Doctors are ashamed of how much they charge for things.

You learn this when you’re uninsured. They say, “No insurance, right?” and you nod. And then they proceed to skip tests and prescribe the cheapest pills in their arsenals.

This is, I think, because they know they overcharge insurance companies for things like strep swabs.

In a nutshell, I was not tested for strep, but it was assumed I have strep because, and I quote, I’m “too old for mono.”

I’m to take this bottom-shelf antibiotic (only thirteen dollars!) and call in if I don’t feel better by Wednesday, because the good doctor told me he saw a guy recently whose throat looked as bad as mine and his bacteria didn’t respond to the bottom-shelf antibiotic and had to be killed with some expensive, bovine-strength antibiotic.

Lord, I’m so fucking happy. Not. (At least my sweet GP is reluctant to prescribe the bovine-strength antibiotic. A point in his favor.)

I think I have tonsillitis. Seriously.

Friday I cleaned house (did tons of laundry) and had a fairly good day. It was the first day in a whole month when I didn’t have at least one panic attack! Late in the afternoon I showered and put on my new cute dress – the one I bought at a consignment shop in Iowa City recently. (Cute dresses are fun. I want a dozen more.) I made and served dinner to my hubby when he got home from work, and he, predictably, fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV before dark.

I text messaged Hattie a few times; she was waiting at the Red Rock for Misty so they could go to see Steve’s band play in Ft. Madison. I was invited, but didn’t want to be out quite that late. I wandered around the house in my cute dress with my clean hair, listening to my husband snore and folding laundry.

By the time I went to bed, my throat was sore.

Saturday I was in HELL. Oh my GOD my throat hurt! Fuck! Swallowing was like an explosion. I ran a temperature on and off all day. I ached and everything hurt and I was in agony. My husband, who has the compassion of a fucking rock, showed me no sympathy and was kind of a jerk because I wasn’t paying him proper attention – he’s of the opinion that I’m being “lazy” when I don’t wait on him hand and foot, keep the fridge full of dead animal flesh, and make him lunch. (I’m kind of getting sick of his shit again, frankly, but that’s another post.)

He left for town without even telling me he was leaving, and he didn’t answer his phone any of the three times I called him to beg him to bring me some ibuprofin and Gatorade. He apparently thought I was just fucking off or something. I finally had to stand in front of him yesterday afternoon and say, “Hey! I’M SICK, you fucktard. My tonsils are huge, my throat hurts like hell, and I’m running a temperature.” Being who and what he is, he did not ask if I needed anything, nor did he offer any kind of help or assistance in making me comfortable. He’s a heartless twat. In fact, he went out to dinner with Joe, Misty & Steve in Mt. Hammil.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I do not expect him to stay home on a Saturday night just because I’m sick. But the decency of a simple, “Can I bring you anything?” would go a long goddamned way around here, I can tell you that much.

Today I got him to buy me some Advil (but only because he was already going to town to take Joe home), and now I can kill the pain long enough to eat and get some hydration in my body, but I’m still miserable. Miserable, I tell you. Miserable! It’s a hundred degrees out and my tonsils – which have always been unusually large to begin with – are massive, and they HURT, and swallowing feels like my head is exploding, and I have a fever so my skin and bones ache.

When you turn seven or so, your tonsils are supposed to shrink. By then you don’t need them quite so much, having already been exposed to most of Earth’s germs. Mine never shrunk. They’re pretty big. Which means that when they swell up they’re huge.

WebMD, who assumes all persons with tonsillitis are children, says,

“A sore throat along with sudden fever and swollen lymph nodes may indicate a bacterial infection. Anyone with these symptoms should see a health professional to be tested for strep throat, which requires treatment with antibiotics.

“Tonsillitis is usually caused by a virus and does not require prescription medication. Gargling with salt water and taking nonprescription pain medications (such as acetaminophen) can help manage symptoms as the body fights off the infection.”

Lovely. Either I hope for strep and therefore antibiotics, or I have to suffer through a damned virus.

I guess I’ll be going to see my sympathetic-but-disturbingly-vacuous GP tomorrow for a strep swab. You know, just in case. And I guess I’d better hit the grocery store on my way by, lest my neanderthal husband should feel the lack of snack food and dead animals in the fridge means I don’t love him… God forbid he should be required to ever cook for himself! Even when his wife has tonsillitis! OR POSSIBLY STREP, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!