Nothin' like a grandma

I woke up yesterday (Sunday) with a horrible sore throat. I thought it was just from the beginning of allergy season.

But the sore throat never went away, even when I used my trusty neti pot (the one that my ENT told me to use regularly). In fact, it got a little worse as the day wore on.

It hurt to drink cold beverages (what used to help my occasional sore throats when I was a kid). Warm beverages didn't help, either. It even hurt to eat yogurt and ice cream!

And then the worst part . . . right before bedtime, I started going through that chills/too hot cycle - the kind you get when you've got a fever. Blech. My temperature was not too concerning, but elevated slightly nevertheless at 100.0F.

However, in the middle of the night, as I tossed and turned, I felt either chilled like I was going to literally freeze into a block of ice, or burn a hole in the sheets. I got up to take my temp, even though I had no energy to do so. It was somewhere around 3:30 AM, and I wanted nothing more than to have my Oma there, taking care of me.

As I went to grab the thermometer, I just really, really missed Oma.

Especially when I found out my temperature was 102.9 F. Blech. No wonder I felt crappy.

When I woke up this morning, my throat still hurt like a you-know-what, and to top it off, I had (and still have) these massively swollen glands in my neck. One of them felt like it was the size of a grape!

All I could think was that I felt so horrible, I wanted Oma right away. That's how sick I felt.

But I had to get Livie to Pre-K and call the doc's office to make an appointment.

So off we went. I wanted to hurry out of Livie's class once I dropped her off, not knowing if I was contagious or not, and not wanting to get near any of the kids.

Then when I got to my car, I called the doc's office. The earliest I could get in would be noon. Ugh. A 3.5 hour wait.

Of course, once I got there, it went rather quickly. And sure enough, I am sick and contagious. I have strep. The doc was amazed at how quickly the swab came back as positive for strep.

He called in an antibiotic for me and told me I can't go to school tomorrow or Wednesday. On the one hand, I was glad to get a couple days of rest. On the other hand, I was really disappointed, because tomorrow, we have a guest speaker in one of my classes - the author of a piece of fiction we've read for class. I was really looking forward to meeting him. Plus, we're supposed to get our midterms back, and I am really curious to see what kind of grade I earned.

So as I drove to the pharmacy, I called my parents' house, where my Oma now lives. As soon as my mom put Oma on the phone and she said "How are you doing?" I began crying. I missed her so much. She immediately asked what was wrong, and I went on and on about how I have strep, I feel awful, and I have to miss school.

Oma told me it's best to stay home and get better, and I don't want to get my friends sick, do I? And she was sure that if I told the professor that the doc said no school til Thursday, he'd understand.

Then she gave me some comforting words that only a grandmother could deliver so expertly.

And when I hung up, still sniffling a little, I actually felt a little better after my Oma's "pep talk." Even if she can't be here to give me warm broth, or Cream of Wheat, something soothing to drink, or some Tylenol, she still has her magic grandmother's touch.