I had mumps in college – here's what it was like - The Herald-News

[Photo provided]

I woke up on New Year’s Day 2017 with an excruciating pain in my jaw and cheeks. In my gut, I knew. I had spent New Year’s Eve with a large group of friends, and many of us stayed at an apartment together in downtown Chicago that night.

Panicked, and not wanting to be in such close proximity to those with whom I was supposed to ride back to Missouri, I walked to the nearest Walgreens and bought gloves, disinfectant wipes and the most important item we had learned from the Mizzou outbreak – a mask. I called my parents, and, through their help, was able to buy an Amtrak ticket for that morning. In a cab rushing to Chicago Union Station, I was certain to wipe down anything I might have touched, and then got on the train wearing my mask.

Back in St. Louis, I got in my car and prepared to drive back to Columbia to see a doctor, but the pain was unbearable. It was so swollen that I had trouble moving my neck without pain.

I stopped at an urgent care in the area, where after seeing my mask and finding out what the condition might be, I was whisked back into a room to wait away from the public.

Staff later brought in a few rounds of doctors and nurses to use my case as an education tool for diagnosing. My case was extremely severe, and I had it in both cheeks. Since the urgent care was in St. Louis, they knew of the outbreak, but I was the first patient at their practice with it on both cheeks.

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