Friday, October 02, 2009

Your Turn

All this week I have been sick. What started out as a sore throat has got progressively worse to the point where as I write this I think I am going to have to go to the doctor. To me the doctor is almost as bad as exercising. I remember when I was younger and had sick days I sat around all day and watched television. Now it seems even when I am sick I still have to work. With that in mind, this week I would love for you to talk about what you do on your sick days, or if you have faked being sick to get out of work or the most sick you have been. Some kind of illness story.


56 comments:

  1. When I was little (around first grade), I would fake sick so that I could stay home and be with my mom.

    My most memorable sick day was when I was in my teens and watched the Space Shuttle Challenger blow up live.

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  2. I think the most sick I have ever been was after a serious breakup. I was stressed and my immune system was down and I got the flu, or laryngitis, or something lousy. I ended up not being able to talk or sleep; I spent two of the most miserable days of my life awake. By 3 a.m. the next day, I couldn't stop crying and, since I was broke, just about walked an hour to the emergency room.

    I finally managed to sleep and see a doctor, who assured me I'd be just fine. And I was, after I knocked back a bunch of the T3s he gave me to help me sleep.

    Pro-tip: break down in a doctor's office because of insomnia and you get all kinds of fun prescriptions.

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  3. I always take off work on my birthday.
    I never get sick, so I use my sick days when I'm feeling lazy.

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  4. my dad was a doctor so when i was a kid, if i got sick, it meant an ass full of penicillin. that's the only thing they did back then for sick kids. and if i wasn't well in 24 hours, i got another ass full of penicillin.
    i avoid doctors like the plague now.

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  5. The last time I called off, I was actually sick with mild food poisining. After I took the kids to school, I went back to bed to get some sleep. Between 8:00 am - 11:00 am I got 5 phone calls! The last one being my boss with a question. At that point, I gave up trying to sleep and the phone didn't ring the rest of the day.

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  6. I have actually been off the last two days sicker than a dog...I have had bronchitis for like 2 months now and got on antibiotics again a week ago....I have been working so hard that I ran myself down and ended up with a stomach virus along with the bronchitis.


    Hope you feel better Enty....I know how it feels to HAVE to work when you are sick....but if you keep doing that, trust me you will end up being forced to take time off cuz you get sicker....please try and rest this weekend and FEEL BETTER!!!

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  7. I work in a pharmacy, so whenever I get sick, my boss just shoves some pills down my throat and send me back to work. I get way too consumed by guilt to fake being sick, I end up a nervous wreck about it. It's easier just to go in to work.

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  8. I'm sorry you're sick Enty.

    When I'm sick, I whine a lot and talk about how I hate being sick (as if anyone likes it) and generally feel sorry for myself, even if going to work would have been far worse than lying in bed and being sick.

    In my present job, there is NOOOO calling in sick. When we're sick, we bring a bucket or dayquil or whatever it takes to get us hobbling through the day. There aer only about ten of us who know how to do the job and there is no way that anyone could fill in at the last minute.

    So I whine at work when I'm sick.

    I hope you feel better soon, Enty. I am sending chicken soup with a virtual messenger.

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  9. GladysKravitz what kind of work do you do?

    and that would suck, though I know what you mean...like I said I ran myself to the ground cuz I could not take off.

    I cant be sick just because of how dependent my boss is on me, which is why I was surprised she did not have a heart attack with me being out sick for 2 days....

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  10. like Ms. Cool my most memorable two sick days were watching the shuttle blow up live and seeing 9/11. i was late going in and when that happened..i said fuck it the world is ending, i'm staying home.

    like gladys, i whine like i'm dying and keep saying "i hate being sick" lol, i think we all do this. and i'm a big fan of wallowing. that means no showering or brushing teeth for a day or so and really letting the flu take over for a bit. i know, gross..

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  11. Anonymous12:41 PM

    If I'm home sick, I usually noodle around on the computer, read, nap, and whine about how nobody is waiting on me and where is my go**amn chicken soup?

