Thursday, February 23, 2006

The Sickness Unto Death Part III

So I'm still sick as a dog. I missed every class this week and will probably miss Seydow tomorrow unless some miracle comes to me in the night. Don't count on that though. I have a high fever again and my throat is closing up so much that I can feel the two sides rub against each other in this kinky, disgusting dance that is causing huge amounts of pain. Yuck.
I went to the Doc again today, and got some blood work done. I want my friends to know I have some huge possibilities of bad sickness or just the usual case of Mono (which yes I hope its that.) Here are the contenders. Place your bets:

(Disclaimer: This may be kinda gross and sharing a lot of info about how I'm feeling, but since no one has asked me much, I figured let it all out before the word comes back. Don't read if you don't want to know. Scroll to the bottom for a message for the queasy and uneasy!)

1. Infectious mononucleosis (3 to 1 odds) - also called "mono" or "the kissing disease" (funny because I haven't been kissing anyone for a good long while)- is an acute infection of the lymphatic system caused by the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). It is usually characterized by fatigue, fever, sore throat, and swollen glands in the neck. However, some mild cases are largely asymptomatic. Early on, vague complaints of "not feeling well," headache, tiredness, chilliness, puffy eyelids, and decreased appetite are common. Later, fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands at the side and back of the neck, and also under the arm and in the groin may appear. The firm, tender glands vary from bean to egg size for several days to a few weeks. A fever for about five days is usual, and may continue intermittently for one to three weeks. Tonsillitis, trouble swallowing and bleeding gums may be present. Some people may develop a rash.

In half of all cases, the spleen, an organ under the left rib cage, will be enlarged. Liver enlargement, under the right rib, occurs about 20 percent of the time. Rarely, yellowing of the skin (jaundice) is seen. In most people, infection with EBV confers life long immunity. (This is important because of the other possible things I may have... read on if you are interested in my battle with healt.)

This is looking most likely. Although I have some other symptoms which we will get to later.

2. Hepatitis A:(45 to 1 odds-- All I have to say is Jesus Titty Fucking Christ it better not be this) is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). Hepatitis A can affect anyone. In the United States, hepatitis A can occur in situations ranging from isolated cases of disease to widespread epidemics.
Persons with hepatitis A virus infection may not have any signs or symptoms of the disease. Older persons are more likely to have symptoms than children. If symptoms are present, they usually occur abruptly and may include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). Symptoms usually last less than 2 months; a few persons are ill for as long as 6 months. The average incubation period for hepatitis A is 28 days (range: 15–50 days).
This is scary because I have most of these symptoms (except im super hungry) and nausea is the biggest thing I have been seeing.

3. Some other liver problems (90 to 1 odds). Doc said it could be something else, but until blood comes back, you can't be sure. Jesus... that is scary.

4. Some other stomach virus (125 to 1 odds)- This is rediculous because anyone who has a stomach virus or even food poisoning isn't sick for a whole month. That's rediculous.

Place your bets. All bets are off as soon as I get the informationi tomorrow from the Doc. If anyone bets on Hep A, I hope you lose.

Click here if you skipped it all.

1 comment:

Werd said...

Yea man, hope you feel better. We miss ya, not least of all because we had to do your section this week.

Put me down for a Jackson on Mono, though I like Stev's thinking. Even though I housed him last night at 'Blor.