Pleurisy deniability
It started with nothing. A speck, a miniscule irritation. I drank some water. I drank some more water. But still, there it was, this annoying little something stuck in my throat. Like that little bit of corn kernel after you've been eating popcorn that somehow comes loose, sticks where it shouldn't and then can't be dislodged. Like an earworm, or the name "Bingle" which until this week, I swear I had never heard before but now can't get away from.
But still, just a little something in my throat. It'll shift in good time. I am certainly not sick. I don't have time to be sick therefore, ipso facto, quod est demonstratum, ergo and any number of other random latin phrases that sound impressive, I cannot, in fact, be sick.
So yeah, I'm totally sick.
There are two very obvious and undeniable things that tell me that I am sick. First, I kept being awoken the other night by my lungs which were being rejected by the rest of my body, which was doing its best to expel them via my throat.
Which is fun, especially when you suddenly realise that there are muscles in your abdomen that you never use and are only aware of when they're spasming out of control. I wonder if having a really bad cough can give you a six-pack? Could a hacking cough be the new Zumba? All you'd have to do is go to one class with an infected instructor and the rest of the programme you can do anywhere, anytime, even while you watch TV!
The second thing that tells me that I am sick is that look. That "stay the hell away from me Typhoid Mary" cringe. And the inevitable comments of the "Geez, that doesn't sound too good" variety.
And I get it, because who hasn't been in a room with someone with a really godawful, meaty cough and thought "Just die, or leave but for God's sake stop making that noise"? As a general rule people don't want to hear each other's bodily fluids, whether they be located in the chest or elsewhere. Generally speaking we're not comfortable being aware of the movement of bodily substances. This is the sole reason for the fake toilet flush. Phlegm is no exception.
But the thing is, I don't really feel sick. Tired from lack of sleep, yes. I little strained in the abdominal region, sure. But sick? Not really. So even though I'm probably infectious (though I have been coughing directly into my elbow, like a good girl) I will most likely make an appearance at work today.
How long I stay depends upon how much wincing I see out of the corner of my eye from my co-workers and how much mental alertness the sleep deprivation leaves me with.
But we all do this, don't we? Usually it's in the early part of a sickness when you are the most infectious, but if you're not feeling terrible enough to make you stay at home then you go in. We hang in there for as long as we can before maybe taking a couple of days off at the end when we've run ourselves ragged and not taken time to recuperate early. Or is that just me?
I'd like to think that everyone else is a lot more sensible than I am when it comes to taking care of themselves, but I strongly suspect that they're not. So do you take your sick self to work when you know you shouldn't? Would wearing a pair of gumboots help?
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I tend to come back on the tail end of the sickness, where I can pretty much make it through the day but go to bed as soon as I get home kind of deal.
Last year after having to deal with plenty of workmates who just toughed it through and passed every known version of flu like rapid fire around the office meant as soon as I knew there was a possibility of me not seeing the outside world for a few days, I went home.
This year my strategy is, when I hear about someone being sick at the other end of the office to be a vitamin c bunny more than usual and hopefully it won't hit me, that and the sickness glare will hopefully do it!
I hope you feel better soon.
I prefer to keep my sickness to inappropriate suggestions on alternative uses for kitchen utensils.
Ha. When I read the title, I immediately thought "If it weren't for your gumboots, where would you be? You'd be in the hospital or infirmary. You would have a dose of the flu or even pleurisy, if you didn't have your feet in your gumboots, da da da dum dum dum ..."
Being a ginga, I don't do illness or diseases. The superior ginga gene kills everything in sight. It's no accident that ginger rhymes with ninja. Actually, that's about the only bonus of having a flaming head of hair. Damn, now I've got Hale and Pace's song "How Absolutely Rotten to be Ginger" in my head. Guess it beats Fred Dagg.
I'm pretty good at not quite taking enough sick time. Last year I had a couple of bad colds (don't mix student & professional flatmates. You just end up getting uni sicknesses), and both times I returned to work a day or so early. It's that idea of "I'm going to get so far behind, even if I'm not 100% yet, I'll get enough done today & prevent myself from being totally overloaded if I'd returned tomorrow/next week"
I see it this way: if I'm capable of dragging my arse out of bed and on to my train, I'm clearly not sick.
I spend winter pretty much constantly sick, it sucks. I have been blessed with a weak immune system. When i lived in crappy flats it was worse, but it's still bad. I eat fruit everyday and get enough sleep but still always get sick. It is due to this fact that i will go to work when i am sick, simply because i have used all my sick days up (genuinely this is, not the 'hey i'll take a sick day coz i feel like the day off' type) and have used heaps of annual leave days for sick days. My opinion on the matter is that if the company helped me out with more the 5 sick days for a year then i would not come to work and potentially make others sick.
@ Louisette #6. The problem with that is that you often feel like you can cope with a day at work, right up until you actually get to work.
Oh, wait, that's just a normal day.
@Cat #4, I'm a redhead. And I can totally bust your theory on that anti-sickness redhead gene.
Break the earworm, try Billy Connolly's "If it weren't for your wellies..." Fighting Scots & Fred Dagg voices in my head, NOOOO!
Paul #3
I have a whole e book of those.... you can get quite creative! :D
oh and Moata- I'm glad you've decided to stay home today. No one wants to the be next plague carrier :)
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I rarely get sick, or perhaps i just work through the first stage of sickness that others would take off to recover and seem to make it through the other end relatively unscathed