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THE NARRATIVE ARC
The ‘Kissing Disease’ Almost Killed Me
Mononucleosis threatened my life and changed my perspective
It happened on a Saturday morning during my junior year of college. I felt fantastic when I crawled into my bed on Friday night, but woke up the next day feeling as if a sumo wrestler was sitting on my chest.
I’d just returned to my icy and gray Pennsylvania campus after Spring Break. A phenomenally fun trip spent swimming and letting loose on the beaches of warm, sunny Florida had re-energized me after months of a full course load and a multitude of extracurricular activities. Classes were scheduled to resume on Monday, and my friends and I wanted to suck the marrow out of our last free weekend.
That Saturday morning, my roommate Bethany and I planned to attend the first bridal shower of our group of friends — a rite of passage that screamed of an adulthood I had not yet reached. Mel graduated the year before, served as a mentor and “big sister” to us both, and was marrying her longtime boyfriend in a few short weeks. We’d slacked on buying gifts, so decided to run to the mall as soon as it opened.
After my alarm went off, I waited until the weight in my tight chest subsided and slowly climbed out of bed. When I swallowed, it felt like a thousand…
