Okaaaay....
Looks like bout #4 of strep A since 2012.
I am not septic yet. However, a bone in my right face is swollen out, about 2-3 cm in diameter. It is under the cheekbone, so the asymmetry is not visually very obvious. I feel like shit. It is pushing my tooth #3 down, so my bit is off. The tooth does not hurt.
Now, last June 2017 I had right facial pain. I roared off to my dentist, same tooth, and he said the tooth was fine. I started feeling irritable and paranoid, which is my strep A rising antibody signal. Along with teeth breaking, vitreous tears in my eyes and tinnitus. Weird, right? So off to my primary care doc who orders labs. My strep A antibodies are up again and I go on penicillin. No fever, no white blood cell count. Ten days of penicillin stops the right facial (trigeminal nerve) pain. BUT the facial bone is still point tender. I go back to my primary care doc. We both suspect an abcess, seeding strep A, since that would explain systemic strep with a negative strep throat.
Ok, so on the CT last June, no abcess but there is a right frontal sinus infection. I have no sinus infection symptoms, no pain, no congestion. Fungk. I go to the ENT who essentially says, well, you had ten days of antibiotics, that should cover strep A, call me if there is a problem.
Tried to call him yesterday but President's Day, and the physician's assistant on call says, "The bone can't be swollen." Moron. Yes it can. Bones can have abcesses and infections. My doc's office was open but she wasn't there. I went to the dentist, who wants me to have a root canal and/but "Huh. That bone is swollen." Um, yeah. So it looks like what I really need is a maxillofacial surgeon. But gotta jump through medical and dental hoops first, get the face CT prior authorized, get a creatinine level before I can have a CT, the ent can see me tomorrow BUT do I need prior authorization? Help help! And their office says "Have your primary care doctor fax us a prior authorization." Right. What universe do you live in? So I am sick as fungk, want to lie down on the ground and just give up and instead I am fungking calling to try to get myself taken care of. This, gentle readers, is what is wrong with US medicine. Patients give up and die because it is such a load of work to try to get help.
Now I get to drive myself to the nearest endodontist, with a referral in hand. My doctor's office suggested I get the CT and labs from them, and I point out that my medical coverage is way better than my dental coverage, so I want the CT and labs from my doctor.
And I am someone who KNOWS the system, think of what it is like for the really sick person who DOESN'T.
I will add links later. Fungk it. I have to leave. Chow, puppies.