Swollen cartilage piercing?

I went to a very reputable and clean (APP certified) piercing place last week to get a 2-coil cartilage piercing done (two cartilage piercings with one jewelry piece threaded through). I was cleaning twice a day with anti-microbial soap and doing 2-3 salt water soaks per day; I was also careful not to sleep on it, to keep my hair off of it, etc. Things seemed just fine for the first few days, but then is suddenly swelled up like nothing I've ever experienced. I've never felt such pain! It was swollen, red, painful, throbbing . . . but no discharge (except the usual crusties). I stopped by another piercing parlor, which told me that (for that particular piercing, which is apparently quite finicky) things were looking remarkably good. The next day, I decided to stop by the doctor, who gave me some antibiotics and recommended that the coil be taken out. I also went back to the original piercer, who took out the coil and put in two CBRs so that it could heal up better before I gave the coil another shot. I've since been continuing the antibiotics, and while things look slightly better . . . it's still pretty swollen and red (although the pain is much reduced). I suppose that's also to be expected, since that other stop by the piercer's added a bit of trauma to my already angry ear. I think it's getting better, but . . . is this pretty normal, or should I be concerned that I have a serious infection? I've read a lot of scary things about cartilage infections, and I'd like to keep me ear, thank you very much!