So, there I was, sitting in lecture. There were 400 students surrounding me and cold season was starting to kick in. All around me was a chorus of sniffles, coughs, slobbers, wheezes, and that oh-so-attractive sound that resonates from noses when snot is being forced out of nasal passages.
I was utterly disgusted. I could literally feel germs spreading from seat-to-seat, through the air, onto clothing.
However, I felt smug and confident that I wouldn’t get sick. Those wimpy coughs couldn’t penetrate my immune system. I don’t get sick. It doesn’t happen to me. I caught Swine Flu, or as the government would like me to call it, H1N1 from my best friend my sophomore year of high school. It cleared my system in 3 days and was more like a cold than a serious virus.
Basically, I have the immune system of Superman.
And, apparently, college is kryptonite.
A couple of days after my first encounter with the cornucopia of germs that is lecture, I started to feel sleepy… all the time. But, not just tired, exhausted. It took what little energy I had to get out of my bed. My lids would hardly stay up throughout the day. I knew I was starting to get sick, but I wouldn’t allow myself to accept it. I took a couple vitamins that I usually didn’t and hoped for the best. I wasn’t about to let the sniffles knock me down.
Then, the weekend came. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go out when I felt a sickness fighting to get into my bloodstream, but hey, it’s Madison.
Parties are basically a petri dish of DNA amassing together. Think about it. Kelly shares a drink with Kim, who proceeds to dance with Josh, who bro-fives Cam, who decides to make out with Shelly, who passes around a bottle of who-knows-what to 15 other people. And it goes on and on. On average, a person will hit up at least two parties…so…that’s a lot of bug manifesting in one night.
And this particular weekend was my immune-system-knockout. I woke up on Sunday with a burning in my throat and goo in my eyes that even the Sandman would’ve been impressed with. I opened my mouth to ask my roommate a question and nothing came out. Oh, all right, see you later voice, I didn’t need you anyway.
I got out of bed and immediately felt like a pile. My limbs hurt, my eyelids were heavy, my voice sounded like I had a tracheotomy, and my throat felt like I was salivating hot sauce rather than saliva.
Needless to say, I went a couple rounds with a cold, and the cold KO-ed me hard.
Now, being sick at home is one thing, but being at college, in a dorm, straight up sucks. I’d sit comfortably in my fairly large bed or on one of the oversized couches in our living room with unlimited Kleenex (the kind with lotion). Usually, my mother would tend to me, making me broth and toast until I was up and running again.
However, I was basically on my own. I bought myself some canned soup and quickly realized I hated the stuff. Regardless, it was all I could really eat and did make my throat hurt less.
My mother called every day and sent me emails, nerve-wracked because of my illness. At one point, she actually offered to come to school.
She lives almost 3 hours away.
It was a Tuesday night.
No, people, she is not a worrywart, but when a kid is sick, I guess it drives a mother to do crazy stuff. Of course, I declined and told her I was just fine, that Campbell’s soup is super delicious, and that I was not behind on my classes whatsoever.
I lived off ibuprofen, zinc, and Nyquil and ended up skipping several of my classes because I was too tired. Let me just say, sleep is easily the best medicine when a person is sick.
Now, I may be being a bit dramatic, it was just a cold after all. However, there is something to be said about the first time being sick at college. It really does suck. It reminded me of how lucky I was to have people that would literally nurse me back to health. Of course, it wasn’t like I was on my deathbed or anything, but I was really forced to be independent and look out for myself in a very different way then I was used to.
I had to be completely conscious of my own health. I know, that sounds bad, but really, how often do college kids actually count the hours of sleep they get or how much vitamin C they consumed that day?
I got over my cold in about five days, which I would like to say is pretty impressive, however, I’m not so confident about my immune system anymore. I made a point to get a flu shot, I’ve stocked up on vitamins, and I always drink several glasses of water a day (apparently that is a great way to keep from getting sick).
All I know is that, after getting sick here at Madison, I completely and totally took for granted the broth and spaghetti noodles my mom always used to make me.
Thanks, Mom.
Campbell’s chicken soup really isn’t so bad, though… I guess.