I'd be willing to bet even without a culture that this is a strep-infected throat.
Just when we had most of the freshmen on our floor going to classes, there's now strep in the dorms. I'm telling the freshmen that they should probably reduce their studying for a day or two, but they really should not miss more than one day of class. Some of them think that because they have health center clearances to miss up to three days, that's a good idea. The health center clearances are worth less than the paper on which they're printed in that regard. Professors don't care about doctor's excuses for missing classes, and they slow done for no one's illness. It's excusable to miss class until one has been on antibiotics for 24 hours, but then the freshmen really need to be in class. If they just go to class and try to pay attention and take notes for the two to five hours of classes they have, that's worth more than six to twelve hours of trying to study and make sense of someone else's notes. If they have P.E. classes and attend with their doctor's excuses, they can sit through the class without participating in the activity and not have the nonactivity counted as absences because of doctors' excuses, or they can make up the P.E. class with one-page papers related to the course for each class missed. Physical activity classes should be the least of their worries.
The health center actually came to our dorm and did throat cultures on as many of us as they could corral in two hours because it was more efficient than bringing the entire population of the dorm into the health center. our floor isn't the most infested floor of the dorm, but neither are we the least infested. I knew I didn't have active strep throat but I could have been a carrier, so I let them swab my throat. Because of my health history, I was offered antibiotics in case I come down with symptoms after health center hours so that I don't have to wait ten hours before starting medication. I filled a prescription to have on hand, but as long as I'm healthy I won't take it. I will not contribute to creating an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria.
My mom says I write about the freshmen as though they are lab rats. The truth of the matter is that if I were not rodent phobic, I would probably prefer to deal with lab rats. I'm typing with headphones on so I will not hear the whining freshmen, who are most obnoxious when they're ill.
This blog is ended. Go now in peace to love and serve the Lord, and keep rodents and sick freshmen out of my proximity.
Eew! I had strep throat when I was in Armenia. It was the one and only time I ever got it, but that was enough. I got really sick. In Armenia, though, it was a good enough excuse to miss teaching school for a week. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI had strep throat once. it felt pretty awful, but reponded quickly to antibiotics. If any of the dorm rats had actual jobs, the medical staff would've encouraged them to stay home. They can't afford a week away from classes, though, because most of them missed too many classes in weeks two and three of the quarter.
ReplyDeleteThey're all at my house now, or twenty-two from my floor and seventeen from miscellaneous floors are, anyway. My parents are feeding them and being nice to them. I offered to cancel the party so they wouldn't make my parents sick, but my dad said they've been on antibiotics long enough, and if he or my mom gets sick, they'll just take medication.
We have a pool going with wagers on which dorm gets stricken with strep next.
Your parents sound really awesome. It's nice of them to let you host this party for a bunch of sick college students. Tell 'em thumbs up from The Overeducated Housewife. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I didn't get medicine for my strep until I'd been sick all weekend because I didn't want to bother the medical officers. I got scolded by my former landlord (the Armenian doctor for the Peace Corps).
In terms of medicaton for strep, the sooner the better is what I have been told.
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