    The only time I ever pretended to be sick and called in to work - I lived in Kansas City. It was the opening day of baseball season, the Yankees were in town, the Platters (group from my youth) sang the national anthem and Yul Brynner threw out the first ball. It doesn't get better than that. That should have been declared a city-wide holiday! It was a chilly day and thankfully I wore a jacket with a hood, because I had to keep it up and my head ducked to avoid being photographed by the idiot local TV camera man who was constantly panning the crowd, because all I needed was to get on TV in one of those crowd shots and have someone see me.

    I had a girlfriend with worse luck, though, she called in sick so she could go on a job interview. The man she was interviewing with turned out to be her boss's best buddy (legal communities are small and inbred) and after the interview she went outside, started to cross the street, and was nearly hit by a car -- driven by her boss.

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  12. I remember being home when I was little for poison ivy--I had it all over--all over my face, my arms, my legs...there was hardly a spot that didn't have it. Then when I came back we were learning about molecules and the teacher was showing us these models of molecules--the kind where you had little balls stuck together to form the right one. It looked so much like poison ivy that I went in the bathroom and threw up.

    Since then I don't really take sick days. I was sick in high school and ended up with double pneumonia because I didn't slow down. I was really sick with my pregnancies, but I would come in anyway. One of the doctors must have heard me throwing up in the bathroom and he came to me concerned: "are you okay? I heard you crying in the bathroom." lol. I was like, "yeah, I'm pregnant, I wasn't crying, I was throwing up."

    Anyway, I love how working at a hospital they say "IF YOU ARE SICK STAY HOME!!" and then from what I have heard (I haven't had to take sick days) they give you all kinds of crap if you are out. Go figure!

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  13. the last sickness that sticks in my mind wasn't a flu but it WAS a bug. chiggers. and a lot of them. i lost count after 70. the one good thing about it is that it at least took my mind off the small patch of poison ivy i had. the poison ivy itch didn't seem not so bad, like it hardly itched at all. ;o)

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  14. oh, when i was a kid i tried to fake it. took the thermometer and touched it to a lightbulb for a minute. took it to my mom and showed her that i wasn't feeling well and had a temperature. i never read what it said but i can only imagine now. don't know why my mom let me stay home. she just gave me a strange look and said to get in bed. teehee.

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  15. Aside from the sinus infections, strep throat and scarlet fever-people still get that-my favorite sick day story is when I had to close my business for a day because I gave myself a concussion when I hit my head on my freezer door.

    Yes, I am a dork.

    The second runner up in my self inflicted injuries is a tie between putting a hot iron on my leg while ironing-don't ask, my doctor chuckled at me when treating the burn...

    and cutting off a piece of my thumb while preparing Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Eve spent in the urgent care was fun.

    There is quite a few more, let's just say I have more embarrassing moments in my life than I care to remember, although everyone else in my family likes to remember.

    Have a great day everyone!

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  16. The last time I came into my office sick, my boss shouted at me to get out immediately, gave me $20 for a cab, and told me to see a doctor. We take illness very seriously here :)

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  17. I'm actually getting over bronchitis right now. I was out sick on Monday and I did something I never do: I slept all day. Normally when I'm out sick, I'll still work from home so I don't have to use a PTO day. But this week I figured screw it, I need the rest.

    Get better soon, Enty!

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  18. I'm very rarely sick, so I use my sick time when I need a "mental health" day. I usually catch up on tivo, lay in bed for as long as possible, and play on the computer.

    When I was still living at home and in school, we had to be basically at death's door to be allowed to stay home from school. My freshman year of high school I cam down with strep throat and had a 101 degree fever. We were in the doctor's office and he told my mom, "you should keep her home from school". My mom looked at me and said, "You're going to school. The first week is the most important." Nevermind that I had gone to the same school for junior high, so it's wasn't like I needed to learn anything new about where to go or learn the schedule. If you look at my school picture from that year you can tell I was sick.

