Recovery

No, this isn't a post about Eminem's latest CD (although it could be, since that album is so good). It's about my saga with this sickness.

As I posted, I was pretty ill for the whole first week of classes with what was diagnosed to me as mono. I was prescribed two medications, an antibiotic and a steroid, and I took them for five days with no improvement whatsoever. On Saturday, I decided enough was enough, and went back to the Student Health Center. I saw a different doctor this time, and she was concerned enough with my lack of improvement to refer me to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. The way she described it to me was as a clinic for ear, nose, and throat conditions, and that it would be a relatively quick visit.

With this mindset, I took my time getting there, first getting lunch with Richie, then grocery shopping, then hanging out and watching a few episodes of Family Guy. Finally, at about 3:00, I decided it was time to mosey on over to 14th Street and 2nd Avenue and see what they could do for me.

This was a poor decision.

I arrived at the infirmary at about 3:15, and signed in with a nurse. About ten minutes later, she took me in to an examination room to take my temperature, blood pressure, and to figure out why I was there. She then sent me back out to the waiting room for what she said would be a "short wait" to see the doctor.

Three hours, six episodes of (the completely mind-numbingly horrible) Spongebob Squarepants, and tons of insurance and admittance forms later, I was called in to see a doctor. He looked at my tonsils, made disapproving noises, prescribed me two different meds (a different antibiotic, this time penicillin-based, and a stronger steroid), and sent me away. Three hours of waiting for three minutes with a doctor. Sigh.

The good news, though, is that I feel much better. I wasn't able to get the prescription filled on Saturday, but I started taking the new meds on Sunday, and by Monday morning was starting to feel like a person again. At this point, I'm not quite at 100% (maybe 80%), but I've been feeling steadily better with every passing day, and I think I'm going to kick this thing.

The only thing that confuses me is that mono is caused by a virus, so an antibiotic shouldn't do anything about it. My personal opinion is that I actually have tonsillitis (another condition that all three doctors discussed with me) and they just wanted to slap a "mono" label on it because of my age. But whatever. It doesn't much matter. The only thing that's important is that I feel better!

Sick!

Well, this wasn't how I wanted to start off my junior year.

Classes started Tuesday, and I missed the first session of one of mine. Why, you ask? Because I was at the Student Health Center, being diagnosed with mononucleosis.

My tonsils and glands had been swollen for most of the weekend, and of course, being a holiday, everything was closed. So I went in on Tuesday morning to see a doctor.

The long and short of it is, I've had mono for probably around a month and a half or so. No wonder I've been feeling so run down and fatigued all the time! Finally, after so much time of me not doing anything about it, the virus kicked itself up to the next level and made me pay attention to it.

The doctor prescribed me a steroid (to bring down the swelling in my tonsils) and an antibiotic for my immune system. I've also been taking extra amino acids, vitamins, and Aleve in addition to my birth control. I've never in my life been on this many pills at once, and it makes me feel like an old woman who needs one of those labelled pill cases.

The biggest reason this has been such a drag, though, is that my tonsils are so swollen that they're affecting my swallowing (it hurts to swallow anything, even water) and my voice (I sound like Cher, or as Richie put it today, like Helen Keller). It sucks because I've been trying to introduce myself to people in my class, but I can't make my voice go much louder than a low whisper!

I'll write about my classes and everything later, but for now I need to go to bed and get some rest. This illness is kicking my butt!