Hi. Just started a thread on this topic and was directed to this one. Freshman D thinks she has it and I bet she’s correct. Treated for tonsillitis one month ago with antibiotics. Recovered quickly. Friday, tells us she thinks she has tonsillitis again, but health services said it was viral and she tested neg fro mono. She has low grade fever, swollen glands, belly pain, puffy eyelids, fatigue or about one week. Feels “ok” on advil. She now thinks perhaps she hd a false negative test result. She’ll return to health services tomorrow, after much convincing from dad and I. I’m worried but this thread is somewhat reassuring.
I’m resurrecting this thread because my daughter probably has mono. For the past 2 weeks she’s been complaining about being tired. She’s been sleeping 2 - 4 hours in the middle of the day. But no other symptoms until 2 days ago. Yesterday the nurse at the health center said it was a virus and sent her back to the dorm. Today, she can’t swallow, neck is swollen and she has a fever. (She has no tonsils so strep, etc is often not too extreme for her.) Dr at the health center says she’s pretty sure it’s mono, but couldn’t get blood because D is dehydrated. Take 2 tomorrow. Another day will go by untreated.
So, the crux of my question… She’s out for the summer in 2 weeks. We live a 6 hour FLIGHT away and I wasn’t planning on going to help her pack (time to grow up, right?). But, now, I’m thinking the sleep, tired factor, finals (school will give some accommodation, though she needs to finish the semester), strength needed to move out of the dorms, will be too much. A flight and rental car will be about $700 and I can stay with a friend nearby. I don’t have money to throw around, but I would absolutely sacrifice if need be.
What are your thoughts? I suppose it’s a personal thing for her and us (her parents). Who knows how she’ll feel in 10 days. But it will be too late to schedule a ticket… prices will continue to rise.
Absolutely positively go! My D ended up being so weak that she needed assistance back and forth to the bathroom. Rest is needed to get better, but she can’t rest if she’s trying to study/take finals and pack too. You will never forgive yourself if she gets worse, can’t do finals, can’t do anything over the summer because she needs three months to regain her strength and you still had to go fetch her anyway!
Because of potential spleen enlargement with mono, my daughter who had it last summer was instructed by her Dr. not to lift anything heavy(more than 20lbs? I think) for a few weeks. Not every one who gets mono seems to end up with spleen issues, though.
Thanks! You are confirming what my gut has been telling me. I’ll await the final diagnosis tomorrow and then make a plan to go.
Hi. Sorry to hear your D is not well. I’m the mom who started this thread a year ago. So, if I understand correctly, you’re asking if you should go out and help her with the move?? Hmmm, hard to say now how things will be in 2 weeks. From what I hear, some kids have pretty mild cases and barely feel sick, and others are completely incapacitated. (My D was quite sick but recovered faster than we thought she would.) I agree that a move might really be impossible for her to manage and there can be some risk of spleen rupture (I’m not sure about the lifting being a problem with the spleen, definitely no contact sports). I would think plan on going; you can always cancel and pay a fee to exchange the ticket for another date. Also, she will hopefully finish out the semester, but some kids are too sick to do so and take incompletes. We told our daughter that health comes first and that if she felt she couldn’t finish out the semester, it would be ok…(we had tuition insurance, so that made it a bit easier).
Good luck!
My daughter had it last fall, 3000 miles away. I am afraid of flying but managed to fly out! I was needed badly for about 10 days, even to get her food, go to the drug store etc. The mono affected her vision as well. I helped her pack for a move- got her boxes and packed things while she was still in bed. After 10 days I left and she actually moved that week. Every case is different. Sometimes they feel better and then get worse again too…happened to her.
For a week before I got there and the week I was there she could not do anything. Studying was impossible. Accommodations shouldn’t be hard to get…
I have booked a ticket to go and will go regardless! Thanks for the push, everyone.
Good thoughts for you and your daughter. I have a running joke with my friend who had an absolute horrible time sending her only daughter away to college. The mom cried all the time for the first 6 months. It was awful, and a bit pathetic, and comical at times. If her girl called and said she had a hiccup, or stubbed her toe, my friend’s mind immediately went to “Mommie’s Coming!!!” I had to talk to her down a lot and also had a tshirt made for her with that on it.
