orange you glad i didn’t say banana?

by the time i actually posted the last entry, it was already out of date. but i’d written it over a couple of days so i went ahead and posted it. so let’s backfill…
thursday i took a sick day from work. i’ve had a sinus infection for at least a month…maybe two…but last weekend i started having some throat problems, then my ears started hurting now and then. after a day or two of this, i finally got a flashlight and looked at my throat in the mirror. yikes. i had some big red welts in the back of my throat and my tonsils looked thoroughly pissed about the status of things. i was concerned i might have strep throat, so i decided to see a doctor.
i don’t think i’ve been to a doctor since i moved from 9023, so i didn’t have a place i’d gone to around where i’m living now. i did some searches for “convenience” clinics near me and wrote down a couple. i drove out westheimer and passed one without seeing it, so i went to fountain view. the address was 26xx, and the street sign at westheimer said 2700 in one way and 2600 in the other. i turned, but the first address i saw was 24xx. i turned around and went the other way, but the first address i saw in that direction was 29xx. huh? i turned back around and at the light for westheimer i called them. i asked where they were located and they said at the corner of westheimer and fountain view. i asked which corner and they said the heb grocery store. “by it? where?” i asked. “no, we’re in it.” she replied. ah. uh…in the heb. what kind of place was this, i wondered? i asked if they could write prescriptions for antibiotics and stuff and she replied “we can write them if it’s appropriate. we don’t just give out antibiotics unless it’s necessary.” i said i understood, but i had a long-term sinus infection and might have strep throat, so i wanted to be sure they could diagnose that kind of stuff and prescribe antibiotics or whatever. “if we determine you need antibiotics. we’ll have to make that decision.” i assured her i was just trying to make sure they could prescribe stuff, then hung up. i went into the heb parking lot, parked, and walked in.
so imagine in your mind those little cubby hole businesses in grocery stores. you’ve got your tax return place, your nail place, your little bank, customer service, maybe a watch and jewelry store…and that’s pretty much what this place was. it was like a little tax return office, but with a doctor. there was one receptionist and one doctor. they took your information in the waiting room, which was the small foyer. then they had two examination rooms. but the wait wasn’t very long, and it was actually like a micro-clinic.
the doctor came in and talked to me a little, then looked in my ears. she said they were a little red and i probably had some fluid behind the ear drum and some infection. she felt around my face and my neck and asked if any of it hurt, then she said “let’s take a look at your throat.” i opened my mouth and she signed the light down there and immediately said “oh yeah. we’re definitely doing a strep test.” she started that, then while it was cooking she did the cool trick where you turn out the lights and shine a bright light through your eye socket at your sinuses. if they’re free and clear, they’ll glow like a light. she did the ones above my eyes first and said “yeah, this one is pretty blocked up. oh, yeah, this one is too.” then she moved on to the ones below my eyes. “oh wow, this one is pretty much completely occluded. yikes. this one is too.” she went back to the strep test and it was negative, so it was probably just that my sinus problems eventually irritated and/or infected my throat. she wrote me a prescription for augmentin and some mouthwash stuff to gargle.
i dropped that off at the pharmacy at heb and they said it’d be about 30 minutes, so i went to the texadelphia that’s near there for lunch, then went back by and picked up my meds. i went back home and decided to go on my next adventure…dealing with my parking tickets. i’ll make that a separate entry.
and btw, i feel much better than i did then. my throat feels normal — although i haven’t looked at it in the mirror or anything — and my sinuses (and head in general) feel much more normal. it seems like about half the time i get sick i end up with a sinus infection that doesn’t want to ever go away on its own. it’s very annoying. i asked the doctor if there was much i could do to help avoid that, and her only answer really was “drink lots of water.” ah, the miraculous insights of modern medicine.