Envious of Sick? Working in Awful Jobs is No Fun

[Math Is Hard]

Sometimes I am envious of people who get the flu. I would love to be in bed a few days watching TV, no matter how crappy I would feel.

I remember one really awful job I worked at where a team member got appendicitis. No one sent him sympathy cards - we were all jealous as hell. It was that bad.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

No! The trick is to just say you are sick and lie in bed watching TV =-)

 

[Math Is Hard]

No! The trick is to just say you are sick and lie in bed watching TV =-)

But you don't want to use up those sick days because at some point you might really need them. And sometimes, even when you are sick, you have to drag yourself in anyway because the project is so freakin' mission critical it's like you are working in an E.R.

 

[turbo]

But you don't want to use up those sick days because at some point you might really need them. And sometimes, even when you are sick, you have to drag yourself in anyway because the project is so freakin' mission critical it's like you are working in an E.R.

What if you don't have sick days? In my freshman year in college I got mono and bronchitis back-to-back. My greatest comfort was my best friend (a leggy blond whose father was a professor at Harvard) who made me tea and held me. Eventually, it got so bad that I had to be hospitalized (dehydration, enlarged spleen, and other stuff), but it was really nice just to have somebody around who cared.

 

[Phrak]

I find a temperature of 102 to be most agreeable.

 

[turbo]

I find a temperature of 102 to be most agreeable.

Not a good thing!

 

[Math Is Hard]

What if you don't have sick days? In my freshman year in college I got mono and bronchitis back-to-back. My greatest comfort was my best friend (a leggy blond whose father was a professor at Harvard) who made me tea and held me. Eventually, it got so bad that I had to be hospitalized (dehydration, enlarged spleen, and other stuff), but it was really nice just to have somebody around who cared.

I forgot about the sympathy. That sounds good, too. I'll skip the enlarged spleen part.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I find a temperature of 102 to be most agreeable.

What I need is a custom illness. Maybe no fever - just sniffles and a sore throat. Mostly, I need to look sick so I'll get sympathy and have justification to stay in bed a few days. I need to catch up on People's Court.

 

[Monique]

What I need is a custom illness. Maybe no fever - just sniffles and a sore throat. Mostly, I need to look sick so I'll get sympathy and have justification to stay in bed a few days. I need to catch up on People's Court.

I wish. I'm feeling sick, but I need to work nonetheless. In fact, I'll be spending my evening preparing (another) presentation

 

[Kurdt]

If you had the real flu it would be more than a few days in bed.

 

[Lisa!]

Fever is awful! I prefer to work 24/7 but not feeling bad at all!

 

[Math Is Hard]

I wish. I'm feeling sick, but I need to work nonetheless. In fact, I'll be spending my evening preparing (another) presentation

That's a drag. The last time I gave a presentation I had allergies and my eyes were all swollen up and red. I looked like I had been crying. It was awful.

*pours hot blueberry tea into Monique's computer*

 

[Math Is Hard]

If you had the real flu it would be more than a few days in bed.

I think last time I had it I was knocked down for about 5 or 6 days. I got stuck for 3 hours between two Korean business men who were sick as dogs on a flight back from Houston. There was no escape.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Fever is awful! I prefer to work 24/7 but not feeling bad at all!

Don't you sleep?

 

[wolram]

I just recovered from an enjoyable cold, no headache or fever, just rocket powered sneezes,
the worst part is where one goes AH, AAH, AAAH, then the sneeze dies no atishoo.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I just recovered from an enjoyable cold, no headache or fever, just rocket powered sneezes,
the worst part is where one goes AH, AAH, AAAH, then the sneeze dies no atishoo.

I'll take that! Do you have any germs left?

*kisses Wolram*

 

[~christina~]

You want the flu?!
Trust me, I wasn't watching television, during my flu last week. I just went to sleep since I had a fever on and off every few minutes.

 

[hypatia]

Wolly, I hate it without the atishoo! Makes me feel so incomplete.

 

[wolram]

Flu sounds horrible christina, hope you are proper well now.

I never get medically sick i think the last was when i was a kid and had measles.

 

[Lisa!]

