This winter, there are a lot of sicknesses going around the state of Iowa as well as the US. Seasonal Influenza A & B, RSV, and COVID-19 all have been running rampant around the Drake University Campus since the beginning of the Spring 2025 semester. Around the beginning of February, I began coughing frequently whenever I was being active or moving about town. This was really common for me as a child since my lungs could not handle the cold air as well (thanks Asthma!), but this hasn’t happened in several years which caused me to be a little confused and concerned about what was going on. Since I had thought this was normal, I went to the Clear Lake Kite Festival and had an amazing time! The bright colors in the wind against the frozen background of the lake were stunning! At that point, I thought I was starting to get better since the air was slightly more humid and fresher than the city air in Des Moines. However, that was not the case for the weekend afterward…
Throughout the next week, my coughing continued to get worse and by Thursday evening I had chills and a fever. I did not know where I got this illness since I have only two in-person classes on campus, an internship where I work alone, and an office job where I have my own space. I have very little contact with anyone outside of those locations. I ended up staying in bed for the next three days because I was so exhausted. The only time I left my apartment was to go to Unity Point Urgent Care to see what was going on. The doctor I met with was very helpful and even got me a new inhaler prescription when she learned that mine had expired. She suspected that part of my coughing was due to my Asthma and sent in the prescription. In that visit, I did several tests to see what was going on including COVID-19, Flu/RSV, and a chest X-ray for Pneumonia. Unfortunately, none of these tests showed any positive results which I suspect was due to such early testing and the chance that the bug can’t be detected that early on. I also received a nasal swab to test for Bird Flu since there have been a few cases recently of humans contracting the virus. I wanted to do this test because I have an amazing internship right now with Iowa Bird Rehabilitation. All of the birds I work with have tested negative for the Bird Flu, but I still wanted to take the test as a courtesy to the birds I work with as well as the volunteers! Thankfully this test was negative as well!
The hardest part about getting sick was the timing.
Since I am an independent adult, I have to rely on myself and my income to stay afloat in Des Moines. Yes, my parents help here and there, but I mainly handle my expenses on my own gas, food, and medications. I got sick five days after returning from the Clear Lake Kite Festival and since I went to the doctor on Friday and did not get my test results till Monday, I could not go to work that weekend. I had a tough time coming to terms with missing work two weekends in a row which meant I did not work for a whole pay period at this job. I was worried about how I was going to take care of my expenses for the next two weeks after I was sick until I was able to get paid again. This is the reality of young adulthood that I was not ready for.
Now that it has been almost two weeks since I have recovered from being sick, I have been able to go back to work regularly to make up the time I missed. I was not prepared at all to take care of myself while I was sick nor was I prepared afterwards. Although I was only contagious Thursday through Sunday, I was still exhausted until the next weekend when my body had fully recovered.
I highly encourage anyone who is reading this to put together a small bit of savings as a precaution!
Having some money set aside for unexpected things like getting sick is super important in today’s economy, especially for young adults who are trying to go to school and work at the same time. Due to my class schedule, I cannot work full time yet which makes my paychecks that much smaller. If I had set some money aside previously in case this happened to me, my mental health and stress levels would be significantly lower. Needless to say, I have already started a new savings plan in case this happens to me again. I take a few dollars out every week to set aside for emergency needs in the future. It’s not much right now, but it will add up!