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  19. I have about 3 mental health days a year when I call in sick and just veg at home.

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  20. When I'm sick, I stay home and rock the bong. I still feel like shit, but I don't care. Highly recommended (unintentional pun)

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  21. When I was 26 I was substitute teaching at a high school and going to grad school. Mono was going around and I was so sick that I ended up in the hospital for a week. I was delirious and my throat closed up and the doctor initially thought I had diptheria or AIDS. My boyfriend (now husband) thought that mono was an STD that I caught from a student. This was 2 weeks before I was supposed to graduate and I had to complete my thesis from a hospital bed but I graduated on time.

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  22. I am a physician, and even though I have flu-like symptoms, the medical director said "you can wear a mask", nevermind the bodyaches and fever.

    In the healthcare field, one has to be practically hospitalized to take 2 sick days in a row. Which is why I'm working today (I did take yesterday off)even though I feel like crap.

    the sickest i've been was when I had gallstones. The pain was pretty bad---and my doctor was stingy with the pain meds. I swear, surgeons undertreat postop pain.

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  23. I am always "business as usual" when I am sick and I just push through it. I am a pretty tough cookie.

    The husband on the other hand, is such a baby when he is ill. He needs constant attention and care.

    Weird how that works out.

    But at least once a year, we both call into work sick and spend the day at Disneyland. Its just such fun to play hookie.

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  24. Oh, Nichole - I feel your pain.
    My mother was insane about not missing any school. Her motto, "Unless you are projectile vomiting or bleeding out-the-eyes - you have to go to school"

    Lucky for me, I was able to get out of school for both:
    A HORRIBLE case of strep combined with a stomach bug had me literally projectile vomiting (when I could even lift my head from the incredible dizziness). I had such a fever I had the craziest hallucinations. Had to go to the hospital.

    And then when I was 14, I found out we where moving, I decided to be a rebel and carve my name into the door frame of my bedroom. You know ... leave my mark.
    Yeah, I chipped a large splinter of wood into my eye. Every time I blinked it produced precious blood tears. Almost lost an eye that time.

    Only two times I ever stayed home from school ... My mother even managed to find a dentist, doctor and orthodontist that either opened up at seven or stayed open till 6 so we didn't miss school for appointments.
    Ugh ... lame.

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  25. I missed my first day of kindergarten because I was barfing sick. I was so disappointed because I had a brand new dress and my mom put my hair in curlers the night before.

    I think the sickest I've been is a flu I had when I lived with my friend. She made tuna for dinner and didn't get it put away before I came out for water. It made me barf. I don't eat tuna anymore! I got so skinny from being so sick it was just gross.

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  26. First time I played hookie was in highschool. A bunch of us skipped & went to the season opener of a Jay's game. Our friend successfully streaked across the field, it was in the papers & we were all so stoked to have been apart of it, we fessed up to the parents. They didn't beleive us until they saw said streaker on the front page of the Toronto Sun.

    For the last 10 years I have given my daughter 3 "love days"/year. She can stay home for no good reason except for some hanging out & lovin. Cuts down on the sick fakery btw.

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  27. On my sick days I usually sleep or hang out in front of the tube on the couch. Which brings me to a question. Anyone else out there automatically feel sick whenever they see a malpractice or technical school ad on tv? I do. It automatically reminds me of being home sick - since they always run those ads during the day!!

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  28. A few years ago I had the flu and it settled in my cardiac nerve, VERY painful, like something huge pressing on my chest constantly.

    Unusual childhood illness? Scarlet Fever

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  29. How ironic; I'm on a sick day right now! Terrible headache that I can't tell if it's from the vodka last night or the dental work yesterday that forced me to drink the vodka.

    I have spent the day lounging on the couch with my boyfriend, eating, and playing video games. In fact, I can hear Guitar Hero in the background and I just want to throw the nearest shoe at his head. Ugh.

