You may have noticed my absence a few days recently. That’s because last week, I got taken down by a particularly bad case of Strep Throat. As I was diagnosed, my doctor mentioned that it had been going around a lot lately, so I thought I’d take this moment to warn all of you.
I had a pretty nasty cold a couple of weeks ago, where a sore throat came along for the ride. I should have thought more about it when I first noticed the sore throat had somewhat changed. Sunday (2/5) is when I noticed my throat go from sore and scratchy, to sore and swollen. I’m not sure if it was a cold first, and I caught strep later, or if it was strep the whole time. But either way, it began to grow worse from that Sunday moving forward.
I thought it was something viral, because something similar had happened 2 years ago after Rock Fest. So I decided to wait a few days to see if my symptoms subsided. I told myself if I had not seen improvement by Thurs (2/9), I was going to see a doctor. I really wish I had just gone in right then. Because as the week progressed, so did the infection, even moving into my ear.
Thursday came, and I was badly swollen. A quick trip to the doctor’s office affirmed I indeed had strep throat, and I was put on antibiotics immediately.
Friday was my scariest day. Despite having 2 doses of amoxicillin in me, the swelling in my throat had gotten so bad, it had almost swollen completely shut. Every swallow was painful, and I couldn’t talk. It felt like I had a literal golf ball in my mouth. Thankfully, it never got worse from there. If it had, a trip to the ER would have been unavoidable.
Saturday came, and I had felt a bit later. My first real big break was Saturday night, when I laid back and it felt like something ruptured as a rush of liquid ran down my throat. There was no pain in that rupture, but instant relief, as the swelling subsided a bit. By Sunday night, I felt almost completely back to normal.
My story isn’t here to scare you. These things happen. But it’s happening a lot around here now, so I thought I would tell it as a warning. At the first feeling of a scratchy throat, get checked out. You’ll thank me for the early detection, because I assure you this last week wasn’t fun.
