OK, now I know Dr. Nancy would not approve of this. And it goes against all modern day wisdom: Looking up medical ailments on the internet is the worst thing to do. There’s really nothing freakier, is there?
So when I picked Jake up from an overnight at his grandparents a few weeks back and he had a horrific looking rash around his mouth, I went straight to Dr. Google. A couple of clicks and I had diagnosed it.
James: When is Jakey’s infantigo going to get better?
Jaimie: Infant-tigo?
The good news, my internet diagnosis was accurate, Dr. Nancy was able to confirm with an iPhone picture, some over the counter antibacterial cream, and Jakey’s impetigo is cured.
Fast forward one week. My throat is killing me for three days. It’s so bad I can’t sleep and don’t want to talk. I know something is definitely wrong when I don’t want to talk. Finally on a Tuesday night after work I take Jacob home and then drive back up to Mountain View hoping that Dr. Jung in urgent care won’t send me home with a case of some kind of viral illness where there is nothing you can do but chicken soup and rest. Before I went to urgent care… back to Dr. Google.
Unfortunately I could find no real evidence of a link between impetigo and strep throat– except that they can both be caused by the strep bacteria.
I’m on my way to urgent care in the car. Maybe my throat doesn’t hurt as bad as before? Besides a headache I haven’t had a stuffy nose or anything. Hmmm, is my nose running a little? Why when you’re on the way to the doctor do you think maybe it’s just all in your head?
I fail the quick strep test. But fortunately Dr. Jung still writes me a prescription for antibiotics. I kid you not, after one pill, I was a new person. I woke up in the middle of the night and was sure I had been cured. I remember this exact same scenario my freshman year in college… the other time I had strep throat.
So Dr. Jung called me yesterday and said yes, my culture had come back as positive for strep. Dr. Google, I knew it! Note for internet researchers: Yes, you can get strep throat from your baby’s infantigo, I mean impetigo…
Pingback: Adam