throat infection?

 So as I mentioned, having an in-person PT appointment was great but I think I may have picked up something from the office. I didn't really notice anything when I woke up, and dragged my butt out of bed to get some cheerios and pull up a bunch of drawings to talk to a co-worker this morning. 

Because I have to pee so much, I went to the bathroom shortly before talking to him. I looked in the mirror and what I saw was alarming- judging from my face I looked like I had gained 30 pounds over night. My upper neck and cheeks were completely swollen. 

I hadn't slept very well the night before and remembered at one point my throat felt a little sore when I swallowed, but I didn't think much of it at the time because sometimes when you're sleeping like a brute with your mouth hanging open it makes your throat feel a little sore. But I didn't really notice anything amiss with it in the morning and had no problem eating my cheerios.

Regardless, I was very alarmed. I told my co-worker I was having some kind of allergic reaction (it will be nice to tell everyone I'm pregnant so I don't have to beat around the bush), ditched work, and called into the telehealth line. From what I described, the doctor on the line thought it might be a throat infection, which I used to be prone to growing up but haven't had for years. In addition to having lymph nodes in your neck, you apparently also have them on the sides of your cheeks by your ears, and he thought they were all inflamed because of fighting off the infection. He said if I wasn't pregnant he wouldn't even bother with it besides rest. 

Zach was out with the car so I rode my bike over to Union Station rather than risk more exposure on public transportation and got a strep test done, which came back negative. They took another culture to send to a lab for additional testing. Obviously covid is always at the back of your mind but the symptoms don't seem quite right- no fever, cough, I generally feel fine, and the lymph node thing isn't a symptom. Coincidentally, Zach had to get a covid test today for an upcoming doctor's visit and the results should be back within 24 hours or so, so I think that should be a good enough indicator, but I will get one done tomorrow if any symptoms get worse. 

Judging from the massive reaction I had to a big bite earlier in the summer (which I can still faintly see on my leg), and now this, I am coming to the conclusion that my immune system may be in overdrive, producing massive reactions to things that I normally have maybe even abnormally mild reactions to, because of the pregnancy. My body is going to protect Doglet at all costs.

At first I thought this was a good thing, because that probably means if I did get covid I likely wouldn't be an asymptomatic carrier and I would know that I had it. But then I started thinking if that would mean my symptoms would also be abnormally bad and I would end up very sick. Zach said if my immune system is in hyperdrive it would probably just mean that it would fight it very hard. So I don't really know what that would look like. Today was not so fun.

I was looking forward to the long holiday weekend and now I am not sure what I am going to be doing. Also now I'm hesitant to go back to the PT office, even though i think it's beneficial for me. Really cramping my style here..