Do all of your kids know how they contracted mono? I know it’s spread through saliva but I’m terrified of catching it and I wonder if you have any dont’s.
Its referred to as the “kissing disease.” However, sharing utensils, beverages, etc is an easy way of transmitting this illness, especially if you are already very run down.
My D was diagnosed with mono three weeks before the start of the year. We contacted student health and they were great. They’ve monitored her and contacted all her faculty and asked that they be flexible if she needed more time for assignments. The university could not have been more supportive.
I got mono my junior year of college and was very, very sick. I ended up dropping my classes (it was only the 2nd week of school, thank goodness), and it was the best decision I ever made. I was in bed for 6 weeks. I am so glad that you will be flying out to help your D pack - she will need it!
On a side note, because I dropped my classes that semester (it was the winter semester), I was out of sequence with a few of my classes and had to wait an entire year to take some of them…but because of that, I met the man who would later become my husband in one of those classes. We always say how thankful we are that I got mono!!
Once upon a time I got pneumonia near the end of the semester and another time I was in a car accident. Let your professors know, or have her talk to the dean of students about a plan.
If she is doing well in her classes, have her investigate the possibility of getting an incomplete in one or two of the harder classes…she should still attend classes, but then take the final at the beginning of next semester. She should try to take the easier finals now. That is what I did.
Also tell her to drop everything besides rest, going to classes and homework. Drop clubs/sports/parties.
Definitely fly out to help whenever you can…now to support her or after finals to help her pack up.
Rest and recovery is most important. She will be given accommodations as long as she has some medical documentation. She shouldn’t push too hard. My daughter missed plenty of classes when she was ill; she simply had no choice. We told her that health is #1 priority.
Hi everyone, well unfortunately my D is joining this club, doc called today and she has acute mono - and I can tell you she has been super super sick for the last week. Fevers/night chills/sweats, pasty complexion, lymph nodes going crazy, today the throat nightmare surfaced, and bouts of crying cause she feels so bad - overall yuck. Anyway, not sure what to do next, does she need to notify the school? I can’t find anything in the handbook. Being on zippy quarters she doesn’t want to be forced to miss classes unless of course, she needs to for sake of her health and others. Health is first, if she needs to miss fine, I am just not sure if they tell you to leave for a certain period or what…frankly she was probably there at her most contagious this last week, but probably not that much better for the week ahead. Did you just tell the room/suite mates or notify the school as well?
Your poor daughter! My D e-mailed her advisor and the dean once she had the diagnosis. The dean or advisor e-mailed all of her teachers. She should absolutely miss classes when she feels too tired to go. They MUST make accommodations for her; forget the handbook. Believe me, they must help her with this. She might have to do it herself (the e-mails) though unless she’s authorized you to do so. It should be done immediately.
She has to sleep. She should be checked regularly by health services, definitely once per week. If her throat is really hurting or swollen, she can go on steroids. They work very fast at reducing the swelling and therefore the pain. This is nothing to mess around with. The goal is to avoid being hospitalized, forget about the grades. She can get in- completes. Health must come first. My daughter needed steroids twice for swelling.
Many kids get this and need accommodations. This is not at all unique or unusual on campuses.
Please let us know how she’s doing.
Thanks @njmom666. I did call and yes, they emailed her teachers asap which is great. I told her she has to LTHB (listen to her body) and rest rest rest when she can. You are spot on, I asked her today and she said her throat is quite the mess and she is going in tomorrow to have that checked. As typical for a kid handling something like this solo for the first time, she went to the school health center last week, and they said they had no appointments that day despite her 102.5 fever, and told her to go back to her dorm and take Tylenol - the last thing a kid with mono should do because of the rise in levels/risk to the liver. (I have since informed them of the error of their ways.) Three days and four midterms later (on quarters) I got her to see a real doctor, who frankly was worried it could be something else, was actually happy the tests came back with “just” mono. But she is hanging in, thanks for the kind words and suggestion to watch the throat, she probably would have struggled through that with not good results.