Oh Mono

The entire week before I left for Virginia to visit a boarding school, I began to feel drastically more fatigued, irritable, sore, and weak. I also had been experiencing rapid heart beat. Also, I noticed a change in attitude towards going to school and doing what needs to be done. I was certainly not myself; I had mononucleosis and did not even know it. Before the trip, I thought I was just tired and anxious from school. I thought I had been under too much stress. However, when we started to travel, I knew there was something wrong. It was very discomforting to carry my luggage and backpack around the airport. I did not have much of an appetite that trip either, even though the virus was at its peak and my body was working extra hard to fend it off. Once we got to our hotel/spa, I was already dying for a massage appointment! We had only spent a few hours traveling and I was drained. The next morning was no sleep in day either. I got up at 7:00, only a 25 minutes later than I normally wake up on a school day, walked slowly to the shower, and spent about 20 minutes washing my hair/ trying to keep myself awake. Thank god the hot water was running out otherwise I might have fallen asleep while I was shampooing my hair! Not only did the mild shower water get me going, but my perseverance to get into the school miraculously got us dressed and out of the hotel in time to make my interview.
  Everything about that school woke me up for the entire time I was there. I loved everything about it; the dorms, the people, the teachers, the facilities, the views... I could go on and on! Seeing the school really did wake me up, then after, my mom and I decided to go see Georgetown. This is when I realized something truly must be wrong with me. If I wanted to leave my favorite store, Cusp by Neiman Marcus, to go back to the hotel and sleep, and skip out on a wonderful meal in D.C., then there MUST be something wrong! As I was trying on a pair of jean shorts, I pointed this out to my mom, but somehow she urged me to go try dinner nearby. And after dinner, I was lured into a little more shopping. Talk about shop til you drop, Mom! The next morning I felt like I'd been body slammed by a sumo wrestler. There wasn't a muscle in my body that was not sore. I admit, it was a pretty tiring day I was recovering from, but with mono, everything was 10 times worse. I felt like I'd been hit by a bus! On that trip, my body had been pushing itself to the limit with mono, and all my symptoms had worsened.
When we were back in Baton Rouge, I did get my extra sleep, but I was feeling weaker and more fatigued. While my mom and I were trying to piece all of my symptoms together and research them on the internet, my dad called the doctor. We searched a few sicknesses, but none matched up quite as well as Mononucleosis. The doctor's office was not open on Sunday, so I had to go to the Pediatric ER. They did several tests on me, including an I.V. (ew!) It was a long wait, but it was worth it. We were actually happy when we found out I had mono, because it could have been worse, and we knew many people who have had the virus before. I spent the rest of my week, including my entire Mardi Gras AND my golden birthday (turned fifteen on the fifteenth!) on bedrest. I'm still not fully recovered, and feel incredibly weakened and always fatigued, but with the help of the right diet, lots of rest, and lots of vitamin C and water, I am slowly getting back on track.