I'm sick and sick of it!
I've had a sore throat for eleven days. I have a very high pain tolerance and ibuprofen has dulled the pain so I can get through the days.
But this morning, my son, TwinBoyA, woke up with a sore throat and I thought, Uh-oh, maybe this is strep throat. I'd better go to the doctor. When I made the appointment, the woman on the phone said, "Oh, you are practically a new patient! You haven't been here since 2001."
Exactly. I never go to the doctor.
Especially with crappy health insurance. So, off I go, leaving my husband at home with the babies, YoungestBoy and sick TwinBoyA. I actually enjoyed driving out of my driveway, out into the sunshine. Today is the most lovely Spring day we've had yet. It's supposed to reach 70 degrees.
The nurse does the nurse-things, including swabbing my throat. The doctor comes in, listens to my lungs, looks in my ears, nose and throat, remarks that my throat is, indeed, red and says they'll swab my throat. I said "the nurse already swabbed it." Doctor leaves the room. Finally, the nurse returns, says, "Good news, it's not strep." Then she tells me the doctor wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic anyway "to clear up your sinuses" and one for Allegra . . . though, I am sure this is not allergy-related. I have allergies in the fall and I know what that feels like and this isn't it.
Fine. Her diagnosis? Basically, sore throat. Duh. How much did that just cost me?
Dear husband calls me from the pharmacy. The cost of both prescriptions is $180. No joke. I said, "NO WAY!" and he said that the pharmacist recommended over-the-counter Claritin and the antibiotic alone is $100--or something like that. By then, my brain had spun around three times and was dizzy. I said, "Just forget it."
I don't understand why the doctor would even prescribe the antibiotic in the first place. This is probably just a virus anyway. And I am frustrated and angry that she never returned to the treatment room to let me ask questions.
In my next life, I'm definitely going to medical school. It seems that any idiot can become a doctor, so why not me?
But this morning, my son, TwinBoyA, woke up with a sore throat and I thought, Uh-oh, maybe this is strep throat. I'd better go to the doctor. When I made the appointment, the woman on the phone said, "Oh, you are practically a new patient! You haven't been here since 2001."
Exactly. I never go to the doctor.
Especially with crappy health insurance. So, off I go, leaving my husband at home with the babies, YoungestBoy and sick TwinBoyA. I actually enjoyed driving out of my driveway, out into the sunshine. Today is the most lovely Spring day we've had yet. It's supposed to reach 70 degrees.
The nurse does the nurse-things, including swabbing my throat. The doctor comes in, listens to my lungs, looks in my ears, nose and throat, remarks that my throat is, indeed, red and says they'll swab my throat. I said "the nurse already swabbed it." Doctor leaves the room. Finally, the nurse returns, says, "Good news, it's not strep." Then she tells me the doctor wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic anyway "to clear up your sinuses" and one for Allegra . . . though, I am sure this is not allergy-related. I have allergies in the fall and I know what that feels like and this isn't it.
Fine. Her diagnosis? Basically, sore throat. Duh. How much did that just cost me?
Dear husband calls me from the pharmacy. The cost of both prescriptions is $180. No joke. I said, "NO WAY!" and he said that the pharmacist recommended over-the-counter Claritin and the antibiotic alone is $100--or something like that. By then, my brain had spun around three times and was dizzy. I said, "Just forget it."
I don't understand why the doctor would even prescribe the antibiotic in the first place. This is probably just a virus anyway. And I am frustrated and angry that she never returned to the treatment room to let me ask questions.
In my next life, I'm definitely going to medical school. It seems that any idiot can become a doctor, so why not me?
posted by Melodee at Monday, March 29, 2004
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