Resuming Life
Christina
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I am slowly getting better. Kicking Mono is not a fast process. I may not have any physical symptoms, may not be infectious anymore (the literature disagrees about that, but in all likelihood I’m not infectious), but I am still exhausted. Last night I went to a blues party and had some fun dances and enjoyed seeing people again. It was fun to laugh and flirt, chat and be social.
This morning I ran with my clinic — I volunteer with them so I haven’t really been able to just sit at home and ignore it. This week I decided I’d try jogging with the slowest group. Was surprising for me — though I know I’ve got mono — to be going so slow. I was going a pace that could walk briskly normally. I wasn’t able to turn around when I wanted — by that time it was faster to continue with the group than to turn around (not to mention more appropriate from a safety perspective). But I was exhausted afterwards — I felt like I’d gone running on one of my marathon training runs. So today I’ve mostly rested as a result.
This whole Mono experience has made me realize a few things:
1. I’m going to be extra careful to stay away from dances if I’m sick. The people I dance with deserve that respect. I’ve generally tried todo this in the past, but I’m going to be even more vigilant about that.
2. I’m pretty annoyed when dancers go out even if they’re sick on the guise that they’re ‘getting better’. My message to any dancer reading this blog: if you’re visibly sick, there’s a good chance you’re infectious, just because you’ve had it for a while doesn’t guarantee that you’ve stopped shedding viruses. If you respect me or other people you dance with you would not want them to get sick anymore than you would want to be infected. So STAY AWAY. It’s hard to know who gave me Mono (and NO it’s not because I’ve been kissing all sorts of men, far from it in fact). BUT it quite possibly was from a dance event — perhaps someone drank out of my labelled glass. It could also have been the distraction (mono has a 4-8 week incubation time). It’s possible to be an asymptomatic carrier — either never showing symptoms or when shedding viruses prior to showing signs of being sick. So it is possible someone wasn’t yet symptomatic and was at the event, or they may never have shown signs of it. Or they could have had a bad sore throat or what they thought was a ‘bad cold’ and still went to the event. BUT the point it, it’s bad enough that we’re at risk when out dancing due to people who don’t realize they’re infected. But, when you KNOW you’re sick I think it’s selfish and rude to go out dancing. There. That soapbox is done for the moment.
3. Support and help is badly needed for anyone with Mono. I still need it for some things. When I was in the throes of the illness, let me tell you, unless you’ve experienced it you have no idea how bad you feel. I had no strength in me. I had no choice but to continue with school because a leave of absence means a year off. That took all my strength to make it through. I couldn’t cook. I couldn’t clean. Laundry exhausted me and I had to rest after each trip up and down the stairs. I’m still not caught up on my cleaning and laundry. I still can’t carry heavy loads up the stairs. I’m too weak. Mono’s transmissibility is low, lower than that of a cold. It really is only transmitted via saliva and as long as a healthy person washes their hands, doesn’t share glassware or utensils etc with the infected person, doesn’t kiss the infected person and the like it’s okay to be around them.
4. I’m not good at asking for help of this sort, and I didn’t really. Those that I would have though would have offered to help didn’t. In some cases, couldn’t — and I do understand why (some even explained to me why). But others? I have no idea why they wouldn’t or why they didn’t offer or even give me the opening ‘can I do anything to help?’. A simple question that would have had huge impact. And those particular cases make me feel pretty unsupported, if I’m totally honest. But, this being said, for me cleaning my house or my laundry is something fairly personal so most people even if they asked that question I probably wouldn’t have even considered asking for that kind of help. And I’m not saying I had no help — one friend came shopping with me so my place would be stocked, another brought me orange juice.
So as I head to sleep, I’m thankful I’m on the upswing but I’m not back to normal yet. Hopefully soon, because I miss my normal life.
Melanie
Lots and lots of hugs. I’m so glad that you’re on the mend, even better enough to run! Still, not planning on kissing you!
And I do greatly regret that I wasn’t in much position to help you. The one thing I could’ve helped you on the timing was all wrong! I’m sorry for that 🙁
Please, let’s try to have a coffee sometime soon?
Melanie
Lots and lots of hugs. I’m so glad that you’re on the mend, even better enough to run! Still, not planning on kissing you!
And I do greatly regret that I wasn’t in much position to help you. The one thing I could’ve helped you on the timing was all wrong! I’m sorry for that 🙁
Please, let’s try to have a coffee sometime soon?
Seth Wright
I have mono right now as well… (It was how I found your blog). I’m writing a blog about my experience with having Mono. It sucks… my doctor told me that I can’t kiss anyone for 18 months without risking infecting them… Can you believe that?!
Christina
Yeah I can. The literature is conflicting about how long a person’s infectious, and I’m not sure I agree with a hard and fast rule of “18 months”. BUT I would say to be careful — I wouldn’t kiss anyone who’s immunocompromised, for example.
Seth Wright
I have mono right now as well… (It was how I found your blog). I’m writing a blog about my experience with having Mono. It sucks… my doctor told me that I can’t kiss anyone for 18 months without risking infecting them… Can you believe that?!
Christina
Yeah I can. The literature is conflicting about how long a person’s infectious, and I’m not sure I agree with a hard and fast rule of “18 months”. BUT I would say to be careful — I wouldn’t kiss anyone who’s immunocompromised, for example.
Tamie
Hey Lady,
I can help if you need me. Cleaning, laundry, whatever. My limp is mostly gone and I can now go down stairs. It’s no trouble at all for me to give you a hand. 🙂
Tamie
Hey Lady,
I can help if you need me. Cleaning, laundry, whatever. My limp is mostly gone and I can now go down stairs. It’s no trouble at all for me to give you a hand. 🙂
Sometimes it’s all about the Shoes… « The Chronicles of Christina… on this Journey called Life…
[…] Partly this is because I’ve had mono and I’ve been doing NOTHING. My doctor gave me strict instructions that I should do nothing but school since I refused to take a leave of absence (long story, the choice was either a year off or no leave at all). So, since early March, I’ve been doing just that. Nothing. Or as close to it as I can get. I still do my volunteering with my running clinic (but no running) and I still try to get out and volunteer at the dance (but no dancing — one cold-relapse was enough thank you, my new dancing soap box is that people should stay away when they’re visibly ill). […]
Sometimes it’s all about the Shoes… « The Chronicles of Christina… on this Journey called Life…
[…] Partly this is because I’ve had mono and I’ve been doing NOTHING. My doctor gave me strict instructions that I should do nothing but school since I refused to take a leave of absence (long story, the choice was either a year off or no leave at all). So, since early March, I’ve been doing just that. Nothing. Or as close to it as I can get. I still do my volunteering with my running clinic (but no running) and I still try to get out and volunteer at the dance (but no dancing — one cold-relapse was enough thank you, my new dancing soap box is that people should stay away when they’re visibly ill). […]
Christina
Thanks Tamie! What I mostly need is help hauling kitty litter. I’m not yet strong enough to lift the boxes I need to get from Costco. Will your knee let you do that? If so we could do a Costco run. That would solve a problem for me. Cleaning and laundry I can now do, I mostly have to finish catching up on things that are behind.
Christina
Thanks Tamie! What I mostly need is help hauling kitty litter. I’m not yet strong enough to lift the boxes I need to get from Costco. Will your knee let you do that? If so we could do a Costco run. That would solve a problem for me. Cleaning and laundry I can now do, I mostly have to finish catching up on things that are behind.