tempting fate

Let's recap:

Tuesday at work I was feeling chilly and achy and distracted, so I came home after lunch and slept like the dead for three hours. I then went to curling, because I had Obligations, but I came home right after, noted the swollenness of my lymph nodes, and went to bed and slept like a stone.

Wednesday I called in unwell and intended to work from home, but instead I slept for another three hours, woke up and checked my e-mail, went back to sleep for another three hours, woke up and checked my e-mail, went back to sleep for three hours. I then went to my dress rehearsal, because I had Obligations, but I came home right after and went to bed and slept like a stone.

Thursday I called in unwell and did work from home, but I begged off skiffy night and took it easy.

Today I went to work, not feeling great but not feeling dead, and figuring I'd better show my face or check in to a hospital. I'm coughing, but not badly, just a little rattle and wheeze. My throat doesn't even hurt. My shoulders and neck kind of do, and my head hurts, and I make the mistake of mentioning to sanj around lunchtime that my neck feels a little stiff, and of course the last time I had a headache and a stiff neck, I was summoned to the ER pronto. Of course, at that time I was a college student and living in a dorm (well, home for winter break, but); I am now a vaccinated person living alone. Still, I promise to double check with the advice nurse that it's nothing to worry about --

-- and an hour and a half later, when I get back to my desk after a meeting, I am summoned to a doctor's appointment later tonight. Which I roll my eyes, but listen, by the time I leave work, I feel pretty bad, and by now I feel kind of rotten, so I'm sort of glad? And not for nothing, but my neck still feels bruisy (it's not effing meningitis, see above re: lymph nodes/vaccine, but the nodes are really tender, is what), and now my throat is quite sore and beginning to feel swollen. Great!

You're welcome, skiffy gang. ;-)

conversations with my ("urgent", i.e. non-primary) doctor

doc: Stiffness in the neck, huh? Does that hurt?
me: A little bit.
doc: How about this?
me: No, that's fine.
doc: This?
me: Ow.
doc: Honey, that's just a stiff neck.

doc: Looks like the right ear's infected, which explains the lymph nodes.
me: I'm glad I wasn't hallucinating that.
doc: (laughing) No, you're okay. It's good that you came in.
me: I try not to be that patient, you know, where I've heard of something so I'm sure I've got it.
doc: I do wish more people thought that way? But it's better to come see us.
me: I mean, I just want to have a sense of what's worth worrying about and what's not.
doc: (sternly) Please don't minimize your own experience and concerns.

doc: So your lymph nodes are from the ear infection, and the stiff neck is from stress. Do you sleep okay?
me: I thought I did.
doc: I'm going to give you an antibiotic and a muscle relaxant, and if you've got a nice boyfriend, have him massage that tension for you. And if you don't, let me know, we'll get you one. That's another service we provide. I'm joking, of course.
me: Wouldn't that be something, though, if insurance could do that?
doc: Listen, you're not kidding. But seriously. You've got to try to relax.
me: In this town?

In conclusion: I have flexeril and amoxicillin, and a prescription to have a boy rub my neck. And two weeks' worth of yogurt. Stonyfield Farms' "yo baby" apple flavor tastes more like apple custard than anything else. I guess I should have expected that from something that is both apple-flavored and creamy.