So Far, 2011 Sucks

/engage whine
So, I started the new year with a throat infection. Saturday morning I had a scratchy throat and felt a little achy. By night, the scratchy had been replaced with incredibly sore and achy morphed into shaking chills and a 101 degree fever. I figured it was just the flu and spent most of Sunday hydrating and sleeping. The sore throat progressed to the point that swallowing anything, even water, was painful. And worse, my uvula was swollen, making talking difficult and creating an ongoing gag reflex. Lovely. Still, I hate doctors so much, I figured I could tough it out. I ate nothing all day; it was just too painful.

Sunday night when I tried to sleep, I felt like I was choking. I started to worry that I might have strep throat and I know that's nothing to fool around with. So, a little before midnight I went to the ER at Akron General.

I was woozy during the drive, but when I arrived there was a sign saying they had free valet parking for ER patients. Great! That would save me a walk in the cold. When I pulled up, a security guard told me to park my vehicle myself in the parking deck a block away. So much for that.

I stood at the intake desk for probably 10 minutes before a nurse finally came to take my form. To his credit, he got me into an exam room pretty quickly. Of course, that's when the waiting began.

Long story short, it was a wasted trip. I was diagnosed with uvulitis, probably viral. They gave me a shot of a pain med/anti-inflammatory, but otherwise they did nothing but leave me alone in an exam room for long, long periods of time. They did a throat culture, but I still don't know the results of that. They gave me a prescription for Percocet. Then, they told me to gargle with salt water and stay hydrated. I was already doing that. I was finally discharged at 3:15 a.m.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that my condition wasn't life-threatening. But the ER was almost empty when I arrived and from the silence all around my exam room, I'm guessing it wasn't that busy. This is why I hate doctors. I will now have the pleasure of paying hundreds of dollars for this reminder.
/disengage whine

But hey, if the year starts out really badly, it has to get better, right? Right?