Mono

I woke up bright and early at 4:00 in the morning. I don't know why I wake up so early, I definitely don't want to. It just happens. I had been awake for about fifteen minutes when I heard the guest room door open. Jorja came into our room. She was in so much pain. I looked into her throat and her five white dots were three times as big as when she went to bed. Holy cow! I tried to give her some sore throat medicine, but it didn't go too well. I finally gave her a sleeping pill. I was pretty sure she had strep. The second the clock hit eight I called the doctor to make an appointment. They weren't able to see her until 2:30. Jorja slept until 10:30. Once she woke up she was completely miserable while she was waiting for her appointment. She wouldn't eat or drink anything. She finally asked for a cookies and cream Chick-Fil-A milkshake extra thin. Mike came home around lunch time and brought her one. That didn't go well. I think she had two sips and couldn't handle anymore. Mike came home so we could take Jorja's car to the shop. He was really worried that it wouldn't make it down there without overheating. He didn't want to leave it stranded on the side of the road. It did make it to the shop, but just barely. It started overheating a couple of blocks before the shop, but he still made it there.

2:30 couldn't come soon enough for us. We were convinced Jorja had strep. Jorja wouldn't let me look in her throat once she woke up. I asked the nurse when she was taking the swabs if it was still white back there. The nurse laughed, "Oh yeah, I got some good samples." Well, the quick strep test came back negative. We will find out on Monday if she has strep once the longer, more accurate test results get back. They then wanted to test her for mono. They gave her a finger prick to take her blood. They said this test has a lot of false negatives and they might have to send it out for a test that takes two weeks. Well, we didn't need to worry about that. Her test came back positive. The doctor seemed to indicate that she had mono for awhile, at least a week or two. It takes that long for the test to show up positive, if I understand correctly.

Stephanie and Jorja

One of the problems with mono is there is no cure. You just have to wait to get better, and that takes a long time. The doctor said she would be sick off and on for at least a month. She will also be super tired, which explains why she has been falling asleep in class. She can't play any physical sport for at least two weeks after her symptoms stop, or something like that. I guess you have an enlarged spleen and they don't want that to rupture. All they told Jorja to take for this intense pain is 600 mg Advil and 1000 mg Tylenol. I can't wait until this sore throat is gone. This poor girl is absolutely miserable.

The doctor gave me two notes. One for school and one for work. The doctor doesn't want her at work for at least a week. The note for school said, "Jorja Smith was seen today for medical appointment. She has mononucleosis infection. This can cause significant fatigue and illness for up to several weeks. Commonly can have improvement for days at a time (energy-level wise) and could return to school as early as Monday, December 3, 2018, but will not attend school if having fever or significant fatigue. May miss school off and on for the next month, will attend as able." So....this is going to be fun.

I stopped at Smith's on the way home to pick up medicine, then we stopped by Chick-Fil-A. Jorja wanted me to drop off the note. She told me to go inside and ask for Zoe. Madison was at the cashier, which was great, so she got Zoe for me. I gave her the note and told her Jorja would try and get her shifts for next week covered. (That is what Jorja wanted me to tell her.) Zoe said that she hoped Jorja felt better, strep throat is awful. Nope, not strep. I forgot that is what Jorja had told people because we were convinced this morning that is what she had. I told Zoe that Jorja had mono. Zoe's eyes got big and she said, "Oh no. My brother had that and it is just awful." That is good that her manager understands how horrible this disease is.

The doctor told me to try children's Advil and Tylenol because Jorja was having a hard time swallowing anything. She thought this might be easier. It wasn't. Jorja had to take a lot of it and she had a hard time not gagging it up. I don't know how to help her. We tried to take some pictures the one time Jorja was willing to open her mouth. The crazy thing is her throat looks so much worse in real life than it does in the pictures. Jorja said that yesterday she hurt so bad she wanted to cry. Today she just wishes she felt as good as she did yesterday. Today she hurts so bad she wants to die. She can't believe she thought her throat hurt yesterday. Hopefully this medicine will help her a lot.

Jorja

I emailed all of Jorja's teachers. I didn't know if they would see the note that the attendance office will get. I checked Jorja out of chemistry on Monday because she was feeling sick, so she missed that class two days this week already. They had a test today. The chemistry teacher wrote back immediately saying she would work with Jorja and Jorja could do a take home test. This teacher had mono when she was a junior in high school and had to be hospitalized for it. Thank heavens she understands! I also heard back from her Chinese teacher who had mono in high school and her theater teacher. All of them let me know they would work with Jorja. Thank goodness Jorja performed her final monologue last week! She had to sign up for a day, and they are still doing them. I'm glad she picked the first day. Her theater teacher said they aren't doing anything big until after Christmas. Hopefully she won't get marked down on attendance in that class. I emailed Mr. Packer because student government is doing a huge service activity tomorrow. Jorja has been pretty excited about it too. I let him know there was no way she could be there. We started worrying that he wouldn't see the email. Jorja texted him and told him she had mono and wouldn't be able to come. He texted back, "The kissing disease? What about your AP classes?" So.....some teachers are more sympathetic than others.

I spent the rest of the day in my bed with Jorja. Mike and Preston had a sleep over in the basement and Jorja and I slept in my bed. (When I told Preston that Jorja had mono he started giggling and said, "That's ironic." I asked him what he knew about mono. He giggled and giggled and said that you get it from kissing. I asked him how he knew that. He said, "Studio C. The monologues." For the record, we are pretty sure Jorja didn't get it from kissing. Most likely she got it from sharing someone's drink. Like drinking through someone else's straw. She does that all the time. The doctor said you can get it through using the same utensils, sharing food, chapstick, toothbrush. Okay, that's gross, she did not share a toothbrush. She shares drinks with people all the time, so that is why we think that is the most likely culprit. She is not looking forward to being roasted for having mono though. Today was not a fun day. The only fun thing that happened was I got to talk to Rachel for a bit. I took a picture to show her how far I was on Grace's stocking. I feel bad that I didn't get it finished for Christmas. I'm so close! But with Jorja and gingerbread factory coming, I don't see how I will get it done.

Grace's stocking