Thankfully it's a Proper Illness
I took my first day off sick since 2006 last Friday. I was extremely feverish, aching all over, lethargic and had chest pains. It's strange because I'm a very positive soul, however when it comes to illnesses I always assume it's cancer. I don't come from safe genes, Mother died of cancer and a Father whose had many heart attacks and several strokes.
I muddled through the weekend, feeling rough and feverish and very tired and then began work again on Monday still feeling the same. "Are you OK now?", people asked. It felt like very false sympathy, it felt like they were thinking, "You're one of them aren't you? A malingerer. A leach. Someone who likes to get something for nothing, slowly but surely sucking away the profits of the company". I'm aware that this is probably my own paranoia brought on by a very strict and disciplined childhood followed by a short military career during influential teen years, but still, it doesn't make me feel any better.
On Tuesday night I was "shutting down" and wanted to go to bed immediately. Kerry rolled her eyes and said unsympathetically, "Why, don't you go to bed?". "Do you not mind?", I asked. She sighed and said, "No! Some of us just have to get on with it". That didn't make me feel any better but I went to bed anyway.
The next day I managed to get an emergency appointment with a doctor. I was kind of hoping that he would say I'm terminally ill and have a week to live, just so I could throw it in her face. I suppose he gave me better news, a serious illness without having to die soon, pneumonia!
This morning she did ask me if I was alright and suggested I took the day off work. I replied, "Well, some of us just get over our pneumonia!".
I muddled through the weekend, feeling rough and feverish and very tired and then began work again on Monday still feeling the same. "Are you OK now?", people asked. It felt like very false sympathy, it felt like they were thinking, "You're one of them aren't you? A malingerer. A leach. Someone who likes to get something for nothing, slowly but surely sucking away the profits of the company". I'm aware that this is probably my own paranoia brought on by a very strict and disciplined childhood followed by a short military career during influential teen years, but still, it doesn't make me feel any better.
On Tuesday night I was "shutting down" and wanted to go to bed immediately. Kerry rolled her eyes and said unsympathetically, "Why, don't you go to bed?". "Do you not mind?", I asked. She sighed and said, "No! Some of us just have to get on with it". That didn't make me feel any better but I went to bed anyway.
The next day I managed to get an emergency appointment with a doctor. I was kind of hoping that he would say I'm terminally ill and have a week to live, just so I could throw it in her face. I suppose he gave me better news, a serious illness without having to die soon, pneumonia!
This morning she did ask me if I was alright and suggested I took the day off work. I replied, "Well, some of us just get over our pneumonia!".
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| "Man in Undies Pulling a Chain" |
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