Exhausted and Annoyed

Last Sunday, I started to get sick. Nothing major. Just some general under the weatherness. After prescribing myself some bed rest and fluids, I did not seem to get any better. Wednesday night, I developed major sinus pressure and pain and my head felt like it was going to explode. When I woke up on Thursday morning, I sounded like Kermit the Frog was going through puberty. Dead sexy. Ribbit. TLS called the Tricare nurse advice line and was told to take me to the ER. While it was the shortest ER visit of my life, it was also the worst. I was in and out in under an hour and a half. The doctor did not run any tests at all. When I told him that I have had sinus infections in the past, I have always been given antibiotics that have helped. He told me that it was it was a viral infection, and that antibiotics are only a placebo effect. He did give me painkillers that did nothing to cure me, but just bought me some painless time.

All weekend, I felt horrible and icky and have had no energy to do anything at all. I called our health insurance again and they tried to get me scheduled for a regular appointment. Now here is the kicker. Most of you know that I am still not command sponsored. Command sponsorship is required to receive medical care on base. The nurse told me that the system would not let her schedule me for an appointment and that my only choice was to go to the ER. That's right, I can't get a regular checkup, but an ER visit that costs the insurance company more money in the long run, is totally covered.

So off to the ER we went. Doctor #2 was surprised that doctor #1 did not run any blood tests on me. He ordered a full blood panel. The fun part came when the nice sergeant doing my bloodwork messed up with the syringe and I started gushing all over the floor, and worse, my clothes. That was fun. And did so much for my energy levels considering that I had not been able to eat all day. About two hours later, it was determined that I did in fact have a bacterial infection and needed antibiotics. In the four days between ER visits, the bacteria had a chance to be fruitful and multiply. I got a bag full of drugs and was discharged. I am back on the couch, exhausted and in massive amounts of pain. Not to mention annoyed at Tricare, doctor #1, and pretty much the whole system. Also, I would kill for a funfetti cake right now, but they don't sell funfetti cake mix or the frosting on base. Having a pity party with TLS, Snoopy, and the McKinley High Glee Club now.