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  30. Enty, Feel better soon.
    This was MANY years ago but a good MOM memory so I will share.

    The best time I played hookey was from school which my Mom allowed but the school didn't. My Mom wrote a note:

    " My daughter took a day off from school which was unexcused by you but I allowed. I figure if boys can legally take 3 days to hunt deer in Fall my daughter can take one day to hunt deer(boys) in Spring."

    The unexcused day was Senior Class Day and the entire class but 2 people didn't go to school. The school hated that note but my mom refused to write another.

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  31. Anonymous2:35 PM

    when i was 8, my baby sister climbed up on my bed crying (we shared a room). i asked her what was wrong. she said, with her little speech impediments, "i think i'm gonna be sthick"

    as i proceeded to yell for my mom, she leaned over and threw up in my mouth. we had fettucini alfredo for dinner that night.

    i bring it up most holidays - i figure that if i will never forget it, i'll be damned if anyone else does!!! lol

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  32. I have Crohn's disease, fortunatly I've been in remission since my surgery 13 years ago. (Crohn's is an autoimmune disease that affects the digestive tract). The prior two and a half years were absolutely dreadful. It took 6 months to get diagnosed, I lost 50 pounds and I actually had a doctor tell me it was all in my head. I had to work to keep my health insurance, and I dragged myself to work numerous times so not to jeopardize losing my job. I was hospitalized 4 times over the following 2 years, part of my treatment was prednisone and I would have a flare up when the doctors attempted to wean me off of it. Prednisone is a dangerous, toxic drug that will eventually ruin your liver and kidneys. Luckily, my disease was fairly localized and my doctor suggested surgery.

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  33. @ Chihuahuense don't believe the whole "stay home if you're sick" crap a hospital says.

    I've worked at one for last few years. My doctor has given me excuses to stay home and my boss says "You can't. We're understaffed. You're on an antibiotic. Here wear a mask."
    It doesn't matter how dog sick you are.

    When I asked recently what happens should one of us be unlucky enough to get the Flu my boss said ----"Don't."

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  34. Wasn't "sick" per se, but the shingles damn near killed me.

    In 7th or 8th grad I got Victoria A or B flu (can't remember which, they were both going around), stayed home, got better, went back to school and a week later got it again. Sucked. Delirious fever. My brother found me wandering around upstairs in our house in a daze.

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  35. I'm such a dork, that I call in sick to stay home and finish a great book I started on the weekend and don't want to wait until the next weekend to finish.

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  36. I work from home so if I get sick I still have to work. My worst sick story is getting pneumonia at Christmas. I was working two jobs at the time, it was horrible.

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  37. When I was living in a college dorm, I got bronchitis. This guy from down the hall was looking for me, and he knocked on my door every half hour all freaking day long. Every single time, by the time I woke up from my semi-coma and got out of bed to answer, he was gone, so I had no idea who was knocking to tell them to stop. The next day when he told me it was him, I wanted to kill him.

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  38. I"m rarely sick, so HELL YES I've called in sick when i wasn't. I call that a mental health day, I don't do it unless I am going to be just but$hit crazy if i don't. like when i was sleepless/insomnia for months & finally was close to losing it. i called in slept in felt great and never felt a bit guilty. (worked in a call center at the time *shudder*)

    see the doc, feel better enty.

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  39. When I was a senior in high school I faked being sick and flew to vegas to meet Reba for my birthday. Karma sure kicked my ass because the night I got back from Vegas, I got sick.

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  40. Anonymous4:11 PM

    Like many others, I was home sick from school the day the Challenger exploded. I remember lounging in my parents bedroom watching tv in their bed.

    The worst pain I've felt in life is GALLSTONES. I was in tears for hours one night. There were so many on the ultrasound that the surgeon said, we'll get the surgery done as soon as possible. That was on a Tuesday. By Friday morning, I was in surgery...bless him.

