I burned my larynx severely on a hot potato three days ago and was not able to eat for several days. The pain has been excruciating. Swallowing became so laborious today that I was driven to seek medical care. I called my ENT. His first appt was on Friday. I could be asphyxiated by then. (Burning your throat from extremely hot food can be fatal, in fact.) I thanked her and hung up. I was not going to spend 6+ hours in a hospital ER feeling the way I did, either. So, I went somewhat reluctantly to the new urgent care around the corner from me, close enough to walk. I have not had good experiences with other urgent care facilities. You can wait forever and leave feeling like you got a band-aid put over your health issues.
So imagine my surprise when I walked into this beautiful new facility--not swank, but certainly not shabby. (I should say that I couldn't care less about the appearance of medical offices. As long as they're clean and respectable, I'm good. I don't want to subsidize someone's lavish overhead.) I was not only registered in record time--I did not have to fill out 10 pages of (bullshit) medical history--I actually got to see the doctor in about 25 minutes. I gave her a rundown of exactly what happened, the development of my symptoms, and my concerns that my ability to swallow had decreased in the last 24 hours. She agreed that I needed a steroid injection and something to numb the pain. She recommended that I see an ENT if the pain in my throat and esophagus was still there tomorrow. She wrote me 2 prescriptions, one for an antibiotic in case I developed an infection (that was not present.) She was professional, she listened to me carefully, expressed genuine concern, and gave me what I felt I had come for.
The best part was that there was NO co-pay for Medicare--zero cost to me. I told her that I seriously considered ditching my current GP and seeing her from now on. Of course, I'm not going to urgent care for a stroke, or a cancer concern, or a gunshot wound--although she is an ER doctor and would know how to treat that--but this could actually be the answer for getting decent medical care at affordable cost without having to wait an eternity to be treated. I don't go to the doctor any longer unless I'm sick and cannot treat it myself. I go when I need help STAT. The issue, of course, is finding a good urgent care.
I thanked the Dr. and told her the care she gave me was some of the best I've had in years. She was sincerely happy she could help. I thanked the staff before I left and told them this was the best urgent care visit I've ever had, that I would probably be back the next time I needed to see a doctor. Meanwhile, although it will take days or even weeks for my throat to heal, I feel 80% improved since I had the injection. I feel relieved that someone finally examined me and told me that it did not appear, although it might feel like it, that rocket grenades had been launched into my mouth.
I've been saying for the past two years that I felt if I needed general medical treatment I had no place to go, since you-know-what mostly destroyed my faith in doctors. Well, now I have someplace to go. Sometimes a small emergency can turn out to have a silver lining, even if that silver lining has some cracks. Contrary to what allopathic doctors believe about homeopathy/naturopathy, I made an aloe/honey/hibiscus drink to help with the healing, and ditched the recommended benzocaine lozenges from which I had an awful reaction. You will always be the only one who has your best interests at heart, so you'd be wise to do your own research.