After I drove myself to the Urgent Care, I was taken back within minutes to the patient rooms. The nurse did the usual: blood pressure, temperature reading…. Now, I am not in the medical field nor am I fully a grown up, so hearing numbers for the highs and lows of my blood pressure are as meaningless to me as a Lexile score would be to her.

In any event, I waited for over 35 minutes in the room and felt myself become nauseated. I looked around for where I could vomit if need be- and only saw the sink, trashcan (filled with former patients what nots) and the “red” bin with hazardous materials. Feeling anxious, I decided to lay down on the table and wait- hoping the vomit feeling would end.

When the doctor came in and told me that the flu was going around and that I did indeed have the same symptoms, he could not prescribe me anything for it without taking the nasal swab. Upon hearing (and envisioning) that, I waved him away, after all, I was starting to feel uneasy again.

He offered me another solution to help with the pressure, a sinus irrigation thing.
“I happen to be sick as well and I’m due for my irrigation so I would be happy to show you how it works if you would like,” he said.

In hindsight, I should have passed on that one as well. Instead, this is what happened…

Doctor: You just insert the nozzle up into your nose and squeeze.

Seconds later, buckets-full of liquid poured out through his nostrils… as vomit poured out of my mouth and nose.