I’ve been sick for a little over four weeks now but it only recently, in the past week and a half, has it gotten extremely difficult for me. The first two weeks were a battle against a gnarly case of bronchitis that was almost pneumonia, a double ear infection, and a sinus infection. I was on all the meds: antibiotics, a steroid for my ears and even an inhaler for my lungs. I went back to the doctor the next Friday because I started running a fever and noticed that the right side of my neck/lymph node was starting to swell. He informed me that a still had "a little" bronchitis still and gave me a smaller antibiotic to knock it out. He told me to return Monday if I wasn't getting better/felt worse. I ended up going back to my doctor on Monday because I got a thousand times worse over the weekend. I was running a constant fever (103.2 at its highest Sunday night), aches, headache, and the right side of my neck was super swollen and in pain. My doctor sent me to Central Baptist immediately to be evaluated for a potential abscess right behind my right tonsil. When I finally got to see the specialist, he evaluated me and then ordered a strep test, mono test, a CT, and two shots (one an antibiotic and another, a boost for my immune system). After doing all of that, the tests came back positive for both strep and mono...which is insane because 1.) I had zero sore throat and 2.) How the heck did I get mono? I have no idea how that happened. But the bronchitis was gone by this point! I just went back for a follow-up Thursday and my specialist believes I'm out of risk of developing an abscess so that's also good news. I still have to keep an eye on it if the swelling doesn't continue to go down or starts up again. If that's the case, surgery is required. So, after two and a half weeks of fighting a nasty case of bronchitis, a double ear infection, and a sinus infection...I now have strep and a really nasty case of mono. #winning. So, I was home all of last week being pampered by my Mom. It was awesome. During all of this time, I’ve learned a few lessons:
1. Homemade chicken noodle soup.
I learned how to make my very own homemade chicken noodle soup!
Yeah! I know, right?! :D To say that I was excited and really proud would be an understatement. I’ve discovered over the past year that I LOVE to cook. Who would’ve known? Not me. I thought cooking would be the last thing I’d ever want to do, but the amount of creativity one can have while cooking is endless and that’s why I love it. There's ALWAYS more than one way to do it. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to cook since the mono hit me but I had a lot of soup to get me through last weekend, which was lowest point of my sickness so far. I had so much homemade chicken noodle soup delivered to me/made by me/made by my parents; I may not eat chicken noodle soup again for a very long time.
2. Sickness is not weakness. It’s okay to ask for help.
It’s hard to know when to stop and rest when you’re sick and in college…but when you’re so sick you can’t get out of bed, that’s usually a good point to know that you owe it to yourself to take care of yourself. If you’re anything like me then the word sickness automatically translates to weakness. And, if you’re anything like me, you don’t want to be perceived as weak. In order to keep from being perceived as weak, you keep going and going until you can’t anymore…which ultimately just makes you sicker…and weaker. Sickness is a big shame trigger for me. I feel so inadequate that I beat myself up for getting sick in the first place. I missed a whole week of classes last week while I was in and out of Central Baptist. My specialist excused me from class last week and also this week.
“I want you to get about 10-12 hours of sleep each night, I don’t want you going to class, I don’t even want you to have a backpack on you, no contact sports, no extracurricular activities, no extensive traveling; nothing like that.”
In my head, I’m like:
“Okay…I have chronic insomnia…so I can’t do 10-12 hours of sleep, I’ll fail my classes if I miss two weeks of school, I can live with no backpack, does last man standing count as a contact sport? What about my worship band? I mean…that’s extracurricular and we’re the touring band so I would have to travel.”
My specialist continued:
“I mean, you can still do these things if you choose, but chronic fatigue syndrome is directly correlated to mono. If you don’t take it easy, you may not ever fully recover and you put yourself at risk of chronic fatigue syndrome. So, it’s ultimately up to you and how you feel, but you have to take it easy for the time being.”
So…I have to attempt to sleep a lot, I can’t go to class, no backpack, no last man standing even though I’ve played every year and survived, I’ll have to give up my worship band for an extensive amount of time…and for the second time. The first was last fall when I got unexplainably sick for about two and a half months…which is another story for another time.
But, through all of this, I’ve learned that it’s okay to say no to really good things in my life in order to be my really great self again. Yeah, it’s hard to miss out on class and get caught back up but my profs have been really understanding so far. It’s hard to miss out on campus events that I really look forward to like last man standing but I wasn’t really standing very much and, if I ever wanted to play again, I need to be well enough to stand. It’s hard to say no to hanging out with your friends and going to bed at 9 instead of 10 or later but my friends will be there in the morning. And it’s hard to step down from your band when it’s been such an awesome experience but I can go back to it when I’m ready. Having to say no and let go of experiences isn’t weakness…it’s actually the opposite. It’s humbling strength. Being so sick that I was unable to get out of bed while I was away from home was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had. I had to let other people take care of me even if it was just as simple as needing a hand getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. I learned how to ask for help and how to let people take care of me.
3. Do not go to the Asbury clinic. Go find a real doctor.
I was told that I had a common cold, which I figured, and that I just needed to treat my symptoms. I really wasn’t that concerned about my health so I didn’t think much about it. About two hours later, my chest started hurting and I developed a really concerning cough. By the end of the night, I could not stop coughing and my chest was so congested that it was hurting even when I wasn’t coughing. I messaged my mom and asked her if she knew any remedies for crazy chest congestion.
Her response: go to the doctor.
So, I made an appointment the next morning to see my regular physician. It took him about thirty seconds to evaluate me.
He looked inside my throat and up my nose: You have a sinus infection for sure.
Oh.
He looked in my right ear: Oooh, you have an ear infection.
What?
He looked in my left ear: Make that a double ear infection. This one isn’t as bad though.
Seriously???
He listened to one spot for my left lung: You definitely have bronchitis. It doesn’t sound too good in there.
You’ve got to be kidding me. He didn’t even need to check my other lung.
And thus began the endless amount of antibiotics to keep me from developing pneumonia, steroids for my ears and an inhaler for my lungs.
Moral of the story, I’ll never go back to the clinic. I don't care if it's free or not. There’s something wrong if they can’t even tell me I have an ear infection…or if you listen to my lungs in 9 different places and can’t hear a nasty case of bronchitis.
But speaking of an endless amount of antibiotics...
4. Yogurt is my new best friend.
LADIES, if you ever get so sick that you’re on a crap ton of antibiotics at one time or just have one antibiotic after another for an extensive amount of time…EAT A LOT OF YOGURT. Just please…please do that. Trust me. And, I mean, look at that picture! That looks really fracking delicious. That is all.
5. Pray.
Need I say more?
Pray for comfort.
Pray for peace.
Pray for strength.
Pray for endurance.
Pray for healing.
Pray for patience.
Our Heavenly Father wants us to reach out to Him when we feel like a pile of crap. It’s the most important thing we can do in really hard times of struggle and sickness.
With that said, I'm still not doing too well, but at least I've stayed out of the hospital. This is my first week back in class so we'll see how it goes. I hope to be able to live my life to the fullest again really soon.
Listening to "Shoulders" by for KING & COUNTRY.
