New case of Mononucleosis just in time for recruitment
 

My daughter was diagnosed two days ago and rush starts in 2 weeks. It’s possible she’ll be recovered. It’s also possible she’ll still feel rotten occasionally, exhaust easily and have occasional fevers.

I’ve consulted two doctors and they both say she can go to college and participate in rush as long as she takes it easy when she needs to in order to prevent a relapse.


As far as her being contagious, both doctors say as long as basic hygiene is observed (no drinking or eating after each other), the other girls, including her roommate, will be fine.

• Should I let the recruitment folks know?
• Is there a chance they won’t let her rush?
• Is it possible to make accommodations for her – try to get her out of the heat, find her a place to rest when not at a party, etc.

Knowing her, I think she’ll be able to be “on” when she needs to be during parties, but I do worry about the heat zapping whatever strength she has.


Any advice is welcome. This is uncharted territory for us and we don't know what to expect. I am in a sorority and remember how intense and exhausting rush is. The mono part is a real monkey wrench.

How large of a rush is this? i.e., will there be hundreds of girls in small rooms? (I'm guessing the answer is yes since it starts before school does.)

about 1500 rushing at a school that's about 30 percent greek. Large state school.

Yes, what?

Close contact doesn't spread mono. It's very unlikely you'd even get it from a sneeze. It's much, much less communicable than a cold. You've got to kiss or drink after an infected person to get it.

I would tell her to at least give her Recruitment Counselors a heads-up that she's been sick, so they can keep an eye on her in the heat and have water or something on-hand for her.

That kind of recruitment is exhausting in the best of circumstances and health, and it would be better for her to know what her options are before beginning the process and to give Panhellenic the time to consider the problem before recruitment starts. (Chances are the recruitment counselors know what to do when someone becomes ill during rush, but don't get the benefit of advance planning.)

I'd encourage you to have your daughter call the Greek Life office tomorrow. It's a great chance to encourage her to take responsibility for her health care, and she may even learn some stuff that puts her ahead of the game when classes start. If she calls, it will probably also be easier for her to remember whom she talked to and what the resources were, rather than leaving you in the middle of the loop.

ETA: Even if they do decide to discourage her from going through this year, it's probably better that you figure that out earlier than later and that it comes before the experience has a bad effect on her health.

yes, have your daughter call her campus greek life office tomorrow. it will be good to let them know, so that the recruitment counselors can look out for her. if it is possible, she should try to rest every time she gets a chance, even heading back to her dorm room for a quick nap, if she has enough time. and of course, she should rest, rest, rest, before she leaves for school.

good luck to her and please let us know how she does!

I think this is kind of optimistic about how noncommunicable mono is. I teach high school*, and every so often, we'll have a little outbreak. I don't know that the method of transfer has to be exactly that direct. (Or maybe our kids are just kissing EVERYBODY .)

I'm not suggesting that your daughter will be the mono version of Typhoid Mary at recruitment, especially if she's scrupulously careful about keeping up with and throwing away her own kleenex, napkins, cups, etc, but I think when you factor in the weepiness of some events and how crowded some events are, I suspect there's some measure of risk.

*I don't teach health or science; I just mean that I may have known more kids with mono than the average person.

Don't we have a doctor or nurse in our midst somewhere? I think 2 weeks after diagnosis she will be dealing with side effects but she won't actually have the infection (but I will gladly defer to an expert). I would be more concerned about relapse than spread. She may have to decide that her health is more important than the 8th party of the day, even though she very possibly could be cut from that chapter if doesn't attend, even with the knowledge and approval of panhel.

But I see this as an example of why she should give them a head's up that she hasn't been feeling well. That way she can give them the short version if she decides she's run out of steam and wants to go back to bed. And they may also want documentation from the doctor to ensure no shenanigans.

I agree that the health risk is primarily to the OP's daughter and that they should mainly focus on that. Personally, I'd also want the peace of mind that the leadership knew and was happy to have her participate, both in terms of being able to care for her in an emergency, but also that other people were generally aware and could exercise appropriate caution, however slight it might be.

