Well, I remain sick and miserable. Eleven or twelve hours’ worth of sleep didn’t do much to improve things (although I am at least a little less confused), but my body is still a distinctly unpleasant place to be. I’ve had enough — it’s time to find a doctor and get some goddamn antibiotics. I’ve been a very good boy when it comes to not demanding superbug-breeding pharmaceuticals for minor illnesses, but this is too much. I’m calling in whatever credit I’ve built up.
The only problem is that I don’t really have a doctor, per se. I put down a primary care physician for insurance purposes when I changed jobs, but I haven’t actually been to see her. Some phone calls revealed that not only is she not open on weekends, but she’s changed practices. That’s a no-go.
And then there was the pleasantly confused old man I visited a few years back, who accidentally wrote me multiple prescriptions for what I have since been assured is an alarmingly powerful antibiotic. It would have been a promising route to pursue, but I don’t remember his name and kind of doubt he’d take weekend appointments and/or still be alive.
So it was off to the Blue Cross website to find a nearby doctor. And I think I hit paydirt on the first search result. No fancy-pants weekend answering services for Dr. Akhigbe: judging by how confused he was at getting my call, I’m pretty sure I’d gotten him on his cell phone. I guess that’s the sort of high-touch approach they teach at the University of Lagos.
Anyway, after the initial confusion and alarm at receiving my call had subsided, the doctor was extremely pleasant and helpful. “I don’t think I’ll be in the office this morning, but I might be there in the afternoon,” he said in a pronounced Nigerian accent. “Why don’t you try around three?”
Why not indeed. So three it is, and I’ve got high hopes for cajoling some antibiotics out of him. Not only do my symptoms seem to actually be appropriate to a bacterial infection (it’s like having a normal sore throat, except much less pleasant), but Dr. Akhigbe is, in addition to being a general practitioner, a pain specialist. Odds of me walking out of that office with a scrip for oxycontin just got ugraded from “poor” to “fair”.