    Like the person/doctor who complained about few postop drugs. Do you know those b*tches gave me Tylenol 3 in the hospital? I was like, "Did I sprain an ankle? No, you cut into me, pulled out a diseased organ, and stitched me up. So, I think more than tylenol is warranted."

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  41. I remember staying home sick from school when I was a kid and watching Perry Mason. Now if I take a sick day, I spend all day trying to find Perry Mason on TV. Its never on. Which makes me sick and sad.

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  42. Hoo boy, where do you want to start? I've had pneumonia for Christmas; an ovarian cyst for New Year's Eve '04/05 (at the stroke of midnight, I was watching the ball drop on the TV in the ER bay, w/my feet in the stirrups while the doctor was up to his wrist giving me a pelvic exam); an emergency appendectomy last August on my brother's birthday; scarlet fever when I was 7; strep throat, flu & bronchitis multiple times (but not all at once!)...the fun just never ends. The sickest I've ever been, and the most I've hurt, is from diverticulitis--it seems I inherited it from my dad's side of the family, which is how I ended up in Mass General Hospital over the 4th of July weekend 1998. (It's fairly common in older people, but unusual in under-50s, and downright rare in under-40s; I was having symptoms from my mid-20s onward, but was only diagnosed at 36. Thank God I had that attack in Boston instead of Athens, GA, where they told me it was just stress and caffeine; MGH probably saved my life.) Spent 5 days on IV antibiotics & fluids, and once all the drugs (antibiotic & painkillers) kicked in, I felt MUCH better but was bored witless over the long holiday weekend. (On the plus side, I did get to watch the fireworks over the Esplanade from my hospital window.) Ended up having a foot of my sigmoid colon out the next summer in the hopes of avoiding future severe attacks in the future, and recovering from major abdominal surgery is No Damn Fun, I assure you. Had another diverticulitis attack a week ago (they'd have to take out my whole colon to get all the diverticuli), but fortunately was able to take oral antibiotics & stay out of the hospital. Heredity sucks sometimes...

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  43. Haha so funny! Today I called in sick to take my two year old to Chuck E Cheese's for her birthday. I work in a hospital and since I just started there, I don't have vacation time saved up yet, just sick time.

    The sickest I've ever been... I had strep so badly one time I had to get steroid shots to my throat because my airway was constricted. I had kidney stones a month after giving birth last time and OMG there is no pain like a kidney stone - I went to a fantastic hospital in Tennessee where they hooked me up to a morphine drip, then sent me home with Vicodin. God bless those Catholic nurses!!!

    I never get one illness. They always end up being systemic, especially now that I'm a diabetic. I end up with bronchitus, sinusitis, double ear infection, pink eye, stomach flu all together. And it takes FOREVER to get well.

    Feel better soon, Enty!!!

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  44. Had a gall bladder attack when I was only 20 years old - and was on a basically fat free diet - go figure. Ended up in the hospital for several days. I agree with others who mentioned gb pain - you don't appreciate it til you've been through it.

    Currently, I work so much - sick or not (at the office and at home)- that sometimes I just wish for a good fever virus to give me a break - something that forces me to sit on the sofa, under my blanket, with a 102 fever and something on the TV. Too sick to even look at the Blackberry or IPhone. Or even care. It forces me to turn the switch to 'off'.

    Turn the switch off Enty, and recover.

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  45. I was on disability for 9 weeks this year. I am only 38, so at first, was more than happy to see the doctors and get all the tests and have my blood drawn. I very quickly lost my good humor though. Chronic illness is really bullshit, I don't recommend it.


    My Dad had to help me financially for those few months. He was happy to do it though, luckily. I am also so lucky I have good health insurance.

    It was the time of my adult life though. I all-too-briefly got to live my dream, to stay home and be responsible for nothing. For 9 weeks I had no alarm clocks, plenty of naps...no schedule at all. If I hasn't been miserably sick and in terrible pain, it would have been orgasmically fun.

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  46. I get migraines a few times a month, but I usually pop a pill and go to work anyway.

