How worried should we be about rheumatic fever?

This is about me and my husband.

Me Age: 41 Sex: F Height: 5’0” Weight: 160 Race: White

Husband Age: 44 Sex: M Height: 5’6” Weight: 180 Race: White

Last weekend, my husband developed a fever (wavered between 100-102). He had bodyaches and chills with the fever but no other symptoms. No sore throat, no congestion, no cough.

On his third day of feeling miserable with fever, he went to our pharmacy where they can do strep tests and his came back faintly positive. They gave him a course of amoxicillin which he started on Monday and the fever finally subsided on Tuesday.

On Thursday morning, I woke up with a lot of pain in my wrist and shoulder, so I thought maybe I’d slept on it funny. Later in the morning I was itchy and had a generalized rash (I have sensitive skin so it’s not super uncommon for me to just have a random rash). As the day went on I felt more and more pain in my joints. By the evening I could barely use my hands or wrists. It was so random and so painful. I am not a person who has had any kind of joint pain pretty much ever, outside of injuries. I did not have a fever.

Friday morning I woke up a little achy but OK. I wrote it off as “wow that was weird”. But later in the day my husband said that his joints were hurting - his wrists and fingers especially - and it was very painful.

This is so weird and random that I feel like they would laugh us out of an urgent care or ER if we went. Do I just write this off as a weird thing (maybe just a weird virus that causes joint pain?), or do I need to be concerned about something like rheumatic fever after the strep?

If I do need to be concerned, how would I present it to a triage nurse or doctor to make sure they understand the concern and take it seriously? Neither of us are in acute pain now, just a little residual achey-ness. My rash is still there but doesn’t look or feel particularly awful.

If you read this, thank you!!!