My Long Absence Story (Part IV)

I felt pretty certain that the doctor would find that I had strep, but because of that stuff on my throat I couldn't say what they were going to find for sure.

First, my throat was swabbed to do a strep test.  Then the doctor examined me.  The moment that I opened my mouth, she said it smelled like I had strep.  She explained that strep has a certain smell that she detected on my breath immediately.  She also told me that the white sheets and specks weren't fungus like I feared, they were pockets of puss.  This is a very common symptom of strep throat.  This doctor was so certain that I had strep that she prescribed Amoxicillin before the strep test results came back.  I told her that I wanted to see the test results first.  I informed her that my other doctor felt that I had a viral infection and that I didn't believe in taking antibiotics for anything other than a bacterial infection.  She then stressed that I needed the antibiotics, she said that if I don't, not only would I not get better but I could easily spread my disease to others.  She told me of her experience with medicine and insisted that she knows strep when she sees it and smells it and she had no doubt that I what I had was strep.  Because she was one of few MDs that I knew who made it blatantly obvious that she cares about her work and her patients, I shut my mouth and took the prescription from her to be polite.  I may not agree with the conventional medical philosophy, but I will never disrespect a doctor who is desirous to see her/his patients get well.  When she stepped out to get my strep test results, another doctor came it to get a look at my throat.  He eyes became slightly widened before she uttered the words "Oh you poor thing!"  It wasn't clear why she came in to look at me, but when she later told me that her specialty was once worker's comp, I was able to make a few guesses.  I was able to make a few more guesses when she told me she hadn't seen a throat that looked as bad as mine.