But for sure, no doubt, in your case, I am very glad to hear “Mommie’s Coming!!!”
Wow, reading through this and realized that so many freshman seem to come down with mono. I wonder if it is truly stress related? Best wishes for you and your daughter. I know at some school like Purdue they have local Mothers who help out kids when parents are far away. Have you looked into that?
I have a friend nearby who would help, but has two kids of her own and I wouldn’t ask her to pack. But I will call on her for an urgent care trip if needed.
No doubt my Ds college lifestyle has contributed to her illness. Sleep patterns are off, food choices are bad, beer, no visits to the gym (or very few). She just plain got herself warn down. “I told you so” comes to mind but I’m trying to resist.
What a neat program at Purdue and I suppose others have it too. Thankfully, I encouraged her to choose a school near friends or family. We’ve already had pink eye this year.
If you can, get a case or two of Gatorade delivered to their rooms .With high fevers its too easy to become dangerously dehydrated. It is difficult to tell how dehydrated someone is and you can’t rely on a roommate to know.
If school offers a laundry service sign them up so someone is washing their sweat soaked bedding for them.
My d had two very serious bout of mono. I won’t scare you with the details but she ended up being hospitalized.
If it seems like they are really, really sick then go out to see them or bring them home.
Sometimes it is very serious.
I don’t want to alarm you @phoenixmomof2 but please tell your daughter to go to the ER if she really can’t swallow. I had mono when I was 25 and couldn’t drink anything without choking my throat was so swollen. It turned out that I also had epiglottis, swelling of the epiglottis. I was admitted and put on IV steroids. My parents drove the 7 hours from their home the next day.
I hope your D isn’t nearly that sick. It’s a really tough call whether you should go or not. If it were me I probably would since I might be too antsy to just wait at home.
@Barbalot - Don’t worry… I don’t scare easily. My dad was a dr and my mom is a nurse. She’s not so sick that she can’t swallow at all. She said advil is helping. I check in with her at least twice a day. Mostly, she’s sleeping and getting through class as best she can. Thankfully she has only 6 class days left.
I would keep in mind that if she doesn’t feel up to studying for finals, it may be worth getting an extension or something. My S once muddled through exams with a mono-like illness and his GPA was the worse for wear.
Once we have an actual diagnosis, then we get the school / professors involved. If she needs extensions on final papers, etc, I’m hoping that will happen. The health center said they send a letter to the deans / professors. We’ll see. It’s a small school with and intimate environment. I think it will be ok… but we’ll see. Thanks for the reminder. I’ll have a few calls to make as soon as we receive word.
Didn’t you say she no longer has her tonsils? That’s going to help a lot. My daughter kept getting tonsillitis after the mono and eventually had her tonsils removed when she came home last summer. You sound like you’re on top of this and if advil is helping, that’s good.
I sent my D a care package when she first got sick with things that I knew would help her. You can’g expect roommates to do that.
People can get the mono virus (Epstein Barr) and have no symptoms (and therefore be carriers for a year or so). I don’t think lifestyle issues cause students to get the virus: that is due to exposure. However lifestyle issues might make the person have symptoms, and/or worse the symptoms.
Please don’t “hope” for accommodations. These need to happen and are a right, not a favor!
For others reading this: my daughter was also hospitalized with a runaway case of strep (despite strong antibiotics) that almost caused her throat to close. Noone, not even the world class hospital, tested for strep. She was treated with IV antibiotics and steroids.
A month later she again had strep and her smart new primary care doc tested her for mono and it was positive. A resistant case of strep should always be tested for mono 
No doubt your D will be very grateful that you made the trip. My D got mono, followed by strep, her first semester at college and it really took her down. I wish I’d gone to help her.
D did discover that the storage facility where she stores her belongings over the summer offers moving services. For $75 they came, packed her belongings (except the clothes she was bringing home), and moved everything into storage. It was a big help.
I hope your D recovers quickly!
I got mono freshman year on winter break sick and miserable for one week straight and boom all better just in time to go back to school. felt tired a lot but the complete misery stage passed after 6 or 7 days. i got lucky!