Tuesday, February 3, 2009

My Daughter, She Has the Mono AND the Pink Eye

Many of you know that I'm usually MIA on weekends because of my job. Most of you probably haven't noticed that I haven't visited in several days. I may be another day or two, so keep not noticing.


The kids had three snow days last week, which turned out to be a good thing for Maybelline, since she was diagnosed Thursday with mono. She had three really good days of rest, right in the beginning of her illness. Her symptoms began with a headache, then congestion and wanting to blow chunks (who asked which term we preferred for vomit? Was it you, Tranny? I like "blow chunks. I won't use it sparingly). I picked her up early from school last Monday because she felt so bad.

Tuesday I called a nurse friend and asked how to treat Maybelline, since I was ice locked and there really was no getting out. Oh, and my kid had these golf balls in the back of her throat that looked like blistered tonsils (they're hard to make out in the photo below, and she'd just finished an espresso brownie and a frappuccino - sorry. They're just above her tongue, closing in on her uvula). Maybe Karen sent them from PA as a gift? So Maybelline gargled warm salt water every six hours, took ibuprofen after gargling, took NyQuil at night (I believe that a good night's sleep helps cure just
about anything), used the humidifier every night and sucked on lozenges.



Results? She hasn't been overly ill. In fact, I only took her to the doctor on Thursday because of the gargantuous tonsils. One finger prick later and it was confirmed that she has mononucleosis. Nothing severe, but she won another day home from school and more rest (one week total). The doc said that it would take about three or four weeks to heal, stay away from team sports, don't let anyone eat to drink after her, and STOP KISSING THOSE BOYS. Ya.


It's viral, so no antibiotics. Simply treat the symptoms. Turns out she was doing everything just right. I have high hopes that she'll be back to normal in short order if she keeps taking it easy. Yay! That's the good news.

Saturday night, while I was at work, a new development arose. Pink eye. Y'all, I haven't seen pink eye in 30 years, since I had it as a kid. I remember thinking it was really kewl, waking in the morning with my eyes crusted shut, stumbling to the bathroom to wash them off so I could see. Maybelline's isn't that bad,
but the bloodshot look does give the crazed killer impression (see photo at the top).

Turns out, via the lovely internets research, pink eye is often caused by a viral infection. Something like mono, maybe? The immune system is low and prone to it. So we've all begun a vitamin C routine. And there's a lovely soothing remedy which seems to make an immediate difference - again, thank you internets. Chamomile tea bags, moist and cool, laid on the eyes for ten minutes. Maybelline was startled at the drastic difference the first time she tried it. Redness was greatly reduced immediately and she was all smiles.

The really ugly side to pink eye is the amazing contagion that it is. None of us
will look Maybelline square in the eye for fear of catching it. She carries the hand sanitizer with her all over the house, as well as the can of Lysol spray. She washed all of her bedding in hot water, as well as her towels, and Lysoled her bed and pillows. We don't know what else to do. My cousin suggested quarantining her and sliding her food under the door. I suggest that once you're done reading this post you Lysol your keyboard. And screen. It's that contagious.

Over all, the pink eye's about as bad as the mono, which is to say hardly noticeable. But it's still very contagious. And we're still very vigilant. She went back to the doc today and is now using antibiotic drops. Woo. And another throat culture, to
rule out a staph infection (the tonsils are still swollen).

The photo you see at the top is her eye. Her evil, bloodshot eye. Reminds me of the time we had a corn snake and the kids had to feed him live white mice. The only way they could justify rapping a mouse on the head and feeding a live mammal to a snake was because the mouse had red eyes. It made it evil. Where do kids come up with this crap? The world may never know.


ANYWAY ... I'll have Maybelline home again today, and maybe I'll actually catch up on some sleep. So we'll visit tomorrow? And Thursday - ahhhh, Thursday. Snooty and I will be celebrating the joy which is a colonoscopy. It'll be a long week, folks. I just hope that yours goes better than mine.

Oo! Gratis snow shot Maybelline took on the way to the doc last Thursday!


Until I write again ...

Flea

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Muhahahaha! Evil Maybelline. >:D

Get well soon.

Anonymous said...

Poor Maybelline! Mono sucks. My son had it last summer and the summer before. It took him out for weeks and weeks. So I suggest that you count her absences in terms of weeks instead of days. I'd get them to send her school work home as part of the hospital and homebound program.

I always thought pink eye was cool too - it gave that orally retentive part of me an outlet. LOL

Laura ~Peach~ said...

hope you feel better fast mabelline... once you have mono you will always test positive for mono... cory had it when he was 6... rest loads of rest

ewwww on the prep for the colonoscopy....