    Worst sick: I got strep or something really bad -- complete with a 102-degree fever -- and was out of work for a week. My throat hurt so much that I could barely eat anything, and I couldn't drink my beloved Cokes because the carbonation was too much to handle. I ended up losing 10 pounds that week. Which was fuckin' awesome, BTW. However, as soon as I could swallow again, I headed straight for Mickey D's. It didn't take long to put the weight back on. Sigh.

    Now, I take vitamins and wash my hands regularly. Works pretty well, I guess. Knock on wood.

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  47. alright. I took a sick day to look for my missing cat. I was truly sick to my stomach, so it was not a lie. But had I told work that, I would have been fired.

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  48. I'm very much a fan of mental health days. So when I take one, I usually just stay in bed most of the morning watching TV. About early afternoon, I get up shower and fix something to eat.

    The most sick I've ever been was probably after I had my tonsils out five years ago. It was painful. It felt like someone was striking a match on the back of my throat. I did not enjoy that time at all. Although, now that they are gone, I don't get as sick anymore, so I guess the pain made me stronger.

    Feel better Enty!

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  49. Oh man, a medical Your Turn! I was just saying on Facebook that I think my next career should be as a research subject because I have so much weird medical crap.

    Chronic strep throat as a kid and several times as an adult, Scarlet Fever when I was 7, possibly causing my aortic valve stenosis and insufficiency, ocular migraines - no pain, just that "aura" that you can't see through for 15-30 minutes if I take Tylenol in time and muscular-skeleto (sp?) problems since I was 10 from my lower back up probably from being a gymnast as a kid - that plus a couple of car accidents have had me in physical therapy about 8 times in my 36 years - I had been keeping up my PT exercises until recently and that had solved much of my muscular problems.

    Anyway, I've actually been out sick all week and I thought I was horribly depressed, since I'm laid off but still working there doing "transition" until 12/4. I was actually working from home Monday and didn't start feeling bad until Tuesday morning, when I called in and didn't even try to work from home the next two days. Thursday I tried hard to drag myself in but literally could not get up until I was going to be late to a meeting if I didn't call in to the meeting from home. My HR rep was "worried" about me, since I was on Short Term Disability earlier this year for basically a nervous breakdown for 8 weeks when my ex-husband was conducting his campaign of terror against me (and I recommend that too, except not the nervous breakdown part, just the 8 weeks out of work), and I wouldn't admit that I thought I was depressed, as I was worried I would get in trouble (like they can fire me after laying me off or something). So everyone's freaking out about swine flu and my HR rep tells me I can't come back to work unless I go to a doctor and get a note clearing me for work and stating that I don't have SWINE flu. I went and the doctor said I actually had the symptoms, tested me and yep, I have/had the swine flu LOL. I've really just been incredibly tired and weak, so I've been enjoying the rest of the week off, being on the internet and watching TV. I went to the doctor on Thursday, and they wouldn't clear me to go back to work until Monday. Joke's on my work : P

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  50. Sad truth? I only ever played "hookie" to stay home, slack off, and/or sleep...
    I STILL do it!!!

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  51. I know I'm writing books, but I cannot make this stuff up! It's so weird I'm almost proud : ) Anyway, two other medical incidents that were very weird:

    Was diagnosed with Graves' disease (hyperthyroidism). One treatment is to take a pill containing radioactive iodine, which will kill the thyroid but not affect any other organs since iodine is only attracted to the thyroid or something like that LOL. This condition runs in my family and both my aunt and grandmother have taken the "atomic cocktail" as they called it. I took it too, and was told I had a radioactive thyroid for 5 days and couldn't really be around people. So, my boss let me borrow her laptop and I worked from home. I was not allowed to hold children or animals either because of the risk to their thyroids. And all of my clothes, utensils, etc. had to be washed separately from my then ex-husband-to-be. That was SO weird and I didn't like it much but was mostly inconvenient.

