just” strep and not something else. I still felt awful, but picked up my amoxicillin on the way home and crawled back into bed. I still felt lousy all day yesterday, and even started to develop a red rash on my chest — which is another strep/scarlet fever symptom, so I basically had every possible symptom covered.
This morning I still felt achy and sluggish, but as the day went on I finally started to feel significantly better. Tonight, my throat still feels a bit swollen and irritated, but swallowing is only uncomfortable and no longer painful. My fever and body aches are gone and the rash is fading.
So hooray for the power of antibiotics.
And here’s hoping this is the ONLY illness we’ll have to deal with during this pandemic.
Misti says
Ugh, what a mess that was! I would be terrified to go to the doctors office but needing that antibiotic means everything!
I’m currently nervous about this continuing into hurricane season.
Sarah says
SAME about hurricane season. I had that thought a week or two ago. It’s almost a certainty that people will have to evacuate due to a hurricane threat, whether it’s TX or FL or NC or somewhere else. I just hope we are past the coronavirus hump and/or have found a better treatment and/or the stores are better stocked. Etc etc etc.
Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl says
I hope it is the only illness you have to deal with, too! I had strep this bad at the end of QuiltCon last year. When it’s bad, it is really rough. I hope you continue to improve quickly!
Sarah says
Ugh, the joys of getting older I guess! We don’t bounce back as quickly.
Lynette Caulkins says
Scariness. You can’t even get a headache these days without starting to worry in the back of your mind, but strep is no fun. So sorry your kiddo, and now you, have to go through it. 🙁
Sarah says
My kid felt sick for all of about 8 hours — she bounced back so quick! 🙂
Gretchen says
Sorry you were feeling so lousy! Growing up my mom could diagnose strep from the smell of our breath. Gross, right?
Make sure you change out your toothbrush or you might re-infect yourself!
Sarah says
Yes, I changed my toothbrush at the 24-hours-on-antibiotics mark!!