not recommending this

Around the time that Slice and I started dating –over a year ago– a mysterious illness manifested itself unto me. The main symptoms were burning, itchy, unbearably sore throats, and also chronic fatigue.
I chalked it up to the late nights, still chilly, that I spent outside with Slice.
(Which happened only once or twice a week - I was in Provo, he was in Roosevelt, and we saw each other mostly on weekends. I guess it could’ve also been from the many hours we spent talking on the phone.)

Whatever the cause, I tried to ignore it. I drank water like a camel, kept a waterbottle by my bed, stocked up on throat-soothing things like milk and Vitamin C drops. I also tried to keep up with my schedule of school, work, homework, church/social activities, and long-distance dating. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, I’ll tell you what.

Spring term came and I was engaged, but still trudging through life in Provo. The sore throat didn’t seem to get better. It would ebb and flow with the weeks, but it never truly went away. So I started gargling. Water, salt water, Listerine. When the pain was really bad I took Ibuprofen; no relief lasted for long.

But the worst part, by far, was being so tired all the time.
I would drag myself out of bed literally ten minutes before I had to be to work, throw myself together, grab a Slimfast and book it up the street. (I pretty much never made it on time.) It was probably more unlucky for me that work was only a five-minute walk away. I banked on it too much.
I yawned through the day, sometimes stealing a quick nap before/after choir, and when I got home from work I always took a real nap. Then I would wake up, eat, call Slice (if my phone was working – which it rarely was), and go back to bed around ten. The next day it would all start again. My roommates probably thought I was narcoleptic or something.
I could NOT figure out why I was so tired all the time.

The day I got scared was the day I was singing in choir, standing up even– AND I FELL ASLEEP. I caught myself nodding off mid-song.
That was when I started asking questions about mono.

Several of my friends had been diagnosed with mono before, so I asked around, but that was all I did. I had a wedding to plan, after all. I toughed the sore throats and finished the term, moved home, and got married six weeks later.

I don’t remember much from last summer. Seriously. If you asked me what I did, I couldn’t really tell you.
I do remember being tired all the time and asking other people about it; they told me “when you’re married you need more sleep.”
I would get up, take Slice to work, sleep for three more hours, and still need a nap by lunchtime. I tried to read for my Independent Study history class, but no matter when or where it was, I would fall asleep before long. It was incredibly frustrating.
(Also embarrassing, because Slice would get home from work and ask, “what did you do today?” “Um…..not much.” What a good wife I am.)

At the end of August, I finally went to see a doctor. I asked him about Mono and he said he’d test me for Strep first. The very first test came back positive, almost instantly.
“You have strep,” he said.
I couldn’t believe it.

The reason I’m telling you this, I suppose, is to help you learn from my mistakes, but also just because I’m wondering out loud.

I think my immune system is permanently damaged.

I’ve had a few colds since last April, among other things, and not one of them has been gone within a week or ten days. Heck, I think they’ve all been two- or three-week deals, with neverending congestion and painfully reminiscent sore throats.

I used to be the healthiest person I knew!
(Like ONE visit to a doctor in fifteen years, to burn off a wart.)
Sheesh.

I’m still more tired than I ever used to be, but I’m not sure if that’s from the strep, or just “being married,” or something else entirely.

Maybe my body is still recovering from all those years I ran a rigorous schedule on pitiful amounts of sleep.