Don't you sleep?

Very little since I'm suffering insomnia.

 

[physics girl phd]

I had that nasty flu for a week last year. After they got the (12 hours of virtually non-stop) vomiting under control and made sure my pancreas was ok (just swollen) , it WAS actually nice to be at the hospital away from all "the guys" for a while (and they even had a touch of flu themselves, so no visiting even!).

But just two weeks ago, P (our oldest) had appendicitis.. and that was pretty scary. It happened during the Superbowl weekend, so the surgeons didn't come in and operate til the next morning... so it was found to have burst. Thankfully he's our trooper, unlike his younger brother. He got through surgery ok, had a week in the hospital, and then finished all his antibiotics at home last week and looks to be completely clear. Phew. He really didn't like being hospitalized though... he was all happiness for about 5 days after returning home.

Guess it's all a point of view.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Remind me to never get a life-threatening illness on Superbowl Sunday!

 

[Andre]

But just two weeks ago, P (our oldest) had appendicitis.. and that was pretty scary. It happened during the Superbowl weekend, so the surgeons didn't come in and operate til the next morning... so it was found to have burst... .

If so, that's appalling. Or is it a conclusion based on casual observatios? Could it be that there was a valid reason that no emergency surgeon was avaible in time (overload)?

 

[Proton Soup]

several years ago, i got pneumonia. i normally hate going to the doctor, and didn't really know i had pneumonia, just a chest cold, so put it off. that is, until i could keep my fever down and went to the emergency room. i passed out in the parking lot on the way to the door and got toted in by a couple of employees outside on smoke break. then it took a couple of months to get over the infection, and several more months to recover from the effects. that one nearly killed me at a relatively young age. i have no desire to get sick at all, now.

 

[physics girl phd]

If so, that's appalling. Or is it a conclusion based on casual observatios? Could it be that there was a valid reason that no emergency surgeon was avaible in time (overload)?

It's highly suspicious. The one justification that I can think of is that P is special-needs... and there are some concerns about anesthesia for him (his weight and muscle tone are interesting, and he used to have breathing trouble)... so they may have wanted to wait for full-time, normal, experienced staff.

But I think really the situation is this... Hospitals in our small-to-mid-size city don't seem to want to do any form of operations on weekends at all, they want to stabilize you and wait til Monday; but I can't imagine Superbowl Sunday helped... there would be a particular reason to be hesistant about calling the "on-call" staff (yes, in a mid-size town in the South, of course the surgeons are all male!).

But P didn't stabilize... he got progressively worse through the evening and morning... even vomiting up blood from his irritated stomach lining... and still no movement to surgery til the surgery ward opened at 7AM... when he was first to go.

But all that matters now is it ended well. He's back to "eating it all" and begging for bus rides. No lasting damage (they still were also able to do it lacroscopically... apparently a good sign that there were no major complications, even though surgery went an hour longer than it had been predicted to us). Therefore we thankfully don't have to request all records, attempt to sue the hospital, etc.

Phew.

So yeah -- you don't want appendicitis. From what I hear (from normal adults), it still sucks.

 

[arunma]

Can't say I'm envious of people with the flu. The upper resperatory symptoms I can handle. The fatigue and all that other stuff is really annoying though. I try to spend a few hours on Saturday chilling at home and watching TV anyway, so I get my lazy time in.

 

[Astronuc]

I find a temperature of 102 to be most agreeable.

Try 104 or 104.5F, which I managed to do a few years ago. I have very strange dreams, and soaked bedsheets in sweat.

My max temperature was 107 when I have measles as a kid.

 

[Borek]

the worst part is where one goes AH, AAH, AAAH, then the sneeze dies no atishoo.

Look into the Sun.

Oh, wait, you are Brit. You don't have Sun. But any bright light will do.

 

[SticksandStones]

I've been sick once in the past 8 or so years, and it was last year. Had the flu for a day. Slept something like 17 hours and downed a quart of orange juice. Felt great the next day.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Look into the Sun.

Oh, wait, you are Brit. You don't have Sun. But any bright light will do.

The trick I've heard is "think of a cow."

I've had mixed results with that.