Guess I’ll Be Taking Exams with Mononucleosis This Year

Last Updated on September 29, 2023

I had a vision for this semester. A vision that required setting goals for myself. Goals that stretched from my grades and sleep schedule to getting back into the habit of doing yoga and making time to develop a relationship. Week after week, I took great care to exercise balance in my routine. Study, have fun, eat, sleep, work, and relax. It was all about taking care of myself. I was setting out to avoid the toxic effects of stress. A personal project, you could say.

This routine held up pretty nicely until last week… when I suddenly lost all of my energy. For a couple of days, I had a severe headache, an inability to concentrate, and essentially, I felt fatigued throughout the entire day. First I thought I had a cold, then maybe the flu as my symptoms got worse. Once I got a sore throat and completely lost my voice, I thought maybe I had strep.

After a visit to the doctor, my rapid strep test came back negative. Great. They decided to do a nasal flu test on me – which was very… strange. They basically rub your brain with a Q-tip.

Rocky Getting Tested for Flu

15 minutes later, I was informed that it, too, was negative. When you go through these uncomfortable medical tests, I think part of you hopes one will come back positive just so you have an answer and can feel that having your brain rubbed wasn’t done just for the fun of it.

Next up was blood work done at the lab to check if I have infectious mononucleosis. I won’t get those results until next week but the doctor is pretty sure it will be positive. I’m pretty sure it will be, as well. The symptoms are all too closely matched.

Mono – or whatever it is that I have – has really caused a rough patch at the end of what has otherwise been a phenomenal semester. With my performance so far, I think I have an A in every single one of my classes and I’d really hate to see that slip away because an infection got in the way of the grades I worked for. With my current state, I know studying will be a great challenge. I keep falling asleep and my vision blurs over if I look at anything for too long. I’m hoping I recover in time to still prepare at least a little bit. Even more importantly, I hope I’ll be well enough to take my exams – they start as soon as Tuesday!

My new medicine seems to be helping. Fingers crossed.

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11 Comments

    1. Unfortunately it does sound like it, doesn’t it? I hope it clears up too. If I get positive results and still feel very ill, I’ll consider asking for make-up exams. Professors are usually reluctant to say yes to people but at least I have a legitimate excuse going for me.

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The Rocky Safari