Bad news for me

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

“So how long do I have,” I ask.

“Couple of days, maybe a week. It’s hard to say.”

“But I feel fine. I’m in great shape. Maybe I’ll be ok.”

“No. You won’t,” he replies. “Besides, they say denial is the first stage.”

“Don’t be a prick, Wait, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“Don’t worry about it. Anger’s the second stage.”

“Maybe it won’t be so bad. If I can still function through the weekend…”

“That would be bargaining, the third stage.”

“I guess I’m screwed.”

“Capitulation.”

“You’re just my wife’s gynecologist. You really could be wrong, you know?”

“Don’t backslide. Your bargaining again.”

“Mono, huh?”

“Your wife and children all have the antibodies. Your doomed.”
Crap.

By the time you read this… I will have mono. Or maybe I won’t. Denial? Maybe. On the other side of the coin, maybe I’ve suddenly developed a superhuman immune system (say “superhuman immune system” three times fast.) I’m sound of mind, strong as an ox and pure of heart.

Anyway, I find being doomed somewhat liberating. “Borrowed time,” what should I do with it? Go on a massive bender? One last hurrah? Rob a bank?

Take care of my sick family?

Fuck me.

2

My friend was told he has mono two weeks ago and he hasn’t felt sick. Maybe he/you will be lucky?

3

I thought I had mono once. Turns out I’m just really lazy.

4

I had mono senior year in HS. Got it from sharing m&m’s with a guy who sat next to me after he’d had it. (well, that’s the story I tell).

It wasn’t so awfully bad. I lost time in that I had periods where I would just fall asleep and not know it and would wake up much later in the day–but most people have that at some point–it’s called being drunk or passed out! Also, I lost 6 pounds, so there was that.

I hope you don’t get sick, but I think you will. Sorry.

5

Grab a few TV series that you always meant to watch (preferably shows that ran at least 3 seasons and all seasons are available on DVD).

Have fun! :wink:

6

Joking in the face of death (or at least abject misery)? My (nonexistent) hat is off to you Scylla.

With that much infection around you, yeah, you’re in for it. When you’re not actually tending to your family, my advice is to engage in a great deal of nothing at all, thereby getting a head start on all that nothing you’re going to be doing. In breaks between the nothing, stock up on whatever soft, mild food and drink is least displeasing to you.

I seem to recall that you live in a two-story dwelling. You might invest in an elevator, or at least a nice cushion to rest on halfway up the stairs.
Seriously, though, you and yours have my sympathy. I hope you all get through it as quickly and with as little suffering as possible.

7

Remember the good old days, when mono was a hideous social stigma, incontrovertible proof that you’d been doing bad things…like “sharing m&m’s”?

Anyhoo, another mono survivor here. I was in 8th grade, I think. The good/bad thing was that I had it mostly over Christmas break, so I missed very little school. I don’t remember being that sick. I can’t remember what set of symptoms prompted visiting the doctor – a persistent fever, maybe? I just remember being tired and sleeping a lot. And kind of flaunting the scarlet letter M when I went back to school, cuz it meant that some guy had, like, shared m&m’s with me.

8

Buy stock in your favorite ice cream brand. That way, when your throat is swollen and all you can pass through it is ice cream, you’re at least supporting your own interests!

Seriously, hopefully you won’t get it. It’s a hell of a drag.

9

I had mono at age 21. Mainly it manifested itself as a FUO spiking every afternoon to 104 for about 30 minutes, and overall I felt washed out and crummy. But other than that, I was able to function. Had to stay home from work for 8 weeks, of course, but other than that, it wasn’t a particularly miserable time.

10

Let us all know what’s new in the world of Daytime TV.

11

I had mono when I was a junior in HS. I kept playing softball and generally doing everything I’d done before, only even worse than usual (I was all field and no bat, normally, but then I was no nothing). Well, I kept doing everything I’d been doing until my mother finally dragged me into the doctor and the doctor took one look at my throat and said, “I don’t even have to do a culture. You’ve got a terrible strep infection.”

