Update on Unwell

I went to the Urgent Care Clinic in Orem on Sunday morning. I had a negative rapid Strep test, but because this happened to me last time I had Strep they sent a culture into the lab. The doctor prescribed me "Magic Mouthwash" which is just a cocktail of Benadryl, Maalox, and Lidocaine. It's supposed to coat and numb the irritated area; it had no effect. Then as previously mentioned Ibuprofen solved my issue for 7 hours before becoming ineffective.
Monday evening I began having fairly severe pain and went back to the Urgent Care Clinic. They ran another rapid Strep test because this time I had a fever. See I was presenting textbook Strep symptom at a severe level; because of this the doctor this time prescribed me antibiotics and Tylenol with Codeine for the pain. I came home and took my new drugs hoping for the best. A maximum recommended dosage of the Codeine seemed to have no effect on my pain, I was becoming very annoyed.
I went to bed, and slept for about 45 minutes when I woke up with more pain, and the new symptoms of being unable to open my jaw more than half way, and being unable to touch my chin to my chest. I took two more Codeine pills and but they brought no relief within 20 minutes. So, I called the Nurse Hot-Line that my insurance company participates in, and with the addition of the new symptoms she told me I should go to the Emergency Room to get checked because I may have developed an abscess. So I changed into quasi-normal clothing and drove to the Emergency Room.
I checked in at about 1:30am and there was one other person in front of me. (Random aside, they were trying to call someone, but couldn't make long distance calls from the hospital, so I let them borrow my cell phone). About the time I finished checking in the Codeine seemed to be taking effect (FINALLY!), which was quite nice. Having the extra dose of Codeine made the ~1 hour 15 minute wait bearable.
Upon being seen the registrar working that night was a guy from my last ward, so it was kind of nice to see a familiar face, even if I didn't know him very well at all. Anyways, they gave me a steroid shot to help the inflammation (I never really noticed it have any effect though). Then they did a CT scan of my throat to check for abscesses. The CT came back clean, so I was released with a follow up appointment for today at a Ears, Nose, and Throat doctor, as well as a prescription for Lortab in case the pain got worse (since the Codeine hadn't been working originally). I haven't filled that prescription yet, since I've already spent like $75+ on drugs so far.
I came home and took another couple Codeine pills and fell asleep. The biggest problem with sleeping has been that the body needs to do something with the spit it creates. So I either have to swallow it which is painful enough to wake me up, drool it (not ideal), or let it pool up in my mouth until I choke on it. My body had retrained itself to do the latter in order to get some rest. Thankfully, one of my many drugs gave me dry-mouth last night, and I slept for 4 hour stretches at a time.

I'm feeling quite a bit better at the moment, and hopefully it's not just the Codeine. I should be hearing back the results of the Strep culture sometime this afternoon or evening.