Validated

We've now been sick for "a week to ten days" and we're really not feeling any better. Maybe Peeper is, but I'm not, and I think Shrike's still getting worse.

This morning, each of Shrike's parents called to "encourage" us to go to the urgent care clinic and find out what's wrong and get some antibiotics.

Of course, as soon as we got off the phone, I reacted defensively, of the "I'm 43 years old and I don't need somebody's mama telling me what to do!" variety.

And then promptly called my Mama to ask what to do. In my defense, I was trying to call my Daddy - who is a doctor - and get his opinion as to whether there was anything to be done for us other than waiting it out.

As you can imagine, Shrike didn't take that so well, of the "Are you saying my mom's too stupid to know whether we need to go to the doctor?" variety.

So, yeah, that was lovely. And totally my fault.

Then I decided that copays be damned, if there was any chance that the doc-in-a-box could give us anything that might make us well a little faster, it was worth it.

Shrike jumped in the shower (I'd already had one, primarily for the purpose of steaming my head clearish for a few minutes) and we got Peeper dressed, sort of.

I left her in the shirt she'd slept in, changed her diaper and threw some jeans on her. Then I asked, rhetorically, "What are we gonna do with that hair?" (That hasn't been brushed since hmmm Wednesday?)

Without skipping a beat, Peeper said "Put a hat on it!"

So we did.

I have to say, I'll bet she was the cutest little sicky they saw today.

So, off we went, and told them our story of woe.

The doctor looked in everybody's faceholes and listened to all our chests and the verdict is:

Peeper - ears clear, lungs clear, throat infected
Shrike - ear infected, throat infected, bronchitis
Whozat - two ears infected, throat infected, bronchitis

And, although he didn't say anything about it, Shrike and I both have very congested - and I would assume infected - sinuses, too.

So, antibiotics all around!

Of course, maybe Peeper's virus is already getting better, mine's peeking and Shrike's is still getting worse, and if we just wait a few days, we'll all feel fine anyway, but as much as I don't like taking unecessary antibiotics, if there's any chance that they'll make me feel better faster, I'm all for 'em.

I have to admit that, in all my years of getting colds and feeling crappy and having chest congestion and coughing up junk and having stopped up ears that can't hear anything, I've never had an actual diagnosis of bronchitis, nor have I had an ear infection diagnosed since I was a little kid, and they always involved a whole lot of pain (which, thankfully, I'm not having now).

I don't really feel all that different from every other cold I've had, except maybe worse (although it's hard to say, because the pain/discomfort your feeling now is always worse than what you've felt in the past) and definitely longer-lasting than usual.

I suspect that all those "diagnoses" we got are just fancy words to explain the various parts of what's going on in pretty much any cold.

Ears fluidy? Otitis media, acute suppurative
Throat red from all that coughing and snot? Pharyngitis, acute
Lungs full of junk? Bronchitis

Being the daughter of a doctor, even all these years after moving away from home, I guess I'm still not used to getting an official -sounding diagnosis for something as common as a cold.

I still can't even really wrap my head around the idea of "going to the doctor" for a cold, because we never did that. Of course, in reality, we "went to the doctor" for every little bump, scrape or sniffle, we just didn't have to go anywhere, or pay any money. Or get a fancy diagnosis.

Where I come from, my double otitis media / bronchitis / pharyngitis / (sinusitis) about which I was told "You're gonna need antibiotics, you're gonna need lots of fluids, you're gonna need a decongestant, you're gonna need cough medicine, you're gonna need Mucinex. . . . " would go something more like "Eh, you've got the crud," or possibly, "Eh, you've got the crud, but it sound like you could use some antibiotics. Let me see what kind of samples I've got. . . ."

And Anonydaddy would never tell me to take a decongestant or cough medicine or most Mucinexes (Mucines?) because he knows and understands (and believes, unlike this guy, I think) my extreme hypersensitivity to them, and the psychotic reaction that results.

(I really hate having doctors just look at me and nod like they think I'm crazy when I try to explain what will happen if I take those things. Maybe I should just say "hives" and be done with it. That's what happens when I take Amoxicillin, and they don't try to talk me into that.)

Anyway, maybe we are as sick as our diagnoses say- we certainly feel sick enough for multiple diagnoses - or maybe we just have a bad cold and a bunch of fancy words, but whatever it is, I sure hope it goes away soon, because I'm about fucking tired of it.