Participating in non-stop coughing fits
Attempting to get my forehead so hot I could cook an egg on it
Coughing up blood
Playing games such as: can you stand up without falling over?
Projectile vomiting
Seeing how many times a day I can change my sweat-drenched pj’s
Becoming dear friends with a little guy called Imodium
While I’d been fighting off a bad cough for several weeks, it finally all caught up with me last Thursday. I started to go down hill shortly after noon, and by the time I walked from work to the GO station in the cold pouring rain, completely soaked, I knew I’d had it. I barely made it to the station and am not sure how I drove home. I fell into a feverish sleep that I barely woke up from the next day.
It was Saturday morning, when I started coughing up bits of blood that I ended up going to see the on-call doctor. She prescribed antibiotics to me for bronchitis, telling me while my lungs were clear, I was pretty close to having this turn into pneumonia if I didn’t get proper rest.
Good advice. Bad medicine. Sunday morning I woke after a sleepless night where I held back the coughing as much as possible because of the intense pain in my chest and stomach from the endless coughing fits. Not that I had much energy in my to actually cough. But I had been feeling better in the morning. By Sunday evening, however the antibiotics were having a side-effect party, and I started with violent vomiting. Then the diarrhea. No sleep on Sunday night. But plenty of encounters with Mr. toilet bowl. The poor guy didn’t know which end of me he’d be received with each recurring visit. I think I really confused him.
Monday saw a trip back to my regular doctor, who prescribed a different antibiotic, telling me he has the same reaction to that particular drug and he’d only take that one if he was on his deathbed. I said taking that drug made me feel like that’s where I was.
Tuesday I actually had enough energy to sit up for more than ten minutes without falling over. It was supposed to be a sick day from work as well. But as is typical of my workplace, I ended up being sucked into doing a full day of work. At least it was in the comfort of my own home.
Which leads me back to the fact that I ended up getting an emergency support call on Friday that I dealt with marvelously despite my high fever and inability to sit up straight without being propped up by something. And similarly, I had to answer support calls on Monday as well.
It makes me wonder if I’m so damn important to the company that they couldn’t possibly live with me being off sick for a couple of days why they couldn’t consider paying me more. Oh, I know, because on my PA, my boss will bring up the fact that I had the gall to actually call in sick, but never remember or note the fact that I’ve yet to take a SINGLE sick day without getting a call at home for some emergency that I have to fix.
It all makes sense now. At least in the remnants of my feverish haze.
4 comments:
If I didn't feel so sympathetic, I'd say the projectile vomiting part was TMI... LOL
Glad you're feeling better finally... hope you documented those "at home" calls to point out to your boss when he brings up an absence.
So why is it that you're allowed a certain number of sick days, but penalized if you actually use them?
how awful! i was certainly wondering. glad you are on the road to recovery. as for your boss i think youneed to go sneeze or cough right in his face, sheesh.......
Hope that you get completely well soon!!! and btw...You deserve a HUGE raise!
take care and hugs
Hey, dude. Sorry to hear about your truly dreadful sounding illness! Not to mention the whole work silliness. Typical. Well, I hope you're much better now.
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