    The WORST illness ever was spinal meningitis in 2007. I had been isolated from other people for about 6 weeks due to another problem and had been working from home and I got meningitis 15 minutes after I took the first dose of my prescription Naproxen Sodium (Alleve). It was determined that I had aseptic meningitis caused by taking that medication. Of course this is very rare, that's how I roll LOL, but 2% of the population can have that reaction to that medication and I did. They confirmed that by doing a spinal tap - that is a hateful thing to have to have : ( And the pain in the base of your skull is like someone stabbing a knife there constantly. I had NO problems getting heavy drugs - Valium, Dilaudid and Demerol at the first ER visit and steady Morphine during the time I was admitted. I had a migraine for 3 weeks. My blood pressure is permanently slightly elevated. My white cells took so long to go down they were worried I had lymphoma. Thankfully I didn't, but that crap affected my entire system and I would have to say it took a good year to get back to "normal" and I was out of work four months that time. That illness was serious enough to pretty much knock out my hypochondria though - gave me some much needed reality perspective.

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  52. Wow... thinking back to skipping school by either being sick or faking sick...being stuck at home with Mom, and at 2p, the TV was turned to her shows.
    And you didn't speak to her until 4pm, no matter what.

    Nowadays if I'm sick, the laptop comes to the bed and I don't leave it except to go do drugs etc.

    Worst sick? Tossup, (no pun intended) but always a flu. Coworker was known as Typhoid Kelly because if he had it, he shared. One flu he passed to me had me out for a week - at Christmas. I always refer to it as my present from him.
    That was the last year I passed on a flu shot, by the way.

    Faking sick?? Oh yeah. I have my mental health days, and I've also used it in the past to secure a promotion.
    Working in a call center back in the 80's, I was handling a lot more than I was being given credit for...and a position was coming up in dispatch that I and another guy were "competing" for. Well, I called in sick 3 days in a row when I wasn't sick so he'd have to take the load without me there -
    and when I came back, I was offered the position.

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  53. Ugh, illnesses!

    My most recent was easily the most interesting in a "WTF??" way.

    I have chronic back issues, as most people in my job eventually get. About a year ago, I had resigned myself to getting it treated and having the surgery. Because I have an HMO, I have to jump through the hoops, one of which was a large load of daily NSAIDs, like extra hunky motrin, and lots of it.
    I caught a cold, or so I thought, in November last year. I never got better, and it got harder and harder to breathe.
    To make a very long story short, I have congestive heart failure as a result of an NSAID intolerance.
    It sucks!

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  54. mygeorgie, I think I remember that picture ... lol. DJ made me laugh pretty hard!

    Nothing really interesting. Worst I felt was April 2008 - pneumonia. I had it once many years before, and I've had bronchitis quite a bit but this really knocked me on my ass. Had to spend most of my time sleeping in a rocking chair (couldn't sleep laying flat). My boss was very understanding, so it felt good to sit in my rocking chair and watch the Jason Beghe escape videos that came out at that time.

    Now that my uterus has been cauterized, I don't need to take sick days off from bad cramping anymore. Good thing too since I went through all 5 of them for this year.

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  55. Wow, Shakey, you make me appreciate my benefits. We get one sick day a month, and they roll over each year, so I've got about 300+ hours of sick time. I keep hoping for some lingering disease that lasts a few weeks, and doesn't make me feel too miserable to read or watch tv. ;)

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  56. No one will read this, but - ok -

    Last time I was really sick was after I got a flu shot. I developed a nasty lung infection in January and then came down with the croup. THE CROUP!!! I didn't think you could get that anymore. you don't want the croup. You cough non-stop. All day, all night. No rest. On the bright side, you do lose weight because all that coughing exercises your abdomen big time.

    Generally speaking, I hate getting sick because I feel guilty. I got sick all the time as a kid and my mother would yell at me.

    Now, when I don't feel good I park myself in front of the TV with a blanket, some tea and a Dirty jobs marathon. Mike Rowe - YUM.

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