University life for freshers (2019/20) - Christmas backpacking (or not) and festive homecomings with all the tinseltastic trimmings!

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Previous thread.

Sorry to hear about all the illness around. Wishing everyone a healthier new year. Dd has been fine apart from a rash around her mouth. I'm hoping that she'll find time to go to the doctors at some point if it doesn't clear up soon. I'm taking her back on Wednesday, and whilst I'll miss her, it feels right. Honestly, I'm happy that she loves it so much and is so close to her flatmates, having heard so much about the alternative.

@Jano69 how is your DS today? DD managed work yesterday, got home and ate some dinner but felt cold. I could see her neck glands without feeling! Went to bed in a hoodie with a hot water bottle.She’s woken up this morning having stripped it all off in the night, feels sick etc. Not sure whether to go go back to GP tomorrow or let it run it’s course as NHS info seems to suggest it will be about 4 days. I’m back to work tomorrow(school so can’t take time off) so DH will have to do the honours, though he looked surprised this morning at the suggestion. She’s gone back to sleep now. Does anyone have experience of tonsillitis coming back a week after antibiotics?

Your poor DD Benji. Children are still a worry no matter how old they are.

DD has passed her virus on to OH now. We have cancelled meeting up with friends today as he isn't well enough and DD is concerned about how little revision she has been able to do over the holidays. Although she managed to do loads last night.

I am driving her back tomorrow.

Oh dear Ginfordinner and Benjispruce - it's like having toddlers again with so much sickness.

DS almost certainly has glandular fever but should be at the back end of it now. The problem is his body's reaction to the penicillin. His face is swollen and his body looks like it's been severely sunburnt. Apparently this is a classic response to being incorrectly prescribed antibiotics for glandular fever. So we wait for his body to rebalance and the steroids to take effect. I doubt he'll make it back to Durham this weekend but we'll see.

Benjispruce no words of wisdom for you I'm afraid but definitely worth getting an emergency appointment at the GP tomorrow to be sure.

Sounds awful @Jano69 hopefully as you say he’s at the back end now. Went to a pharmacy this morning and they advised using 111. Just rang them and they’ve got DD an out of hours appointment for this afternoon. I’m impressed as never used it before. She’s feeling slightly better than earlier now paracetamol has kicked in.

@Jano69 what were his symptoms of GF?

Oh gosh @Jano69, @simbobs, @Ginfordinner, so sorry to hear your DC are so ill. Hope they havent got GF.
DD called 111 in the summer and got an appt at 2am (she rang at midnight) got a prescription, etc. Easier than getting a GP appt.

Benjispruce, DS's symptoms started with a bad headache/migraine followed by severe exhaustion and the need to sleep lots. No coughing or sneezing but a sore throat developed on day 14. Severe muscle ache. Loss of appetite and a general feeling of being completely and utterly unwell. Many cases go undiagnosed and apparently it's a common illness, particularly effecting those of university age. We only really learnt he had GF when his body reacted to the antibiotics with the rash which is a tell tale sign. 111 is very good and we've used it twice this weekend alone, although the service has had a terrible write up in today's Sunday Times. Do let us know how this afternoon's appointment goes.

Thank you bigTillyMint.

Right, that does sound nasty. DD hasn’t had those kind of whole body symptoms. Hers is all ear, nose and throat.Appetite has been fine which I take as a good sign especially with a bad throat. A colleague’s DD has GF last year, she was so ill at uni a friend called her mum. I think she had 2 weeks home mid term. Picked up well after a month. Wishing your DS a quick recovery and you some rest.

DD seems to be feeling a bit better today. She has made a cake for one of her flatmates for his birthday, and is now doing some more work.

She was so sleepy yesterday that she didn't feel awake enough to work until early evening, but then made up for it by working all evening.

My DC not ill. DD at airport on the way back , DS was to be going on a train at 3pm, but trains cancelled and only a rail replacement service with 2 changes and taking twice as long. Guess who's driving? Sigh! Still, it will stop me feeling sad about not seeing DD for another 8 weeks.

