Perhaps I overestimated my immune system...

It finally got me. Ben's entire family has been sick off and on for the past month, and he and I thought we had escaped it. In fact, just a few days ago I was talking to his mom about how amazing it was that he and I had avoided it. But, as luck would have it, we BOTH started with it yesterday. He felt crappy from the time he got home from work - it didn't start for me until about 11 last night. My throat started feeling scratchy, and my head started feeling fuzzy, and my nose got all plugged... and now here I am. Ugh. I feel about the same today, except my head is pounding, too. I'm trying not to take any meds until I've been to the doctor - I'm going in this afternoon to get a strep test. Ben's family didn't have strep, but my supervisor at work did, so I want to check on that before the weekend so I can get started on an antibiotic if need be.

Ben, of course, went to work today despite feeling like "a hat full of smashed assholes" (his words, of course. Where did I find this guy???). That's what pisses me off about his leave plan at work. His sick leave and vacation time are all in one pool now, so he's not really given any allocated sick time. He feels like he can never miss a day of work because he'll have to use up his vacation time, which he needs to save for the wedding and the honeymoon and our July 4th trip and such. I really think that if you're sick and you get a doctor's note, it shouldn't be counted against you. If you can't produce a doctor's note, then fine - you lose the leave time. But people can't help it when they're sick, and the last thing we need is for sick people to be trudging to work anyway and infecting everyone else because they don't want to lose the leave - it's a public health issue. Not to mention that when people have kids, they're even less likely to take sick leave for themselves, thinking they need to save it up for when their kids get sick and need them. But do people with kids get extra sick leave? Of course not. The entire concept of an employer telling you how many days you're allowed to be sick per year has always boggled my mind. This is why, when I'm a doctor and I get burned out on seeing patients, I'm going to DC to work on health policy.

I'm in a different scenario because I'm not a government employee, I'm on a fellowship. I'm not really an "employee" of anyone. I don't accrue any kind of leave at all. Technically I'm allowed 2 weeks of leave per year as part of my stipend, plus travel time for interviews because I'm required to be applying to grad or med school as part of the position. So basically, what it boils down to is that I'm at the mercy of my boss when it comes to leave, and luckily my boss isn't a hard ass about that sort of thing. Lucky for me, since I used up those two weeks in my first month of work when I had pneumonia! I feel particularly guilty about being sick this week, because I already took Tuesday and Wednesday off because my car looked like a popsicle and my street was an ice rink. It's not like I'm in control of being sick, but I still feel bad. That's what the whole "accruing leave" system does to the psyche! Makes you feel guilty for being SICK! Ridiculous.

What really ticks me off about being sick is that I can't go work out. When you get into the habit of going, it's SO easy to keep it up! A nice long weekend of lounging on the couch and trying to get better is the PERFECT way to lose your motivation. Ben and I have been doing SO well, and I'm SO afraid this will ruin us! Last night at the gym, I was feeling GREAT on the treadmill - I was much less tired than usual and feeling like I was going to set a new personal record, but then my stomach started feeling like hell. I was so mad! Grr. Maybe if I just think really hard about getting better all day today, I'll get better faster :) I'm gonna go do that.