Ouch.

For the past four to five days I have been sick. Thursday I left work early and I had a fever. Friday felt crappy still, so I stayed home from work but by the evening I was feeling a bit better. Friday night I stayed in a hotel room with my parents and didn't sleep well at all because of the whistling/snoring that happens in my parent's noses. Saturday I felt a bit better, but could tell I for sure had a sore throat. Saturday evening was super tired but still felt OK. Sunday...oh Sunday I felt really crappy. Monday, same deal, so I made an appointment to see the doctor on Tuesday.

My original appointment was at 4:30pm because it is about 5 blocks from my house. However, my supervisor came to me and asked if I could possibly move that appointment to an earlier time. I called and there was one available at 1:30pm. This was fine except now I have to drive to work for 25 minutes in traffic, drive to the doctor for 25 minutes in traffic, drive back to work for 25 minutes in traffic, and then drive home for 25 minutes in traffic. Obviously my original plan was better, but that means nothing to my stuper-visor. Anyway, I leave for the doctor at 1:00pm and they poke and prod me, checking me for mono, strep throat, and probably a bevy of other diseases I don't even know exist. Long story short, I have strep throat. Yippee. The doctor was impressed with my blood pressure (as they always are) and how quickly I bled, so that was a plus, but then she asked me if I wanted to take pills or do a one time shot. I asked, "Which will make me better faster?" "The shot." Shot it is.

The nurse comes in and I start rolling up my sleeve as she explains to me how much this will hurt and how big and thick this needle is and how the medicine is really thick so it will take a bit longer than a normal shot. This thrills me to no end because I really don't like shots at all at all. Then she looks up and sees me rolling up my sleeve and says, "Oh. No. You will need to stand up." I am pretty sure she smirked right then, but I am not sure because my head went down immediately and I said, "Wow. Guess I didn't know what I was getting into, huh?" "Nope."

I roll my sleeve down and reluctantly stand up. I pull my pants a little bit down and realize that I am, as always, wearing two pairs of pants and my underwear. I tense up as I start to wonder if she thinks this is weird, ESPECIALLY when I remember that I am wearing pants covered in superheroes.

"Don't tense up, it will hurt more," says the nurse.

If there is one thing that will make me tense up more it is to tell me that it will hurt more. It also didn't help that the shot, the actual needle filled with juices was sitting right in front of my face. She was right, it was thick.

"Okay. Put your weight on your other leg," says the nurse and she tries to grab some of my butt to pinch in order to give me a shot in the fat or skin rather than right in the muscle. Of course, this makes me more tense since I can't say that has EVER happened to me before.

"Are you ready?"

"I suppose."

"Here we go."

Deep breath in as I feel the needle. Then slowly...veeeerrry slowly...the medicine enters my body. This is my least favorite part of shots. It's not the needle itself, it is the feeling of that liquid going into my body. In this case, my butt.

"How ya doing?" she asks.

"Alright, I guess," I raspily answer.

Finally, after what seems like a full minute of liquid injections into my glut (as the pros say) she is finished.

I pull all my pants up and limp out to my car. I drive back down to work. I walk in the door. One of my co-workers asks what I have. "Strep throat," I reply feeling justified in my absence because I have something that is actually considered a sickness and not just a mental health day excuse.

"Oh!" she exclaims. "You shouldn't be here, you are contagious!" It is true. I am supposed to stay away from people for 24 after I get the shot because I have a cloud of sickness around me like some sort of horrible representation of the Peanut's Pig Pen.

"I can go home if you want," I reply with a little bit of annoyance in my voice. After all, my supervisor and told me to switch my appointment because they really needed me to come back and do work at the end of the day.

My co-worker doesn't respond to this, but instead sits down, so I do the same. I start working on something for about five minutes, realizing slowly but surely how much my butt is hurting as I sit in this chair, when my supervisor comes over.

"Go home."

"Really?"

"Yeah, get some rest. Go home".

......

I had just driven an extra hour for this person. I had readjusted my life to be a 'team player' at work. I had come back to work per HER request because they really needed me. And now, after all that, she is telling me to go home. Had I not been so pissed I probably would have made an argument to stay, but I am just not caring anymore.

Now, remember how I said I am supposed to stay away from people for 24 hours? Well, I called this morning before leaving for work and asked if I was supposed to be staying away for the full 24 hours (meaning come in at 1:00pm). Nope, come in now.

I don't understand this at all. What I DO understand is that the only difference I feel in my body after all of this....my butt really, really hurts.