Ominous whiteness.

The news gets less and less happy, but at least there is an end in sight. It really might be true after all that things happen in clumps. I don't necessarily follow the 'happen in threes' rule, but at the very least, pairs. We've all been there; I don't see a point waiting for a third thing to happen just for it to make a nice little number.

Anyway, I'm sitting here staring at the first prescription bottle I've seen in... I don't even know. I don't think I've had a prescription since the 5th grade when I had some sort of bizarre cough that required chalk-like chewable tablets that tasted like, well... chalk. Today I'm looking at very adult amoxicillin capsules to be taken twice daily until gone. Amazing.

It started on Monday. It may have been a virus, but I woke up with a sore throat and became increasingly achy and tired all day. So achy that if I pushed my finger ever-so-lightly on my arm, it hurt. I just wanted to sit down, and then really all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep forever. But I had to work until midnight, which was probably the longest shift I've ever worked -- the night was never. going. to END. UGH.

The sore throat got worse, and although I was still tired on Tuesday, I wasn't achy anymore. Today rolled around, and I had about had enough. I went through an entire box of throat lozenges, half a bottle of DayQuil, too many ibuprofin tablets to admit to, and I woke up in the middle of the night of a sore throat. Who the hell wants to wake up because their throat hurts?

Finally, I stuck a new battery in my flashlight and checked in the mirror and lo! scary white spots! How ominous! I thought, ugh, BACTERIAAAA!!!! Although in my mind I think it went a little more like this:



So this is me on the phone to my mom this evening:

Me: Mom, I have a weird question. I'm fairly sure I have strep throat. What do I do?
Mom: The best thing would be to go to one of those urgent care places.
Me: Can I do that right now? Do I have to wait until tomorrow? [It was 5pm. Business hours anyone? Do walk-in clinics have business hours? I don't even know.]
Mom: No, you should do that right now. Do you want me to pick you up?
Me: Yes, can you take me there?

And thus I proceeded to a clinic called FastCare where I was a) thankful to be the only one there, and b) grateful to have health insurance. It turns out I most likely do not have strep (whew), but the unhappy fact of the matter is that I do have a very infected tonsil. Not so hot! And it's painful, damnit! I'm slurping up the last of a chocolate malt that was supposed to calm down the inflamed, dry, scratchy nuisance of a stupid tonsil that I've been dealing with for three days now.

I'll be the first to admit that it's pretty unusual for a 26 year old to not know how to go to an urgent care clinic. I didn't know where one even was. I'm sure I had no idea what the procedure was from start to finish. Easy questions, simple tests. No strep! Easy enough to figure out as it was, I was still greeted with surprise by the pharmacist when I told her I had never taken amoxicillin. I mean, obviously it's good that I never have to go to the doctor, however, it makes me almost painfully anxious about doctors and hospitals when I have to consider them at all.

So it may be weird, but I was pretty darn excited to get prescribed a drug today. I'm mostly excited to start feeling better, and being able to swallow yummy foods without wincing every time.

Things should start looking up now. The weekend has a lot of good stuff in store, and I want to feel better for it! Plenty more to come where that's concerned...

Summertime ills.

Oi. I wish I had something more exciting or happy to report other than that I've apparently come down with some bug, one of those indecisive ones where you're not sure if the symptoms you're feeling are a precursor to something else, or if it'll just fade away (with LOTS of vitamin C and ibuprofin and throat lozenges)... And I got into a minor car accident over the weekend which was scary and stressful more than anything (everyone was fine), but I get rattled pretty easily by that sort of thing. Which, in this case, may have opened the flood gates for some kind of cold that was lurking, just waiting for my immune system to let down its guard for a moment.

Have a cold? Eat fresh food!

I found a smattering of yummy organic produce at the grocery store on my last visit. The closest natural/organic stores are all small, independently-owned outfits in the area, and unfortunately they are all the furthest away from me, so I often have to make do with the nearby Festival Foods, if only because their organic/natural section is the biggest in the area outside of a full-blown specialty grocery.

Festival happened to have some pretty tasty, and reasonably-priced organic produce the other day, so I snatched up a few things and couldn't resist the apple pretty much immediately. It's amazing how the appearance of organic and "regular" produce compares sometimes. Sometimes it's surprising in a way you wouldn't expect: the organic pear is bigger than the other one, or the organic bananas are actually cheaper than the other ones. It's rare to find organic produce cheaper than the other stuff, but it's happened to me on occasion. In this case, my Gala apple was definitely dirtier-looking than the Gala apples in the regular section. The other Galas were bigger, and they were also incredibly shiny and firm and exactly the same size. This is the sort of comparison I expect.


Is it sad how easily I can fall in love with a piece of fruit? Anyway. It was awesome.

In other news, a small grill appeared mysteriously on my back porch -- a gift from my sister, I think, since they had an extra one. So I may be trying my hand at grilling FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. :) There's an asparagus-wrapped-in-prosciutto recipe that's been floating around that I'm just dyyying to try.

The big local farmers' market starts up this coming Saturday! I will not be here! I will be in Door County on a fundraiser bike ride! But you can bet I'm still going to stop by any of the numerous independent markets up there and try to procure as much local bounty as possible. The excitement is mounting...

And today I also purchased a blender. Finally. So I can make tasty smoothies and... more smoothies...