Infections need to be tested. What steps have you taken?

I dont know, this sounds just like my symptoms. my head cold hit me about 2 days ago, and i had a clear mucus evertime i sneezed, and i sneezed alot. then that first night i just spit up phlegm, and sneezed out mucus, until the point where i only got 3 hours of sleep. this may of however, been my fault because i took nyquil at about 6o pm, and fell asleep until 9o pm. then i felt as if i was drowsy, but my symptoms of my cold felt as if they got worse. like i said i slept for about three hours only, and all of the next day i was congested, my ears were clogged and my head felt heavy. i also was sneezing constantly, running nose, and i had yellow mucus coming out now. last night, i nyquil again, but around 8:00, more closer to my bedtime. before that i was sneezing up yellow to dark mucus, which turned into green mucus. i slept much better last nicvht, although when i woke up around 2o a.m. my throat felt very sore and dry, i manage, to get back to sleep. then this morning as i woke up i felt drowsy again(i know this is from the nyquil), i also felt congested and my head felt a little heavy. while getting my kids ready for school i sneezed out a huge amount of mucus, that was yellow to green in color. then after when i sneezed or blew my nose the mucust seemed be clear in color. after returning from taking my kids to school, i blew my nose again, and once again the mucus seems to be yellow in color. but now everytime, i cough the middle of my chest really hurts. and its not even like i was really coughing throughout this whole sickness. i would like to know is this changing into a very bad chest cold now, and should i continue to wait it out, because it is just a head cold(common cold), or should i visit the doctor. i am also do to have a minor surgery, in where i may have to get general anestetics. i dont know if the cold is just running its natural course, and if at all possible i would like to avoid the doctors office, because i will have to be at my dentist office next week for surgery. but better safe than sorry. what do you think?