This time last week, I was nursing a sore throat and my muscles ached - my quads felt like they ran a marathon and my forearms felt like Popeye's forearms must feel after a fight with Bluto. But I didn't run a marathon and I haven't participated in any Fight Club matches (oops, broke that club's first rule). A trip to the doctor on Monday confirmed what Dan and I assumed - a bacterial infection that caused my sore throat was taking its time leaving my sore muscles. After 10 days on antibiotics, I'm back to normal, I ran five miles this morning and my sore throat is long gone.
I've had more health issues this past year than I've had in the previous ten years. Back in April, I had an extreme sore throat - white flecks on the back of my throat and my right tonsil swelled up. It actually hurt to talk and I was on a liquid diet for about a week. Again, large antibiotic capsules came to the rescue. At the end of October, I became allergic to exercise. After a run or a trip to the gym, my body would breakout in hives. Then, exercising was short-lived since in December, I hurt my lower back taking Chloe plus her carseat out of the car. The injury happened on a Friday, and over the weekend the pain progressively became worse - I couldn't pick up Chloe and I could barely walk. By Monday evening, after taking half an hour just to get to the car, Dan took me to the emergency room where the Doctor gave me a shot of pain killer and prescribed mega motrin and oxycodone. Unfortunately, while on these pain killers, I had to pump and dump breastmilk while Chloe spent a week in daycare. Luckily, we had already found someone to take care of her for when I returned to work and she was able to take Chloe that week. It was a rough week full of pain, sleep thanks to the motrin and oxycodone mix and self-pity.
In dealing with these health issues, I've visited some great medical practices and some awful practices. If you ever have an ear-nose-throat issue, I highly recommend Metropolitan ENT . You can fill out the usual insurance/contact forms online and the nurses take notes, send prescriptions, etc using tablet PCs. The doctor I saw was very patient and made sure all my concerns were addressed. On the other hand, I'm going to stay away from the doctor I visited after my emergency visit for my back pain. The doctor, who I won't name, didn't return phone calls and it took forever and a day for someone to look at my back x-rays. Also, the person who took the x-ray at the same practice was just plain rude and impatient. The doctor claimed that she never received my phone messages asking about my x-rays and that the receptionists don't pass along phone messages if the patient is asking about x-rays, test results, etc. Hmm, it would have been nice if the receptionist had mentioned this. Finally, three weeks after my x-ray, the receptionist called me to give me the x-ray results. She said, "You're x-ray shows that you have lumbar arthritis." I then asked her, "Is that it? What should I do next?". To which she replied, "That's a good question, I'll ask the doctor and get back to you." Three days later, I finally talked to the doctor. After giving her an earful, she explained that all back x-rays tend to show lumbar arthritis. Gee, I wish she had told me that before I started to panic after googling "lumbar arthritis". Ugh, it still makes me mad just thinking about it. Fortunately, the place I visited for physical therapy, INOVA Sportsplex, was awesome. The back pain is long gone. I need to do the exercises that the physical therapist showed me more often. I definitely don't want to hurt my back again. On Monday, when I called the doctor's office to make an appointment, I was already worried that my muscles still hurt and that I could barely open the silverware drawer or remove a pen cap. The nurse that I spoke with was so rude in asking me questions that I said, "Is there someone else I can talk to, you're being bitchy." Luckily the doctor that I saw was good and eased my worries.
My Dad, who is 71 years-old and in great health, has always told me "Health is wealth." As usual, he's so right on the money. Hmmm, now that it's past 11:00 PM, if my Dad knew I was still awake, he would probably ask warningly, "How come you're not in bed yet?". Sweet dreams and good health everyone!
