What's worse than a packed subway? Riding a packed subway with a fever.

I'm currently recovering from strep throat, and let's just say it's no fun.

I woke up Sunday thinking I would feel well rested after not raging the night before and getting a good nights rest. But I felt a little off. And extremely lazy. My friend wanted to bop around which I would normally be excited for but it took me so long to get out of bed. I managed to do my makeup and while I was waiting for my friend to get back to me I decided to crawl under the covers because I was cold (sign #1: it's still summer).

It wasn't long until I was shivering and shaking in bed. "What is going on?" I thought. I took my temperature. 100.5 Oh. That explains it. After that I never left my bed.

All I had was water and I knew I needed something else. My roommate came home and saw me in my sweatshirt huddled in bed. She went down to the bodega and got me some orange juice. The only time you'll see me drink a jug of OJ is when I'm sick. Or with champagne.

My temperature rose to 101.8 but I had no other symptoms. I took ibuprofen but couldn't sleep at all that night because my body ached and I couldn't stop shivering. At some point in the middle of the night I realized my throat was hurting. I grabbed my phone and took a picture of my throat and sure enough I saw white patches.

I went to the doctor in the morning. I couldn't sleep so I figured I might as well get up and kick this thing in the butt. Not as easy as I hoped. I went to CityMD, a place you can walk in without an appointment. The closest one was three stops away on the subway, which isn't bad, unless you have a fever.

I was in yoga pants, sneakers, a sweatshirt, and my hair in a high bun, attempting to ride an extremely packed 8 am subway with people heading to their jobs. I had to stand. My body ached. I started getting dizzy. We'd just gone one stop. I was now holding onto the bar with both hands as I felt my face go pale. My vision was blurry. I felt like I was going to faint before my stop. Second stop. I was breathing slowly in and out.

When I got off I had to sit before I could move on. I slowly walked the several blocks to the clinic. Luckily, I was seen right away and given a prescription after the doctor announced "yup, your throat is looking nasty."

I waited at the pharmacy for 15 minutes, slumped in a chair. The guy could tell I was miserable as he said "it's almost ready." I got myself back on the subway. When I got home I threw everything on the floor, popped an antibiotic and several advils, crawled into bed, and finally slept. I woke up at 5 pm drenched in sweat.

I can't believe the last time I had strep throat was senior year of high school and I swam in my last swim meet. With a fever. Props to younger me, I could barely ride the subway now.

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