My throat still hurts

I went to my physician today, because I have a sore throat that has lasted longer than 7 days now, and a cough. She has a small little practice in a tiny little office. When I called first thing this morning, her staff (as always) acted like they were too busy to be bothered by me, but managed to squeeze me in after lunch.

I had to drag along the little ones, of course. Anna was fine, but Colin was convinced the little plug in fountain in the corner of the miniscule waiting room was a drinking fountain. This sadly concerned the 2 office staff far more than it did me or the other people in the waiting room (who were quite amused). What could I do, I had to turn my back on the 2 year old to sign in, etc, and that is of course when he did it. More than once.

They hustled me into an exam room, where I furiously scribbled on the magnadoodle and dispensed raisins to distract Colin from his need to rummage through all the medical supplies in the room. Finally, the doctor came in, asked questions, briefly examined me, took a throat culture, talked a LOT to Anna (she is such a charming conversationalist), then told me the strep test was negative. Then she looked at me blankly. I asked what I should do. She recommended gargling with warm salt water (which I LOATHE) every 15 minutes for 2 hours. Then she looked at me blankly. Oh, did I want samples of a prescription medication that is really just sudafed and guafenisin? Sure...

This was very reminiscent of when I went to see her for conjunctivitis that wouldn't go away, and she said it was just viral, and she could give me antibiotic drops but they wouldn't help, and she wouldn't give me any steroid drops, and then asked me again did I want the antibiotic drops? (Then I left her office and got that erroneous red light ticket. That was a great day).

I'm sure she's a great physician but her bedside manner is just not jiving with me. I mean, I would not take so much of my personal time to go and see her if I thought what I was suffering from was a simple virus that needed to run its course. Today, I'm glad to know the strep test is negative, but at least show some sympathy for my sore throat that is hurting so bad it wakes me up in the middle of the night when I swallow. Her staff and her demeanor is giving me the message that my little problems are bothering them.

I think I will be switching to the lovely doctor who so kindly promptly sewed my face up when the dog bit me. He even called me, at home, at 7 pm five days later to see how I was doing. That's my kind of doctor!