I got back from an almost two week vacation Tuesday night. Yesterday evening, I got roped into writing an emergency motion and supporting brief. By the small hours of the morning, I was having chills and running a temp near 103 degrees. And here I am at work today, achy and grouchy but ready to get the emergency motion on file once it's approved by the client.

How sick do you have to be before you chuck it and call in sick/curl up in bed and let someone else deal with the kids? Any war stories?

I generally have to be bleeding out of my eyeballs before I can call on AG since he's so busy. I don't feel tough after that, just pathetic.

Man, I'm a major wimp. I can't stand working when I'm sick. Even with a slight cold. My wife is so much tougher than I am. If I feel the slightest cold coming on I lay in bed and rest. For some reason, if I try to work while I'm sick, I'll never get better. I'll just stay a constant level of miserable. I try to build up my immune system by smoking, but that doesn't seem to work.

What you describe? Yeah, that would keep my ass home in bed.

How sick do I have to be? Too sick for it to be POSSIBLE to watch the kid. Like, constantly hurling. Spouse used up all his time off this year and so I have no options.

Also, and more importantly, feel better soon JTC.

In general I'm a baby, but if PF is out of town I don't like to complain. I was running 104 fever (after motrin and tylonel) and was still trying to say I was fine when my sister called to check on me. I hung up the phone, took two steps and almost fell over...I called her back.

I have worked through migraines-of-death and even worked through a miscarriage once. Damn sick leave policies.

Hope you feel better soon, JTC! Try chugging two Odwalla "C Monsters" back-to-back. That usually helps me feel better.

That sounds contagious. Get thy lawyerly ass home if at all possible. I don't do high fevers and chills at work. Although, now that I'm a SAHM, I have to do it at home and still watch children. Boo no babysitter!

Thanks, guys. I'm outta here as soon as I get this thing filed.

Poor JTC. I hate being sick and having to function like a normal healthy person.

As a full time mom there is never time off for being ill. One time, my husband was away on a business trip (for nine days) I knew NOBODY in this town because we had just moved here. My little one was 9 months old, I was nursing still, my big one was 3, and I was so sick - hurling, anemic, feeling faint constantly. I still had to keep them safe, feed them, nurse the baby and take the dog on regular walks with kids in tow - because we lived in apartment. That sucked!

When I was working I was at the movie theater. If I got sick I had to find someone to cover my shift. Lucky for me everyone who worked with me were friends from college and high school.

The only time I was sick to the point of inability to do anything I had a sinus infection that got into my inner ear. I was one heavy antibiotics and I couldn't open my eyes for vertigo. Yay that sucked.

Now I don't get time off to be sick. But most times when I'm sick the kids are sick too and we all lie about doing nothing and napping.

glad to hear you're going home, JTC! and welcome back! i'd been wondering where you'd gotten to. feel better soon. i always try to work when i'm sick (unless i'm throwing up) and it usually doesn't work out well.

Aww, feel better JTC. Hope that other than picking up a germ you had a good trip. We missed you!

I try really hard not to miss work. But I'm getting colds every time I get over one this year (thanks, new students). The Monday before Thanksgiving I had a new cold and a fever and felt wretched and would totally have stayed home if it had been a regular school day, but we had a day of meetings and then parent/teacher conferences. I decided rescheduling 19 conferences would be more painful than doing them sick. And I was right, but it pretty much sucked.

i find once i get up and moving about i start to feel better. Usually. Lying in bed with nothing to take my mind off it, generally makes me feel quite a bit worse.

I'll call in sick if i think i'm contagious. Although often by the time the real symptoms kick in, the contagious phase is past. i call in sick when i get to disoriented stage, like middle ear screwed up and can't walk in a straight line sick. Or major weakness (not just sore muscles, but can't-move'em muscles). Or desperate to sleep all damn day and can't breathe properly and feel generally seedy. and if i feel like my head weighs more than my body and it hurts to swallow or move my eyes, i'm probably not well.

I feel for you JTC, i've caught a nasty bug or two on an aeroplane, it really, really sucks. What a crappy way to finish off an otherwise good trip. it's happened to me a few times that i've arrived home and been hideously ill for a week. It's not like you have a lot of holiday leave saved up at the END of your holiday, to then go and be sick as a dog. Companies don't dig that. they think you're just being slack. :| (that is, of course, until it happens to them.)

I ended up stuck at the office until about 6:30 to complete my filing with the court. That made for a work day from 5:30 a.m. until about 7:00 p.m. Ouch. To make things more interesting, my wife had to take both of our daughters to CHOP's emergency room because they manifested nasty rashes all over their bodies. Turns out it's a viral rash.

Bring out yer dead. Bring out yer dead.

LMAO - i'm not dead... I'm getting better...I might go for a walk... I feel happy...

You're not fooling anyone you know. ;)

JTC - Was it fifth's? The last time I got a really high fever +chills + rash, the kids and I all had Fifth's. Sigh.