Mucus, take two (now with addendum!)

I normally distrust physicians who have curly hair, dimples, and twinkly brown eyes. Especially if they have wire-rimmed glasses. Especially especially if they wear ties with little golf emblems on them.

I was therefore prepared mightily to distrust the doctor at the local Doc-In-A-Box this morning, until he opened his mouth and said, "Gee, you've had a lot of the same crud in the last year, haven't you? Looks like Tequin got rid of it last time."

Then he whacked on my sinuses and looked surprised when I jerked away (Yeeouch!), listened to my lungs, and nodded sagely when I told him I'd had a patient with pneumonia a few days ago. "Aerosolizing God knows what into the air, coughing in your face" he said.

Now I have a prescription for two weeks' worth of Tequin, a strong flouroquinolone antibiotic which my books assure me is good for everything from gonorrhea to Haemophilus influenzae and will take out methicillin-resistant strep as well.

David came over when I got back from the doctor. He took me for Chinese broccoli and soup, then brought me home. I crawled into bed and woke up a few minutes ago, hungry and disoriented.

I wonder what I'll take if Tequin doesn't get rid of this sinus infection. Leeches? Bleeding? Powdered frogs?


Addendum: I wrote my sister about the sinus infection and the way doctors test for it (by whacking your sinuses with their fingers) and she had this to say:

I remember once a doctor put her thumbs on either side of my nose just below my eyes and shoved, and I circled the ceiling shouting "wakwok" 57 times. On the 58th circuit I bumped my head on the light and fluttered down. This was at least a decade and a half ago and I still check every new doc out to be sure it isn't her.