DD had it the at the end of her freshman year. Called me from the emergency room, high fever, extreme fatigue, swollen lymph nodes etc. she had actually fainted and was brought to the ER by ambulance, she was finishing up her last week of school and had been trying to push through when it caught up with her. She ended up failing her calc exam, the only one she had left, which meant she failed the class (department policy). She ended up sleeping the entire summer and really only felt better about 2 weeks before the start of school, we thought she might have to take the semester off but she ended up pulling through. My understanding is that it is highly contagious so you’re right about his frat probably not wanting him there at the moment! That was the end of the semester though so it’s really a hard call as to how long your son’s case will last and whether he’ll even be up to going to class, his advisor might have some suggestions or know what options he may have. Good luck to you all, I hope he has a speedy recovery.
Noone with mono should fail an exam. This young woman was very sick. I cannot believe she took the exam! Did she have a dean,.MD or professor helping her with the situation?
And GPA for a hardworking student should not suffer.
Either all appropriate accommodations should be applied- assuming they are sufficient (and yes, as said before, not only through professors but through a dean of some sort) or a medical withdrawal should happen.
Great to hear about the cases that were mild enough, or at least the kids were functional enough to finish. Hope the OP’s son is in that group.
At my institution it is up to the individual instructors to determine how to handle the situation, so if your son could contact his professors right away he might know if he needs to think about withdrawing or not. In a case like this, I would give extensions on everything and allow the student to make up the work after the semester was over by giving an incomplete. Incompletes usually are for a finite amount of time, so if the work isn’t completed by the deadline the grade earned to that point is given. You should be able to read about the school’s incomplete policy in the catalog. Sometimes I advise students who have missed a portion of the semester due to illness or other issues to consider withdrawing from one class so that progress is still made toward graduation, but the workload is slightly reduced.
I managed to get mono just in time for Christmas break. We had exams after the holidays, but two or three weeks of reading period first. Luckily I had a reasonably mild case so just had a miserable vacation. My husband got sick my senior year in the late spring and ended up in the infirmary. He finished up some courses and took incompletes in others. He recovered fairly quickly as well.
[QUOTE=""]
it's more a condition than an illness, but ADD/ADHD is most certainly "real"
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Lol…my post had a typo. I was talking about ADA, not ADD. Sorry for the confusion.
My point is that schools bend over backwards for those who have conditions that fall under ADA, but don’t seem to care when a student has an illness or injury and cannot come to class (in the hospital, contagious, etc).
Stupid that schools have hand sanitizer stations, but demand that kids come to class when contagious to take exams, etc.
I had mono freshman year over winter break. I got sick after i got home, went to the doctor they ran lab tests had mono .I felt miserable for about 1 week. (really really really miserable) started to get better and was all better by the time it was time to go back to college. not the best winter break I ever had. every person /case is different i think it took me about 2-3 weeks to feel nearly up to full speed.
My d had mono her junior year. She got in touch with her professors right away and contacted her work people and the organizations she was involved with to alert them, too. Everyone was really terrific with her. She attended class when she could, but basically that was all she did. That first weekend, we came and picked her up so she could rest at home. She was devastated when she was first diagnosed, but due to how people treated her and let her heal as it happened, it wasn’t as bad as she had anticipated. Her boyfriend actually broke up with her right after she was diagnosed, so that was interesting!
Agree with all who say give it a few days to see how severe your sons case will be.
Some seem to have had very mild cases (I did as well back in the day) and others such as my D are desperately sick for weeks. She had to be on steroids as her throat/tonsils swelled so much, enlarged spleen and exhaustion such that she could hardly walk to the bathroom. As others mentioned she also started to feel better only to have a relapse. Thank goodness she was still in high school and I could intervene more aggressively for her when they started getting all crazy about her missing so many days.
My daughter was diagnosed with mono about 5 weeks ago. We really have no idea how long she had it before being diagnosed. She is better now with just a little bit of fatigue lingering. She had been to the health center two times prior to diagnosis with symptoms that they didn’t pick up on , including low platelet and white blood count.
