I have found over the years, I am able to dispel health anxiety for myself pretty well. But with those I love, it still hits me hard, and sends me reeling.


My wife had her first round of covid. She got sick on December 27 and tested positive. She took paxlovid, it was by no means pleasant, but she came through it well enough. She does have a lingering cough, especially at night, which I know can also be normal, even for months.


More unsettling to me, of course, is that two full weeks after covid, is she began to experience right sided pain when swallowing, along with pretty severe ear pain and the glands on that side of her neck were swollen.


She went to urgent care, they saw no visible sign of an ear infection or throat issues. Tested negative for strep, flu and covid. They were doing mandatory tests for all three.


The doctor said it was probably an infection, and sent her on her way with an antibiotic zpack. Sadly, the zpack did nothing, and she is about like she was before the antibiotic.


I really, really thought I could be helpful and google this safely, because I presumed it was covid related, and I was not really worried about it.


But over and over and over again, her symptoms lined up with throat cancer. One sided ear pain, pain swallowing, the swollen glands, the not clearing from antibiotics and so on.


Now I have spun myself into a deep spiral, the old catastrophic thinking coming back in force. I am reasonably disgusted with myself for falling back into old habits, but now I am in a full spiral, pretty much having assured myself that my wife's throat and ear pain are the result of cancer.


Is there anyone out there who dealt with symptoms like this in the wake of their own covid infection?