You make me SICK!

H1N1, West Nile Virus, Bird Flu, the common head cold...

You make me SICK! Of course what I do can make you sick too.

So what are you going to do to prevent yourself from spreading your "sickness" around? Stay home, wash your hands diligently, disinfect everything you touch, sneeze or cough into a Kleenex then flush it? Probably none of the above. Unless you are physically unable to get out of bed, I bet you drag your sorry butt to work. I know three guys I work with who have done that for the past 4 days, thanks for spreading the "love".

We don't live in bubbles, we will get sick. It's inevitable, unless you quarantine yourself in your home and don't let anyone near you. But think about this, how long before you got really sick were you out and about spreading the love? Hmmmmm, maybe I'll go to work today, and make my boss sick, so when I am well enough to come back he/she will be home sick thanks to me. Great way to seek revenge! Or is it one of my favourite sayings "misery loves company".

I hate being sick, who doesn't? That metallic taste you get in your mouth when somethings brewing. The raw feeling in your chest, that slight ear ache that wasn't there yesterday. The start of a stuffy nose. Then BAM! it hits, and you're flat out, if it hits hard enough that is, otherwise your sitting at your desk wishing someone would take pity on your poor hacking sniffely sneezey soul and insist you go home. Show of hands, how many of you hate calling in sick because you think your boss doesn't believe you? My hand is up. Don't get me wrong, I have a great boss, but he's NEVER sick, and when he is he comes in anyway. So I come in and get sent home because I'm pathetic, but hey I put in the effort right? That has to count for something.

If you're in a union, you likely have paid "sick days" I'm not and I work directly with the owner of the company I work for. I try to limit my time off to Fridays as that's his day off, or when he's on vacation. I also time my "sick days" to make sure there is a healthy spread of time between. Good grief, not only am I sick, but now I feel guilty for not going to work. It's not like I'm getting paid to be off, I'm not. I have to either take a vacation day, or no pay at all for that day. I don't get "sick pay". Oh well I'm too sick to care anymore. (note: I'm not actually sick right now, but it's coming, I've been exposed).

Then there is the, ok, I think I'm well enough to go in, you show up and everyone is asking how you feel. What do you say? "I feel great" or just shrug, head to your desk and hope you can last the day? Why are you here? I suppose we fool ourselves into thinking we're better, but halfway through the day you realise, what a fool you've been, and probably should have stayed home just one more day. My line, when asked how I'm feeling "well, I'm here, but I'm not making any guarantees". My boss chuckles at this, I think he thinks I'm pathetic, sick or not. At least I still have my sense of humour right? What's that they say? "laughter is the best medicine" until it turns into a coughing fit at least.

Now I can't talk about being sick without mentioning the difference between men's and women's reactions to being sick, and of course I'll throw in kids for good measure.

OK, we all know a "man cold" is a million billion times worse than anything a woman might experience, save maybe child birth. Men are with out a doubt the biggest babies when they are sick, why is that? Is it a proof that women truly are the stronger sex? I think so, I think all you men out there should worship the women in your lives, because without us to bring you your NyQuil, Buckley's and chicken noodle soup, you may as well just curl up and die, because you will not survive this. On the other hand, maybe that's our plan! Keep you sick and weak so we can take over the planet MMMUUUUHHHHAAAHHHAAA! But I digress.

It's ok, it's probably your moms fault for babying you when you were sick as a child. I'm pretty confident that's were it starts. I know when my kids are sick I try to do everything in my power to make them feel better, nothing short of wishing I were capable of miraculous healing. And so it begins, when your sick, you rely on mom, or in some cases dad. Dad's are capable of caring for a sick child, not a good as mom, but I'm biased. All kidding aside, no one likes to see their baby all stuffed up, and coughing and feeling like crap, we all have huge empathy for a sick child.

Women on the other hand, when sick, will still manage to get up, get the kids ready and off to school, tidy the kitchen, maybe load the dishwasher, throw on a load of laundry, why not your home anyway may as well make the best of it. Besides, it's not difficult (really it's not) to throw clothes in the machine, add soap (yes that's important) and turn it on. Not like a tub and washboard are your only options. Then maybe go sit for a bit, read maybe, maybe doze until you hear the washer finish, mine beeps at me when it's done. We still manage to think up something for dinner, weather we eat it depends on how icky we feel. Honestly women have to be on their death beds to let a cold get the better of them. For the record though there can be some roll reversal on this, but in general women fair better than men, yah again a little biased.

All in all, being sick sucks, but we don't give it to ourselves, we get it from someone else. YOU make me sick, I'm gonna make someone sick. That's life, just try to be considerate and do the little things to help prevent colds, wash your hands with warm soapy water (like the washing machine, soap is important) use a Kleenex, and try not to breath! Ok, you can breath, just not on me. And if you really are too sick to go to work, don't, everyone you work with will appreciate you not spreading your germs around. Oh and don't worry about your boss, it's not like you're the first person on the planet, or in the company to call in sick. If they give you a hard time have them read my blog, maybe they will get the picture. Besides, you could always sneeze on their phone when they are not around...(no don't). It's a thought though right?

With much love, light and Kleenex,
Tammy.

Side note: The experts say hand sanitizer isn't as effective as soap and water, but it's better than nothing at all, just be sure it contains alcohol. But don't let your kids use it apparently they can get drunk from licking their hands.