An Overly Long Account of Illness

When I was in ninth and tenth grade, I would get sick all the time. It seemed like I was always in and out of the doctor's office with bronchitis and sinus infections. I asked if something was wrong with my respiratory system since I so often had issues. The doctor said nothing was wrong with my body, just my lifestyle. Thanks to a hectic St. Stephen's life, lack of sleep and stress left my body an open target for infections. It just turns out that my respiratory system is t weak spot and first to fall. 

Fast forward to senior year, and I can't really remember the last time I was sick. I finally got a better handle on my schedule. Still sleep deprived and stressed, but not nearly as much. Instead of staying up until 1 to finish homework, I would just call it quits and crash earlier. The extra sleep helped my body out, and it seemed as if my days of constant illness were behind me. 

On Sunday morning in El Salvador, I woke up with an itchy throat. This quickly developed into a progressively worsening cough, joined by a headache which turned out to be a fever. Instead of playing with kids, I spent the next few days in bed, sleeping off an incessant fever and feeling lousy with congestion and a cough. It seemed as if my old friend Bronchitis has once again reared its ugly head. Thanks to great care from my chaperones, friends, and Asaprosar staff, being sick wasn't too miserable. I took some antibiotics (amoxicillin), slept, and hydrated like crazy. 

By Wednesday afternoon I was feeling well enough to go out. I attended the birthday party for the kids that afternoon and the two parties on Thursday. I was excited to be back in action and spending time with the children, and I wasn't even feeling that sick anymore, just kind of tired and run down. 

We arrive home on Friday night, and the chaperones advise my parents to take me to the doctor just for a check up and maybe some more medicine. It seems kind of pointless to me- I'm obviously on the mend. But to be safe, I head to the doctor Saturday morning. I'm diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, given different antibiotics, and sent on my merry way. And that was the end of that.

Well, or so we though. I wake up Sunday morning with a rash on the back of my thighs. Barely anything, but itchy. I think it isn't worth any attention, but my mom is concerned it could be an allergic reaction to the medicine. We head back to the medical center and see a different doctor. He says it looks like I'm allergic to the antibiotic, but he's not sure I should be on antibiotics anyway. Since I'm still congested, he thinks it might be viral and runs a blood test. The blood test comes back looking suspicious, and he notices my swollen lymph nodes. Time to run another test. As he suspected- it's mono. Joy. (Mono is called glandular fever outside the US)

There are many wonderful things about mono. One of which is that people notoriously can be sick with mono for weeks, even months. Another fun fact is that mono, when mixed with penicillin or amoxicillin, cause awful hives to break out all over the body. The doctor didn't know why, but apparently that's what happens. So considering the fact I was mean to be leaving on Friday for a backpacking trip, none of this was good news. 

Just a small sample of the hives that covered my body

Over the next few days, the rash gets progressively worse. It spreads over my entire body. It looks awful, and itches horrendously. Especially when I'm trying to sleep. A couple more doctor appointments and different medicines later, and the hives are still persistent. No Friday flight for me. Surprisingly, the hives are the worst part. The mono must've been mild because I began feeling better very quickly. The expected weeks of exhaustion didn't occur. 

Whether or not I could travel depended entirely on my health. We were all left in limbo, waiting for my hives to clear up to determine when I could leave. My original Friday departure date came and left, but it looked like things were getting better. Today (Saturday) my parents decided they would risk sending a still slightly itchy and blotchy Danielle to Istanbul. The flights were quickly booked, backpack hastily stuffed, friends texted to say goodbye. It was a whirlwind to get prepared. 

Trying various medications to get rid of the hives

And now I'm sitting here on Saturday night. I'm supposed to be asleep (I still need my rest to recover) but there are so many thoughts in my head I can't. I leave today and don't come back until the start of September. Most of my friends will have gone off to college and I won't see them until possibly ACL, but most until Thanksgiving. These are friends I have been with for the most part at least 8 hours a day, five days a week, for seven years. And now I will see them once or twice in five months. This never really hit me during graduation, but now it has and it feels pretty unsettling. So much change, and I didn't even get to say goodbye to many friends because of the craziness of the mono situation. 

In addition, I leave tomorrow for two months of European adventures. I'm super excited, but also anxious. It's my first time flying internationally alone, and my first time having this much independence and responsibility. I'm nervous, but can't wait. Hope everything goes well! No more health surprises for this gap year please.