My son had mono. I think it was junior year. He went to the school’s health center, and they sent him away saying he had a virus or something like that. Some time later, he wound up at the hospital ER, with a classic case of mono. I don’t think he even told most of his profs he had mono. But he may have asked to receive one incomplete and finished something up the next semester.
Mine contracted mono first week of her freshman yr 3k miles away. The whole dorm had it I think. I spoke to the health center, they gave me little info, however, they did email her profs who allowed her to make up tests and hw. She went to class when she could, lasted 5-6 weeks, high fever, climbing up and down her bunk to barf and cough. It was really tough but she toughed it out. Her choice not mine. Another reason I wouldn’t opt for a long distance school. Best wishes for quick recovery OP!
This issue has come up before on another thread and if I remember correctly you can contact the school (start with the Dean’s Office) to find out exactly whom to call. Many school’s will work with student and teachers so that a long term leave does not have to occur). Mono can be quite debilitating and take some time to recover from. I would search previous threads for similar discussions. Good luck!
D had chronic mono off and on for most of college and even now that she’s graduated. It’s exhausting for her. It’s best to see how your kiddo is doing and have the kiddo keep in touch with all the profs from the onset, just in case a medical withdrawal or other options may be needed.
D had mono and strep throat together. in her freshman year. Probably grades slightly lower than would have been. She slept a lot but stayed in school. 1500 miles away, I think it would have been devastating to her to leave school when she did not have to. Granted this could have not worked out as well as it did.
D also had mono and recurrent strep first semester freshman year. At her school to medically withdraw you have to withdraw from all classes. She felt she could cope with a slightly lighter load so opted to withdraw from one class. It was tough. But, she somehow powered through. GPA remained intact.
Remind your son- no exercise and no alcohol. Lots of rest. I spent a lot of time driving to see her -bringing food etc. We also brought her home a few weekends just to rest. It just takes time to get better,
My husband had it in college when we were dating. IIRC, the worst of the fever and stuff was over a week break… I think spring break. When he came back to school, he had lost 10lbs at least and looked like a walking skeleton. He went to class and got his work done and that was about it for the rest of the semester. I still hung out with him, as young people always feel so invincible. Luckily I never had and symptoms and stayed healthy.
Hopefully, your son doesn’t have a severe case.
DD had mono final exam time sophomore year of college. Like many, she was wiped with enlarged spleen. Health services were excellent and did all necessary monitoring (she was a 12 hour drive or 6 hours of air travel and transfers away). Health services notified academic dean. She let her profs know early on, as was suggested by the Dr. Half her profs stated that there were to be no exceptions for health excuses all term. They had expectations of everything done on schedule. When she talked to them, each said how to handle it was up to her, given her effort and attendance. Her decision was to power through, as she had completed her end of term papers previously and only had two exams.She did not want anything to be left hanging over the summer. I don’t think it impacted her grades much. Her majors always required significant papers at the end of the term, so if she hadn’t been a pro-active type, the scenario would have been much different. She followed up with Dr at home and started the summer in a low key way.
Good luck. As people have said, this illness can present with a range of severity.
D came home sick for Christmas break her second year. Yep, mono. Fortunately, we didn’t before taking her to the doctor, and she was on the mend in time to go back on schedule. Still very weak, so I splurged on a limo from Logan to Dartmouth rather than having her take the Coach. Cost about as much as the plane ticket but worth it.
Little update on mono situation: S15 had it; is still recovering a bit; missed a week of classes and few more off and on; had a 3.93 grade point for semester and passed an actuary test in December. It was hard for him; and a grind of sleep and study but we couldnt have asked for anything better.
Now, my 6th grade daughter was officially diagnosed with it last week. Ugh.
Hope anyone else who had it this semester is doing well.
DD, freshman, just diagnosed. Been sick for a week+ but hopefully getting better. Classes start on 1/3/17 (quarters). Yikes.