Hillbilly Elegy

system. She asked the right questions,
got annoyed with doctors when they
didn’t answer directly, and made sure I
had what I needed. I spent two full days
in the hospital as doctors emptied five
bags of saline to rehydrate me and
discovered that I had contracted a staph
infection in addition to the mono, which
explained why I grew so sick. The
doctors released me to Mom, who
wheeled me out of the hospital and took
me home to recover.
My illness lasted another few weeks,
which, happily, coincided with the break
between Ohio State’s spring and summer
terms. When I was in Middletown, I
split time between Aunt Wee’s and