you'd better be kidding me

Okay, f-list, lend me your medical knowledge. What are the chances of re-developing strep throat three days after finishing off the ten-day regimen of antibiotics?

I'm mostly operating on paranoia right now. The paranoia borne of a slightly tender lymph node in my neck and very vivid, very recent memories of a night in the ER without health insurance. Probably this will turn out to be nothing at all, but I'm ever so slightly edgy, and not usually prone to hypochondria. What are the odds, d'you think?

ETA: It should also be noted that until my health insurance card arrives by mail -- hopefully next week -- I am, still, operating without insurance, which means running to a doctor on the barest hint of a possibility will lose me a LOT of money if it turns out to be nothing.

O_O

The good news: I'm starting to feel less paranoid about the theoretical return of the strep. It's looking more like my lymphatic system just overreacting to the common cold or something. Of course, now that I've written that, I'll probably wake up tomorrow with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Like you do.

The bad news: the hospital bills from my actual encounter with strep two weeks ago? $755.70. Which, incidentally, is over a month's rent for me. For less than a minute of physical examination, a swab in the back of my throat, and a five-minute strep test. WHAT THE FUCK. And it should be noted that this final number come after an "uninsured discount" of another $214. The total cost of my sitting around in assorted waiting rooms for a couple of hours and being actually seen for less than ten minutes comes to nearly a grand, according to the US health system. I...don't understand.