[crb613]

I am sure you know this but just a reminder.....don't forget to get a new toothbrush!

[queenjean]

Here's my tip of the day. To save myself money and the doctor's office time, if I really think I or my kids have strep, I don't call and ask for an appointment. I call and ask if I can bring my kids in (or come to the lab) for a throat culture. Usually you can get in within an hour or two for that. They run the quick screen and typically if you really have strep, it's positive and when your doc's office calls you back with the results in a couple of hours, they also call in your abx to your pharmacy. All without a visit.

If the quick screen is negative, then you have to ask to talk to the office nurse and plead your case--but I have all these symptoms, and my ears hurt, I work in the hospital and get exposed to this, etc, etc. Sometimes they'll say, oh, okay, we'll go ahead and call something in for you. Sometimes they want to wait for the culture or insist on seeing you in the office.

But most of the time, the gamble works. Actually, it as worked every time for me. Only once did one of my kids' quick strep screens come back negative and later grow positive. When I worked in a doctor's office, we LOVED it when people did this--saved our precious few open appointments for people who couldn't be diagnosed over the phone, the pt still got their strep screen, the nurse got a look at the pt (I'd just always go ahead and listen to the lungs, feel on the throat, and look at ears, too, so I could give a complete assessment to the doc or NP), and in all likelihood, the pt gets the med they need without having to wait in the waiting room for several hours.

Good luck.

[Valerie Salva]

I did not get to see the doc at urgent care- the line was all the way around the building, so I went home and went to bed.

I'm going to try again today. I have'nt been this sick in years. It's surprising how weak and shakey I am.

Thanks everyone for the advice and empathy.