Getting Well These Days A Butt Pain
Getting rid of bacterial infections such as strep throat was a lot easier when I was a kid.
Mom would take me to the pediatrician, who would prescribe an antibiotic quite mild in comparison to the strong, bug-battling medicinal monsters of today.
Recently, in addition to other assorted minor disasters in my familial life, strep throat has burned through our household, starting with my wife and then my two sons. Considering that the inexplicable Bad Karma continues and is even spreading (my dad wiped out in a church food buffet line Sunday, cutting himself to ribbons), I've been bracing for strep throat to put me in a choke hold.
Sure enough, the curious burning in my throat yesterday turned into a forest fire around 4 a.m. today, accompanied by a 101 fever and various aches.
Strangely, I felt a little better by morning, even showering and putting on my work clothes in hopes that my subsequent treatment at the clinic would result in a quick road to recovery.
Mercifully, I got a negative strep test, thereby narrowing the problem to only a sinus infection, albeit a nasty one.
Being sick in the summer is a bummer. The Southeast Texas heat and humidity contribute to the misery of illness during this time of year.
The last time I had a sinus infection, I got a painful shot and then some pills. This time, however, I had to endure TWO painful shots and then some pills.
For those who have had one of these buggers, you know how much they hurt. The syringes are the size of turkey basters, and the viscous medicine, injected through a needle the size of a railroad spike, burns when it goes in. The soreness can linger for days.
Nevertheless, those shots put the recovering process in overdrive, and I'm happy to report that I'm almost feeling normal as I write this.
However, it is alarming how it takes tougher measures to kill out infections these days. The antibiotic that worked on the strep throat of my older son, Curt, did not work when his sibling, Luke, had the infection, so we had to put him on stronger stuff.
All of this reminds me of when a nurse long ago told me why it is important to take all your medicine, particularly antibiotics, and how not taking them leads to more drug-resistant strains of bacteria.
Ironically, the stuff that cures us might ultimately kill us all in the long run, when scientists fail to come up with a solution to the biggest, baddest bacterial infections of them all.
Mom would take me to the pediatrician, who would prescribe an antibiotic quite mild in comparison to the strong, bug-battling medicinal monsters of today.
Recently, in addition to other assorted minor disasters in my familial life, strep throat has burned through our household, starting with my wife and then my two sons. Considering that the inexplicable Bad Karma continues and is even spreading (my dad wiped out in a church food buffet line Sunday, cutting himself to ribbons), I've been bracing for strep throat to put me in a choke hold.
Sure enough, the curious burning in my throat yesterday turned into a forest fire around 4 a.m. today, accompanied by a 101 fever and various aches.
Strangely, I felt a little better by morning, even showering and putting on my work clothes in hopes that my subsequent treatment at the clinic would result in a quick road to recovery.
Mercifully, I got a negative strep test, thereby narrowing the problem to only a sinus infection, albeit a nasty one.
Being sick in the summer is a bummer. The Southeast Texas heat and humidity contribute to the misery of illness during this time of year.
The last time I had a sinus infection, I got a painful shot and then some pills. This time, however, I had to endure TWO painful shots and then some pills.
For those who have had one of these buggers, you know how much they hurt. The syringes are the size of turkey basters, and the viscous medicine, injected through a needle the size of a railroad spike, burns when it goes in. The soreness can linger for days.
Nevertheless, those shots put the recovering process in overdrive, and I'm happy to report that I'm almost feeling normal as I write this.
However, it is alarming how it takes tougher measures to kill out infections these days. The antibiotic that worked on the strep throat of my older son, Curt, did not work when his sibling, Luke, had the infection, so we had to put him on stronger stuff.
All of this reminds me of when a nurse long ago told me why it is important to take all your medicine, particularly antibiotics, and how not taking them leads to more drug-resistant strains of bacteria.
Ironically, the stuff that cures us might ultimately kill us all in the long run, when scientists fail to come up with a solution to the biggest, baddest bacterial infections of them all.
posted by Brian Pearson at 4:29 PM
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