Well, life can’t be all dandy all the time. Clearly my life wasn’t finished with this nasty virus I had. The adventure to Our House was wonderful, and it was a great distraction to what was happening with my body. The very next day (a Saturday) I slept in really really late. I was excited to hang out again with my friend. Well, my body was going to change our plans. Instead of doing something that rid our minds of stress and sickness, we took a drive to the Emergency Room around 4:30pm. I bet you’re thinking, “Oh no! What happened?!” I’ll tell ya! My stuffy nose had gotten to the point where I couldn’t breathe a single breath in or out of it, which meant I had to depend on my mouth for all forms of breathing, but that was an issue within itself. I felt like I was being choked as I breathed, and every time I swallowed I felt like my throat was being stabbed on both sides. My head felt weird… light-headed but heavy at the same time. That was probably a result to having a slight headache and a fever. If you couldn’t tell by my description of my symptoms, I was not having any fun and I was in a ton of pain.

Luckily, I was checked in, seen by a nurse, and then placed in a shared room within 45 minutes of arriving in the ER. That’s pretty awesome timing! A little happiness lol Almost immediately getting into a hospital bed, I was hooked up with an IV… well, actually two at first. My friend graciously stayed by my side as long as she could, but she had to sadly leave around 8:30pm because she had to go to work and nobody had offered to take her shift. Before she departed though, we were joking with the nurse. I had told him as he was hooking up the IV, “I’m not going to be a boring patient. Just so you know.” A statement couldn’t have been more true. I had even brought my Vermont Teddy Bear with me because I had a feeling that I would be in the hospital for a while. I didn’t stay the night, but I was in that hospital bed for over five hours. After four IV bags, and my heart rate FINALLY dropping below 100, I was allowed to go back to my apartment. When I say “finally,” it is protocol that a patient can’t leave the Fletcher Allen hospital unless their heart rate is below 100. Well, mine just wouldn’t slow down and so it took at least two hours of waiting just for that.

I called Campus Public Safety, and my favorite CPS officer was the one to pick me up. He was lovely to chat with and I reminded him that he was also my ride home when I visited the ER my freshmen year of college. Some things just don’t change. Before I go further into the future, I just want to comment that my protective mother had called the hospital multiple times after she read my text about me being in the ER (a couple hours late I might add). She talked with me first, then the doctor, and then the nurse that was attending me. Gosh she can be embarrassing sometimes. When she found out my nurse was male, she was all “Ooooo is he cute?!” and my response was, “He’s married, mom. Please don’t.” Well, when she was on the phone with him, she told him about the whole conversation. At least he was a good sport about it. I noticed he smiled and laughed a lot while chatting with my mom about what was happening with me.

My mom and my aunt (her twin sister) drove up on Sunday, and stayed until Tuesday to take care of me, which I REALLY needed. When they first arrived, they immediately started stripping my bed and cleaning my apartment. My mom didn’t show her disappointment too much about all the laundry I had just laying around my room. It was ALL of my laundry. I literally had like one pair of pants left and two shirts. The three of us stayed in this awesome hotel in Williston, VT. It was one of the penthouse suites and had an upstairs section, which was my bed. As my mom said, “keep the sicky away from the healthy ones.” Monday was kind of a busy day for me. Well, it felt like it because I was getting extremely low on energy. My aunt was a great sport and did all my laundry at the local laundromat, while my mom and I visited a local doctor. My mom was overjoyed when the doctor said she would take me on as a new patient even though she wasn’t taking new patients.

They said their goodbyes Tuesday morning, but things took a turn for the interesting. While my mom was dropping off my aunt at White River Junction, I called her with my test results. I tested positive for mono. She immediately called any/all hotels to book a last minute one night stay, and turned around to take care of me for one more day/night. I wasn’t expecting it, but I was appreciative of everything my mom did to help me towards the road of recovery. Something to keep in mind: I live four and a half hours away from home. My mom drove that Sunday morning. The drive to White River Junction is one and a half hours away from my school. So on Tuesday, she drove 3+ hours and then on Wednesday when she left, she then drove the 4+ hours back home. My mom is awesome! 

Is there anyone in your life that you think is super awesome? Why?