This is why I love the NHS

I awoke in the middle of Sunday night to find my stomach retching, moments later I was short of breath and the next thing I knew I threw up.  I have vomited before, most people have.  I have had gastroenteritis before, which for me was one of the worst experiences of my lifer, and when I was sick with it I actually cried when I threw up.  This was different though, for a start it was unbelievably hot, at least that's how it felt, I assume this was simply the high acidity of the vomit.  Whatever happened to me over the weekend to cause this, my stomach had obviously been working hard trying to break something down that it simply couldn't and after releasing an abundance of chemicals and acids to try and break it down it gave up and admitted defeat, what could not be digested had to come out, and it did.

Just after being sick my throat felt on fire, I drank some water and tried using mouthwash or anything to soothe it but to no avail.  I eventually went back to bed in quite a lot of pain.  I awoke at around 7 o'clock and my throat was still raw, my Tonsils were now the size of golf balls, I could not swallow without severe pain and the sensation that I was actually trying to swallow my tonsils, which caused me to choke and gag.  Breathing became hard and every few moments my gag reflex made me feel like I was going to puke again.  I went to the Doctor's surgery at 9 when it had just opened and they gave me an appointment for 10.  I came back an hour later and the Doctor diagnosed the condition in all of 10 minutes.  I walked out at 10 passed 10 with a prescription for Phenoxymethylpenicillin and Paracetamol, went to the Pharmacy straight away to pick it up and all I can say is thank God for the NHS, free drugs! and free prescriptions! [in NI anyway!], I took the first round and I have been doped up since.  Thankfully my throat no longer feels like it is on fire.  My Tonsils are returning to a normal size although they are still a little too big so they aren't healed completely.  The Penicillin took almost immediate effect and I am grateful for that - I was actually quite worried, my Brother and my Father are allergic to Penicillin, Mum isn't though, and it appears that I am not either; I was dreading the possibility of having to get my Tonsils removed.  I have another 6 days of the course of Antibiotics to finish.

For the most part I feel a hundred times better - while the tablets are in effect.  I woke up last night in the middle of the night in agony and had to take a round so that I could get back to sleep.  I am therefore assuming the awesomeness I am feeling of being relatively healthy is caused by the tablets and my throat is still healing.  I am at a loss, and so is my Doctor as to what caused it though.  As a result, I am now on an almost liquid only diet, the only exception I have made so far was for some egg noodles and sweet chilli which went down a treat - I know some of you will think "You ate egg while you were sick?  You're insane" and you're probably right but when I am healthy I am usually quite resilient with food, however my reasoning is that the infection is probably confined to my throat as that is the only place I have any pain.  Despite my reasoning, for the mean time though it's chicken soup, and either water or Apple Lucozade.  This is affecting what I can and can't eat, and for me that is a very VERY big deal, I am a foodie, I never stop, even when I have a cold or a flu I still eat, albeit I usually switch to liquid based foods like soups, but right now I can't eat crisps [potato chips to my American readers] because they are quite rough and they'll irritate my throat, curry as it is hot and will also likely irritate my throat, and dairy products like cheese are off limits as they interfere with Penicillin absorption and after all they are virtually entirely bacteria based after all a block of cheese is basically a block of bacteria, so I have to avoid that - egg has no impact as far as I know.

In conclusion:

Thank you NHS.
Thank you Doctor.
Thank you Sir Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered Penicillin.