Technology & MSG

My throat has been bugging me for two weeks now. It isn’t even a cough most of the time, just a slight tickle in the back of my throat that won’t go away but it happily soothes with throat lozenges. It started a day or two after the FAH gig at Nottingham’s; I had been shouting across the table for a few hours over the band’s din, so I didn’t think much of it at the time. Then I just thought I had come down with something mild. Having had strep a lot as a kid, I dismissed it due to lack of a fever and white spotting. Then I was out of town for a bit and not really thinking about my health. After all that, two weeks is a bit long for a scratchy throat. It’s more of a pain in the ass than painful, but illnesses that don’t go away have to be tended to.

I had an excellent experience with our fine health care system today.

I called my doctor’s office this morning when I got up. They open at nine, the recording said. When I called back at 9:10 I asked what the earliest time I could get an appointment would be. Ten o’clock. Today. Done. I got there about 9:50 and after squaring the co-pay away I was seen immediately. I have a slightly enlarged tonsils and irritated throat, due to bacteria or virii unknown. My temperature is a tad low, which was the case the last time I was in. I may be one of those people whose temperature drops when they’re sick. I asked for a throat culture.

There have be radical advances in the world of science since I last had strep. The swab is the same. The rapid testing that follows isn’t done in the lab anymore but right there on the exam bench while you wait. Two reagents were mixed and the swab was dunked in the solution for a minute or two. The swab was fished out and rubbed onto a testing medium that looked very similar to a home pregnancy test. In three minutes, I was found to be negative for Strep-A. The tests are 99.7% effective. Lab cultures may be 100% accurate, but you can’t beat the turnaround time (3 minutes versus 3 days) or the price ($50 versus $4). The culture didn’t test for the less contagious Strep-B or a few others, but I’ve got a prescription of antibiotics just to be on the safe side; in most cases the cost of antibiotics is cheaper than the lab test anyways, so you wonder why people wouldn’t bother opting for the drugs over the 0.03%…

Across the street from the doctor’s office is a pharmacy where I picked up the scrip.

Time elapsed from leaving for the appointment, getting checked out, and picking up the scrip… one hour.

Now that is how the health care industry should work all the time.

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