I certainly wouldn't want anyone identified by name, but it might be great if the recruitment counselors warned all the PNMS that there are always cases of mono on campus, so you should get in the habit of having your own water bottle, etc.

Similarly, it might be a great time to remind the chapters that if you are washing and reusing dishes and utensils, that you need to be using water X degrees hot or X kind of detergent. You'd like to think they are doing it anyway, and I suspect since most houses have commercial grade kitchens that they are.

Even if the OP's daughter isn't infectious, someone else going through recruitment probably is.

My husband and I both had mono is college. (No, we didn't know each other...different schools and coasts. Rest now...vitamins and proteins...fluids and veggies As long as the doctor is ok with this, youth and adrenaline will get her through.

(Remember my daughter had the flu when she went through recruitment...with a fever.)

Holy cow! I was a mess when I had mono in HS, but I also had a bladder infection and strep throat. Then I got hives from the antibiotic they had me on and almost hospitalized me. I was out of school for 6 weeks my junior year. Heres hoping your daughter has not such a bad case. I too would call the Greek Life office, but make sure you tell them the Docs have cleared her to participate. They might want some type of documentation of that. Would also make sure her counselor knows. Hopefully with vitamins, rest and proper nutrition she will be feeling pretty good when recruitment starts. She will need to really pay attention to her body during recruitment.

Good Luck to your dd. Keep us posted on her progress.

BTW... it's "sapping", not "zapping". One of my pet peeves. Sorry.

And good luck to your daughter. I had mono in 4th grade, and even though I can't remember much from those years, I still remember it really sucked.

Several of my favorite Executive Officers have been girls that the chapter picked up as a snap bid because they had dropped out of recruitment due to mono. I'm sure your Greek Affairs staff has been faced with these circumstances many times. Mono is very common among college students.

Having had a daughter that had mono her freshman year of HS, I found that the exhaustion can linger for up to 6 months. I would be very cautious of her over extending herself during recruitement. With advance knowledge, I would think her Rho Chi's could maximize her options so that she makes a match in formal recruitment. She may need to attend fewer than the maximum number of parties in a round to preserve her energy.

I imagine you and her have anticipated her recruitment for awhile and are anixous that this is going to effect her options. Remember that it only takes one match.

I look forward to hearing where she finds her home!

I sincerely hope that you're not suggesting that the Rho Chis should tell her to not attend this or that party because she'll get cut anyway or she'll hate the group...or give her "hints" that other rushees wouldn't get.

The last thing she wants to be known as is "the girl who had mono and got a break she didn't deserve."

Again, I hope I'm misreading and you don't mean anything of the kind.

Been there...
 

I went to a large greek school in the days before we were all nuts about hand sanitizer.

I had mono the summer before my RUSH followed by a type of walking pneumonia. The doc said that I was prone to this because of the mono.

By the time I hit RUSH, as we called it, I was on antibiotics for the walking pneumonia. Aside from telling my RUSH roomie, we had separate RUSH housing for early RUSH, no one really knew. I made sure that I was in bed at 9pm every night. Also, my mom had driven down with me and stayed at a hotel so she made sure that I got fed and relaxed.

The bad thing was that I did not probably socialize as much as I could have and made friends during RUSH. But, I had all of my college time to make up for that! :)

The good thing was that I did not hear all of the tent talk. Between seeing mom at the end of the day and getting to bed, I did not have much time.

And, no, I DID NOT TELL GREEK LIFE. I knew that I would be fine. Again, rest was the key. Worst case scenario is you tell Greek Life a week or less ahead.

I would play it by ear, getting plenty of rest and a liquids. See how things go. Plus, recruitment can be an adrenaline rush anyways.

I really think that she will okay. I hope she is.

Oh, and suck on tons of butterscotch candies for the nasty sore throat that she has. Whole Foods has some nice spray hand sanitizer that is the size of a small travel sized hair spray bottle. Burts Bees makes a similar too.

I hope she gets better soon!!! Let us know how it goes!