I recently got sick, and as a college student, y’all know how detrimental that can be to your grades, physical health and mental stability. I got sick on a Monday, and I’m going to explain how that one day followed me for the rest of the week.

The Sunday before that, I started to feel ill, but alas, I had homework to do, so I couldn’t rest. I tried to finish my homework. I was ready for bed at 10:30 p.m. for the first time ever, and it only took me getting sick. I watched some TV and then went to sleep. I slept terribly, waking constantly with my throat bone-dry and my body aching. 

Monday was the worst of it, but even with my 104-degree fever, the worst part about being sick was knowing how much schoolwork I was going to have to make up. Any time I was awake, I was emailing my professors, letting them know I was ill and I’d have that assignment finished whenever I could. 

I woke up Tuesday after sleeping through two of my classes and feeling just alright enough to go to class. My stomach was still shot, so I managed to eat two chicken tenders for lunch and head to my last class. I got through that class, which was a relief. Only five more classes to catch up on.

I basically went through the rest of the week like a zombie. I still wasn’t feeling well, and my sleep schedule was destroyed from sleeping 16 hour days. I would have school all day, and any free time in the day went to catching up on assignments. At night, I was up doing current assignments and getting even less sleep. I think three people told me in the span of two days that I looked “rough.” 

I know it sounds crazy and you’re wondering why I just didn’t go to the doctor. It’s because I knew what that meant– expensive medicine and staying home from school for days, missing even more school. 

These days, a student can’t afford to get sick. I’m lucky enough to live with my parents and be under their insurance, but what about students who take care of themselves? What about students with kids? 

Even getting a doctor’s excuse doesn’t really help. Yeah, you have more time to do the assignments, but now you have twice the work. Also, a lot of professors don’t care about the doctor’s excuses and just tell you that you should’ve done it earlier. 

I also had to catch up with work. I was falling behind on a story about something that happened to me. It was really ironic that the thing that prevented me from doing the assignment was the thing I ended up writing about.