GF is so difficult to diagnose, symptoms vary. Eldest DS came home with it first xmas. The GP was on the ball, the only thing you can do is rest, rest, rest. So no exercise or overdoing it by nights out. Three weeks of doing nothing but take it easy. Tis amazing for weight loss DS was a bag of bones at the end of it.

My daughter got sick partway through last term and the doc tested for glandular fever and tonsillitis, here called mono and strep throat. She didn't have either thank goodness, and she bounced back pretty quickly.

She's just headed off to the airport to fly back to Chicago. She's been really good company while she's been home (this is not always the case) and we're all going to miss her. The dog looked particularly bereft!

No coughing or sneezing but a sore throat developed on day 14. Severe muscle ache. Loss of appetite and a general feeling of being completely and utterly unwell.
I'm going through this at the moment, but it isn't THE glandular fever as I had that at uni.

I wish dd didn't have to go back, I didn't realise how much I've missed her until she came back. She said the other day that it's like having two lives which don't meet, and I remember feeling like that too.

I also wish the course hadn't set so much work for her over the holidays. They have exams when they go back, but she had a project to do which has taken ages. She could have done with a break.
She's worrying about a couple of the subjects, that she says she doesn't understand properly. Unfortunately it's exactly the same subjects I remember having problems with (Linear Algebra and Analysis) but I didn't have to pass every exam, just overall, which was a very good thing.
I think though I kind of ignored them and concentrated on doing the ones I could do better as you scored better for whole questions than two half (they did a sum squared mark, so if you got 20 and 10, your total was 400 (20 squared) but if you got 10 and 10 your total was 200 (10 squared plus 10 squared).

We’re lucky skiing in the sunny French Alps . DD brought revision with her and did some this morning . Seems to have finally shaken off her Durham lurgy .

Between the two of them, my DC have had most of the symptoms mentioned as possibly being GF. However, I think they had very different viruses (DD had the headache, really productive hacking cough/cold and very sore sounding upper respiratory tract). Her illness really only incapacitated her for three days. DS had the much more flu-like symptoms which lasted well over a week. We avoided the doctors completely, so no antibiotics here. They are both well now and ready for back to school and university respectively. However, their illnesses did put a damper on over a fortnight of the festive period. Such a pity.

Let's hope that our DC have had their illness for the year and return home fighting fit for their next vacation.

Safe journeys to everyone going back over the coming week. This term is quite a short one, isn't it?

Went to out of hours appointment. Tonsillitis again. Dr said she should have been prescribed penicillin for 10 days, not Clarithromycin for 7! So now a dose down hoping this sorts her out properly. Apart from two prescription charges, the lost holiday time makes me cross. It was a nurse practitioner we saw originally. Think I’ll let the practice know.

Sending get well soon vibes to your DD Benji and anyone else's DC who needs them

Sorry to hear about all the poorly dc. My two are now on their way back. Eldest has a longer than usual journey due to engineering works forcing her to take a different route. Always seems to happen on a weekend when lots of people are travelling

Gutted for you and your DD Benjispruce. Hope the penicillin does the trick.

Thank you to all those who've shared their GF experiences - it's good to know life does eventually return to normal after a long period of rest.

On a lighter note, am I the only one who has been sniffing dressing gowns today after DC have departed? Missing them already. I seemed to spend so long looking forward to them coming home and it was over so quickly.

My DC1 has gone again now. I'm feeling really sad despite two more to go.

How are empty nesters employing their time apart from work?

I find loads to do. I do keep fit classes, don't have to fight for the TV or give lifts. I meet friends, go to the cinema and theatre. DD is looking forward to seeing her friends again. She only saw her local friends a couple of times and needs to go out more.

I love DD to bits, but I don't miss her the way some people miss their offspring.

@simbobs I'll be the same when DD goes back on Saturday. It's been so lovely to have her company for the last 3 weeks but I know she's looking forward to going back to see everyone and get in with her course so that makes it easier to say goodbye