"Mono Sucks" Part Two

Fall 2010

One of my favorite parts of my new room!

As the trees in Iowa started changing color, students everywhere focused on going back to school. I was looking forward to my freshman year of high school. In addition to the basic subjects, I would be learning French with my mom. Bonjour! Je suis Sarah. I had to take things very slowly at first; sometimes I could only do a half day of school because I was just too tired from the mono. My very flexible and understanding teacher (mom!) was a huge source of support and comfort. I quickly grew tired of laying on the couch and watching TV so my mom was nice enough to play some board games with me. One afternoon, we played Clue for three hours! In addition to feeling tired and weak, mono effected my respiratory system. My ears were so sensitive to any kind of noise. I cried through the hymns at church one Sunday because the organ seemed so loud. Plus, my immune system was busy fighting off the mono so I caught one cold after another.

  September of 2010 brought several fun and exciting things that had been planned before I got mono. I was moving into Daniel's room and completely re-decorating it! My paint colors were "Rose Glory" and "Chocolate Curl". My mom was going to help me with painting anyways, but she actually ended up doing a majority of the work while I layed on the floor and kept her company. Mono was making me very tired and weak. I spent most of my "free time" lying on the couch watching Full House. School wise, I was going to start a home school speech class that was being taught by a mom in our home school group. Painting my room, French, school, and speech class were all keeping me distracted from how I was feeling, but the biggest distraction was coming at the end of September. Before I got mono, my parents planned a mini-vacation to Orlando, Florida to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I was beyond excited. On days when I couldn't cope with how I was feeling, I would go to the computer and watch videos about the theme park and look at pictures. I couldn't wait to taste the butterbeer and ride all the rides.

 September also brought my follow-up appointment with Dr. S to make sure my spleen wasn't  in danger of rupturing. My dad made a comment the night before the appointment about me not being able to ride the rides at the Wizarding World if my spleen was enlarged. This crushing thought sent me into a panic at the doctor's office the next day. My heart was racing so fast that I had a heart murmur. There was nothing to worry about; my spleen was its normal size! Dr. S asked for an update on how I was feeling when he first saw me.
"Mono sucks." Dr. S replied with a smile when I told him that I had been feeling like crap. He was excited that I was going to Orlando and said that I had medical permission to ride any ride that I wanted!

=)

 As our trip got closer, my mom began to get concerned about my lack of feeling better. I had some energy in the mornings, but it wasn't much. I was still putting full days of school in, volunteering at the hospital on Thursdays, babysitting on Friday afternoons, and going to speech class (which I was really enjoying!) on Tuesdays. Even though I wasn't feeling that much better, I was still determined to go to the Wizarding World. My mom joked that she would wheel me around in a wheelchair if walking around the park was too tiring. I had not been exercising at all since mono struck in August.

Butterbeer!

 Four days before we left for Florida, mom took me back to Dr. S to make sure I was still clear to go on the vacation. Dr. S told us that the mono was probably "75% over" and that I would start feeling better soon. With Dr. S's blessing we left for Florida on September 27. I had SO much fun! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was absolutely fantastic. I didn't feel tired or weak at all as I burst into tears of joy when I first entered the park, drank butterbeer, explored the castle, rode the rides several times, and shopped in Hogsmead. I was dead-tired at the end of the day, but ready for another fun day in the morning. We went back to the Wizarding World and checked out the rest of Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios before flying back home three days later.I had so much fun that I almost forgot I had mono!

Mono slow me down? NEVER!

 September quickly left and ushered in October. By the middle of October, I was starting to feel like my old self again. I had more energy and got tired later in the day, instead of later in the morning. I was still putting up with endless colds, but at least I had most of my energy back.  I had fought the fight against mono and finished what I thought was the race, but I had no idea that I had only finished the first couple laps of the race...

TO BE CONTINUED!!!