Welcome Back, Leslie!
 

Just wanted to say that we are glad you're back (as I'm sure you are happy to be back)! Tell us all about our new Alpha Gam pledges!

Leslie and Katey
 

Hi,

Sorry not to tell you sooner, but I am in A2 and will be here until Wednesday night. Hope to see you if If you have time.


Tonya

In More Ways Than One...
 

Thanks Maria, it is great to be back!!! ...well, sorta back...on Sunday, we went back to the house after bid day and everything was great! I got to see the house for the very first time (it's amazing!!!), got to meet a bunch of the new girls, and just had an amazing time being back.

Well, unfortunately, I had been rather sick during recruitment. At first, I convinced myself that it was just the stress of school and the heavy Rho Chi/Recruitment workload, but I had been vomiting since Friday, had headaches, fevers, and chills. So, then I decided I must be coming down with a flu bug and said to myself "don't worry, you'll take it easy next week."

Very early Monday morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom and threw up again! I decided to just sleep on the futon in our living room because my room is downstairs and I have a loft and I didn't want to be diving down and running to the bathroom if I got sick again. Needless to say I didn't go to class and I slept most of the day. At some point I ended up back in my room on my own futon.

To make a very long story a little bit shorter...sometime later that night my roommates came home and called out to me and I wouldn't wake up, they came in my room and went to shake me and I was burning up, I had vomited on myself, the floor and my futon and didn't seem to realize it, and when they finally woke me I didn't know who I was and I had a temperature of 104.7.

They got me up, changed my clothes, got my neighbor to come out and carry me, called my parents, and took me to the hospital. I was so bad off they took me into the emergency room almost immediately...but not until my delerious self tried to answer insurance questions and told the lady at the desk the my social security number was "8 'o clock" (which is the new favorite joke in my house). They ran every single test imaginable, including a spinal tap. Let me tell you that it was good that I was delerious because I am such the biggest pain wimp.

So, I ended up having viral menengitis (which I guess is the good kind to have if your going to get it) and I was hospitalized for three days with an IV dripping endless amounts of fluid into me so that I swelled up like a balloon! I am also now a pin cushion because I have so many needle marks and black & blue bruises!!! It sucked!!! 21 years old and this was the first time anything like this had ever happened to me...no broken bones, no surgeries, no hospital stays ever! To end a long story, even though I just came back to my chapter, I had to leave again already!!! :(

Oh, my God, Leslie! I am so glad that you are (relatively) all right! You are so lucky that your roommates found you when they did.

I will be praying for your very speedy recovery. Don't scare us like that again, okay honey?

Love,
Maria

Maria, thank you! I owe my recovery entirely to my family and to AGD.

Tonya, I wish I could have seen you while you were in town!

Leslie!

I am so glad you are safe now! Thank God your roommates found you when they did! Do you have any idea how you got viral meningitis? I really don't know about it, but isn't it relatively contagious?

I hope you feel like your normal, healthy, energetic self very soon. I will also be praying for your speedy recovery.

Jen

Viral Menengitis is HIGHLY contagious and extremely dangerous. As soon as I read your symptoms I knew that is what it was because two years ago a girl that I pledged with, her blood sister got it. It can literally kill you, cause brain damage, it makes people have to have amputations, and rehab for a long time. That is a serious illness to have and although it is sad, it is completely avoidable. THere is a shot you can get to protect you, and it is found mainly on college campuses. Anyone who had been in contact with you for forty eight hours needs to get innoculated. I mean people that you drank after, laughed or coughed on, kissed, etc. Close encounters, not the guy you sit in front of in math.
I only know because my pledge sister told us all and we learned a lot. With a case of it, it can spread rapidly and if you don't know the warning signs, many people just shrug it off as the flu and that lets it progress until you may have brain damage.
COnsider yourself lucky.
I am so glad that you are okay, and thank all of your sisters for taking care of you for me!
Loyally Sarah
PS TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!

Just to clear a few things up...

Viral Menengitis is not contagious, but Bacterical Menengitis is. I know that you contract it through sharing drinks or kissing, etc. but I don't really understand how some people catch it and others don't. I think your body has to be suseptible (sp?) to it...and with all my stress from classes and rush I was an easy target.

Like Sarah said, it is highly spread on college campuses and easily mistake as the flu (I did the same thing). The symptoms are just like the flu - coughing, sneezing, throwing up, fever, headaches - but the neck pain is what sets Menengitis apart. That was the only symptom I didn't have.

I was very lucky, but I encourage everyone to be extra careful so that this doesn't happen to any of you!