At the very beginning of December (December 2nd to be exact... the day after Taylor's birthday), Parker came down with a sickness... he had a high fever (101-103) for 2 full days. He was nauseas and was vomiting some. He had a bad headache. His throat hurt. I ran him to urgent care the second evening of these symptoms, fully expecting for him to test positive for strep.
They tested him for the big 3 (flu, strep, and covid) and all were negative. I was then waiting for the "it's a virus, it'll run its course" message. Before he left, the doctor said, "You know, I'm going to test him for mono. There have been some cases in this area lately. His lymph nodes aren't swollen so I'm almost positive he won't have it, but I'll check just in case." The nurse pricked his finger and told me the test would take 5-8 minutes to run.
Within 2 minutes, I heard the doctor outside go, "Are you KIDDING me?" He came in about a minute later and told us Parker's mono test was immediately positive. Eek.
I thought mono was just something that exhausted you. Well, it is... but it's so much more. Your fever can last up to 14 days (Parker's lasted about 6 days without ceasing, and then was on and off for a few more days). Sore throat, headaches and nausea are very common. One of the biggest things that I didn't know about was that your spleen enlarges with mono. Parker was told he couldn't do anything physical until his spleen went back to normal, as the chance of his spleen rupturing if it is hit/run into/touched hard is very high. That really stunk, because Parker is super active, and this meant no PE or basketball until he was cleared to play.
Two days after he was diagnosed, I got home from school and Parker was on the couch, moaning. His stomach was hurting him badly. I called a medical line, and the doctor did a facetime call with us. She had me push on his stomach in different places, and was concerned because where his stomach hurt him was where his liver was. Apparently, mono can also cause hepatitis! She told us to go to the ER to have them check his liver and spleen enzymes.
So, off we went... the wait was long, and he was in a lot of pain. When he got back to a room, the nurses and doctors were great. They tested his blood and felt around his abdomen. His liver was a little larger than normal, but blood did not show hepatitis. His spleen was still enlarged, and the doc said that when things get bigger, they shift your organs around in your abdomen, which causes a lot of pain, nausea and vomiting.
Luckily, we were sent home and given a prescription of zofran to help with his nausea.
So... this process has not at all been fun for him, but he did get cleared over the break to be able to play sports again. He gets winded very easily, so his coach is taking it easy putting him in games. They said that his exhaustion can linger for up to 6 months!
Since we found out he had mono in a kind of flukish way, I am putting a PSA out there... if you or your kid have some of these symptoms, have them check for mono! The spleen issue is super concerning for active people, and the thought of kids running around and being active with a potentially enlarged spleen is scary.
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