The Mumps: Day 4

Yesterday ended up not being so bad. Most of the pain was gone, except for sporadic ear aches. The only "real" problem was that it seemed to be spreading to the other side of my neck. Well, I woke up today and both sides are completely swollen.

I have found that the hardest part of this whole thing is staying positive. I'll go several hours without seeing myself and feeling almost no pain, then I catch a glimpse of myself and the self-esteem spirals down. I still hope that it will eventually go away but when it lasts this long and seems to be getting worse, it's hard to think that things will go back to normal. The irrational thoughts can begin to consume me. All I can do is just go to bed every night and hope that tomorrow it will be different in a positive way.