February was a month I was looking forward to for many reasons: joining new organizations, lots of birthdays for friends and family, and the charming holiday of Valentine’s Day. However, what ended up demanding most of my time last month was being sick. Unfortunately, this experience showed me how much of an impact a disturbance to my schedule can have on me.
It all started with a sore throat, which I didn’t think much of. “What if I just slept with my mouth open?” I thought— “Water and cough drops will make it better.” Oh, how wrong I was. I went through a whole day of classes, and my throat became increasingly sore. Then, I started getting body aches and chills. After what felt like forever, I could finally lie down and take my temperature to find I had a 104-degree fever. It was the first time I had felt this horrible from an illness while at college, and I still had all my work, events, and chores on my mind.
Before attending any more classes, I visited the University Health Services to see what made me feel so horrible. Flu was the answer, and it quickly became more annoying throughout the following week. I had two tests in two different classes that I couldn’t miss, and I still had all four classes I had to attend in one day. Studying takes up a lot of time in my schedule to ensure I understand the material, and being sick was a big distraction. My body felt weak, my throat was sore, and I still had a fever! So much of my time had to be spent resting just so I could make it to the classes I had tests in. While I am glad to have passed those tests, I still think about how I could have studied more and possibly done better.
Finally, it was the end of the week and I was feeling so much better. The following week was a lot of make-up work and studying for all the time I lost from choosing to rest more. Still, that week was so much better. I could go out and be more productive, and I could even go home for my mom’s birthday weekend. Happy belated birthday, Mom! I thought my once-in-a-while flu infection was through and done. And then my throat started hurting. Again.
Despite that, I went to work like nothing was wrong, and as soon as I clocked out, I felt the strongest body chills I had ever experienced. I literally couldn’t stop shivering! I had a 104-degree fever again and made another appointment with the University Health Services the following morning. I was expecting the worst, maybe flu b, or maybe my luck ran out and I got COVID-19 for the third time. But no, it was neither. A somewhat random viral infection is what I caught just about two weeks after I first started experiencing flu symptoms. The viruses had utterly defeated me in the sense that I was just completely weak and could not leave my dorm room for anything, and I ended up missing three tests from this viral infection that wasn’t even the flu!
I felt horrible again, and I felt even worse about how much I had missed in my classes than I had the first time. It took me the whole week to have everything settled with those tests, two of them thankfully being waived and another I did a make-up test for on that Friday and made an A on. As grateful as I am to have made those grades up, I have still fallen behind in my study routine, which has impacted my grades on smaller assignments and my understanding. This is worrying me as more midterms are approaching.
This is not even to mention all of the social events I missed, while arguably less important than my classes, are still a large part of the life I am making in college. I was especially frustrated in the case of the organizations that I had just joined and couldn’t make as many events for because I wasn’t feeling well. Those first events are specific to ease new members into organizations and are so helpful. I am so sad that I had to miss a lot for the organizations I am a part of. I’m very lucky to be able to attend more events now and quickly ease my way into the routine of the organizations I’ve joined that I’ve now become fond of.
Having a busy schedule is something this semester is teaching me to become accustomed to, and as horrible as this experience of being sick was, it was an important lesson for me to see how important it is for me to follow it. It costs a lot for me to miss something, whether it be a class, club meeting, or even hanging out with my friends. Being sick is so expensive socially, academically, mentally, and financially, that I am happy to be over with this flu season and feel like myself again.