My Pharynx vs. Kim Jong-il

What an interesting week I've had. I guess it started last weekend where I went to Lawrence, Kansas to watch the Kansas Jayhawks take on the Kansas State Wildcats in college basketball. I was looking forward to the whole experience of meeting Bill Self (KU head coach), watching Michael Beasely play, as well as the whole college atmosphere of The Phog. Everything was going well until I woke up sick Saturday morning (game day). I thought it would be one of those one or two day things. Not so much. Along with a sore throat, I had a headache, muscle soreness, and fever. It put a bitter taste on the whole weekend, although I had a good time. The trouble then was if I felt well enough to go to work. Understand that I'm one of those people who NEVER missed school because I hated the feeling of being behind. The same goes for just about anything. If I miss an event, I hated it because I felt like I missed out on something... even if I knew I wasn't going to like it.

I pretty much decided that I would go to work regardless of how I felt. Well, if I sick enough to where my head was literally about to fall off, then I would make an exception. But how often does that happen? Actually, I don't want to know the answer to that...

So, basically, I went to work all week with what I thought was strep throat. I went through over the counter crap and lozenges like they were the only thing keeping me alive... which they very well may have. But I was miserable the whole time. And being the stubborn person I am, decided that I could just wait it out. But that never happened. It kept getting worse.

Friday night, I decided that I couldn't take the torture any more. Keep in mind this was the worst sore throat I've even had. And no normal sore throat should last a week straight, and for that matter, get worse over time. I was getting worried. I decided that the only place for me to go was the E.R. No, not the crappy tv show, the actual E.R. Sure it wasn't your everyday emergency. But at this time I ran out of options. The pain was too severe for my weak self. Every time I would swallow, I would have to induce some other kind of pain so I couldn't feel my throat so much. Most of the time I was punching myself in the head. If anyone else saw me, I'm sure they thought I was mental and would suggest me go to another hospital instead.

So I spent about 2 hours in the ER waiting my turn only to find out the doctor's diagnosis: "Yep, you have a sore throat."

I wanted to punch him in the face. Well, breathe on him, then punch him the face. Actually, they told me I have Pharyngitis, which is a fancy word for "sore throat". But I may have strep, but they won't know for sure until they get the test results back.

But I got meds yesterday morning, and they are already working. They made me feel much better even by Saturday afternoon. This was something I should have done days ago. I'm a guy. I'm stubborn. Go figure.

But you know what my main reasoning behind going to the hospital Friday night? I had a date the next night and I wasn't going to let ANYTHING get in my way. A date doesn't happen very often for me, and only a nuclear war was going to stop it.