Ellen said...

Get well to you daughter. My son had it in the fall. At a rowing regatta (he's in college) he approached me, turned his head, pointed to the lymph nodes sticking out of his neck and asked me if it was something serious. Duh. Of course he had been to the health clinic at school twice thinking he had strep. Needless to say, he rowed two races that day. And two days later, after the blood test and diagnosis, he saw a doc at the clinic who seriously considered putting him in the hospital. By that point, he was passed the worst of it, but needed five more weeks of rest with no rowing. Of course, he came home at the end of the semester with bronchitis, which he had over finals. Poor kid.

I hope your daughter's recover is much quicker and with less complications. Thank goodness she is home and you recognized the problem early.

Karen said...

Poor Maybelline. Like just being a teen isn't hard enough sometimes.

Daryl said...

Mono sux .. pink eye sux 2X as much because you can SEE it ... ugh ... and in my next life I will be a medical professional since I told you the same thing the internets and MDs did and my advice was cheaper...

Feel better soon Ms Maybelline .. cheer yourself up considering all the new cosmetics you will need to replace the ones you had to toss because they were tainted ...

Mental P Mama said...

When it rains, it pours. Get well Maybelline!

Anonymous said...

Poor Maybelline! Poor Flea...

At least you're doing everything right. And those tonsils look similar to what Girlfriend had going on before hers were harvested. Yikes!

I can't use lysol, so I'll just go wash with antibiotic soap.

Cynthia said...

I had pink eye when I was in high school...no fun:(

abb said...

I can personally avow that pink eye is the pits! Double pink eye even worse.

Jan Parrish said...

Mono is really awful and takes a long time to get over. I hope she is feeling well soon. Lots of rest is what she needs.

Gorgeous snow picture!

Debbie in CA : ) said...

I'll be praying for y'all (especially Miss M).

Nice Snow Pic! : D (I skipped the rest of the pics -- too early for me, the delicate one.)

Weezee said...

Poor Maybelline! I had mono when I was in my 20's not fun! BTW that's the last time I read your blog while I eat lunch. The blowing chunks thing did me in.:)

Mom Knows Everything said...

I hope she gets well soon!

Lori said...

Feel better! Off to wash my hands...

Karen said...

Oh sweet Maybelline, sorry to hear you are sick.
Flea- Hope the rest of you stay healthy.

Egghead said...

I hear you. My middle daughter had mono in eight grade and it seemed to take forever to get over. Poor Maybelline. Feel better soon.

Snooty Primadona said...

Ugh! SO sorry Maybelline has the pink eye & mono. Both my kids had both of those in Jr. High School. That seems to be a breeding ground for virus type illnesses.

Here's hoping she gets over it as quickly as possible. Then, I think you may need a rest.

;-)

Anonymous said...

Yuck...Feel better Maybelline!!Rest and rest.
Your snow shot is great!

Daisy said...

Ug. Mono and pink eye together? I vote for quarantine.

Krista said...

She must have caught mono all the way from this side of the country! There have been a lot of teens lately with mono here. For pink-eye, I always used colloidal silver. You can probably find info online but it's great! She could probably gargle and ingest some.

Karen Deborah said...

You do know about having an enlarged spleen with mono right? which is why you rest a lot and avoid sports or anything else that can rupture that puppy.
Pink eye stink eye, yeah I am sanitizing my key board right now it IS that contagious!!

Kidzmama said...

Yuck. Yuck. Poor kiddo. Poor Flea. When your kid is sick, no matter the age, it just sucks. So much for that mother/daughter bonding. You should probably borrow some of those surgical masks from work and hand them out to family members!

Good luck.

~ Straight Shooter ~ said...

Pink eye AND mono - That really blows!
Here's hoping your week isn't as long as you have planned...
Double UGH!

Robin said...

Pink eye, mono and a colonoscopy? Geez, you guys really are having quite the party week...

Feel better Maybelline, and clean colon vibes to whoever's getting the roto router treatment.

imbeingheldhostage said...

that was me (the classy gal asking for different ways to say puke)-- wow Flea, I could have gone all day without those pictures. It made my eyes and throat hurt!
Poor Maybelline, I hope she gets the rest she needs-- I know that mono has a long recovery time, I just hope she beats it quick.
I'm so sorry!

Anglophile Football Fanatic said...

Oh, the poor thing. That's doubly miserable. I hope you are taking excellent care of her.

Anonymous said...

Flea, you HAVE to stop being such an overachiever. Trying to upstage everybody with such a crappy week is just rude.

;)

Healing energies coming your way...after I wash my hands, of course.