I made a comment about mono, I don’t know what, and it was like watching a light bulb go on over my doc’s head. She said she was now going to do a culture, but she was pretty sure I actually had mono and I was under no circumstances to go back to school and certainly not to play more softball. Something about ruptured spleens and death. Whatever, I had finals to go to. So she and I negotiated that I could go to school only for each final. AND NO MORE SOFTBALL!

My coach didn’t believe me and called me a lazy quitter. I, apparently, nearly ruptured a spleen for that bastard. And it’s not like I carry a spare around in my backpack…

I had mono. It wasn’t so bad. My sister, on the other hand, she was hit hard. Me, I just wanted to keep playing softball and take my finals.

12

Why is he so sure you’ll get it? None of my family members or my girlfriend caught mono after I came down with it. One of my coworkers did, though.

Mono really sucked. I just didn’t have much energy to do anything, and when I did, it didn’t last very long and I’d end up very tired. There’s not much to do about it, really, you just rest up and wait it out.

13

Scylla, the couch, a big fluffy blanket, big fluffy pillows, any ice cream that crosses the doorstep of the house, and a marathon viewing of The Twilight Zone DVDs are now yours.

:wink:

Get better soon!

14

I had mono in 1967, and god-damn-it I had never even kissed anyone. Keeled over while the world series was on the BW TV during lunch. (Nuns were really into baseball then). Missed school for 9 weeks, all the nuns and kids were praying for me, they even had a mass for my soul. All the kids were surprised when I actually came back to class, they thought I was a deader. My parental units were also positive I was going to die of luekemia for ogs sake. The funny part is I didn’t even feel that bad after the first bit. I used to play basketball when no one was looking.

The things I remember are: being tired all the time, tonsils covered in white gunk and ginormous swollen neck glands forever. I looked like frankenstein for years. Always a good look for a teen-age girl. :frowning:

15

I had mono. Twice. No, it’s not possible.

Not so bad, really, like being really lazy and a cheap tequila hangover.

But a heck of an opportunity to catch up on your reading, expand your whole political conciousness! Got a box right here for ya, pal! Autobiography of Emma Goldman, good start. Proudhon, of course, got to have a solid grounding in anarchist theory…lessee, Kropotkin, Marcuse, Eugene V. Debs…

Lucky, lucky Scylla!

16

(shhhhh! I know what I’m doing! He gets halfway through the Goldman book, his antibodies will got totally berserk, won’t be a virus within a mile of him!)

17

All I can suggest is that you don’t mess around with mono. Its not always an easy thing that you just sleep off. I had it. I was hospitalized for 2 weeks & flat on my back for another 6 weeks. It was bad. The doctor said he knew of only one case that was worse. I asked what happened there & he quietly said “umm - he died”.

Listen to your doctor. Listen to your body. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

18

I had it at 16.
My mother was absolutely convinced I was pregnant. (well, I was throwing up every morning) I kept telling her she ought to prepare for the second coming, as it simply wasn’t possible I was pregnant, but she was quite certain I was lying.
(I had a great relationship with my mother, can you tell?)
Lost a bunch of weight (constant nausea will do that for you) and by the time I actually got tested, the worst was over. (I was actually at a friend’s house and his parents were a nurse and a doctor. They told me to go in. So I did. Took the test, results came out positive, and the doc’s office never bothered to tell me.)
I was a horrible mooch as a teen, so it could have been anyone, really. (why everyone’s food is my food!)

19

While I don’t have any experience in these matters, my guess would be having mono will result in slower times in the marathon.

Desire, that would be stage five.

20

Hey, my compradre. 5 times (diagnosed) here. After a while, they stop calling it mono and start calling it “Epstein Barr”. woot. It’s the same friggin’ virus, my body just keeps forgetting how to fight it. Stupid immune system.

Haven’t had it in a few years, thanks to my close personal relationship with lemon balm. But boy, it sucked, and some years it sucked worse than others. 'Bout the only good thing was it got me out of swimming class three years running, and out of shoveling or mowing the lawn, depending on the season.

Also eventually killed my liver. No, not completely, obviously, but I turned into a seriously light drinker for about 10 years. I think it’s finally healed itself, but it took, literally, 5 *years *after my last diagnosed case to be able to drink more than a drink and a half and not feel like I had to go lie down somewhere.