I feel so bad for missing work but this has been kicking my butt to the couch, or the bed.if I had a job where I just had to do paperwork I would still feel bad about calling in sick. But I work with kids with disabilities and they don’t get the services if I am not there. They don’t have subs for speech/language pathologists.
I know I would feel bad about missing any job though. I went back to work last week for 2 days and by Saturday I was getting much sicker than I had been on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of that week. So did I go back to early?
I think I went back feeling a little better and caught another bug that gave me the flu. The doc took ex rays today to find out if it has gone into my lungs.
So I came to the emotional support part of this group bc I am just having a lot of feelings about being sick. Am I going to be able to fulfill all of my duties? I have missed 6 days in the last 2weeks from the flu, which I am sure I am much more susceptible to since I work with kids.
Hi Cheryl, first thing is that I really hope you feel better soon. I don't have any great words of wisdom but just wanted to say I've been where you are and worried myself silly about being unwell and not able to fulfil my work responsibilities (I'm self-employed and have just had to close my business, hopefully temporarily) ..... the only conclusion that I have reached is that I have to look after myself and get well before I can look after anyone else. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
HI Cheryl and Jules - I was also where you are now 2 years ago and at the time self-employed. It is both a financial worry and health worry. Please concern yourself only about getting better and doing literally nothing for at least a week - like sit on the couch for a week. Pneumonia is really serious and I was hospitalised. you MUST give yourself time to recover or else you will be back to square one and cause damage long term. Please be careful.
However I did recover and am much more aware of infections, taking my vitamin C and echinacea drops and simply dealing immediately with an infection. 95% of the time we can live a normal life when our medication is working, but to ward off the 5% we need to be super careful.
I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you take mental time for you to heal.
I hope you feel better soon!!! I thank you so much for posting this, I have been sick for a couple of days last night I hooked up the vaporizer I defenitely understand where you are coming from when you speak about work, yesterday I dragged myself here feeling awful. I am new to psa and MTX and every time I come in contact with a person that is sick I am terrified!! Praying you are on the mend and thank you for sharing because believe it or not yesterday I started typing but stopped and than This am I saw your post. You are not alone!!! I just said to my husband I don’t know what to expect and it is scarey but the support here is wonderful I wish I could offer more! Praying for a compete recovery listen to your dr and like others have said take care of yourself and don’t push to hard I know for me it’s all about the new normal!!
Hello Cheryl,
You’ve certainly been going through a bad patch and still are.
I too feel so bad when I go sick from work, but its a time when you just have to be caring about yourself and look after yourself…the kids you give care to will probably get more out of you if you keep yourself as well as possible rather than soldier through it. You will get better quicker and get back to work sooner (a lesson I’ve now learned! Eventually!! 4 week heavy cold which ended in bronchitis over Christmas) It’s frustrating and a big guilt trip but it has to be done. x
I know exactly how you feel. Since September I've had 2 sinus infections/bronchitis and 2 sinus infections/upper respiratory infections and 1 ear infection. I sub for my son's school, so if I had a "real" job, I'm sure I would have been fired months ago. If I had not gone to the dr almost within a day of symptoms, I'm sure mine would have turned into pneumonia also. I think I was on the verge the last go round. I had an appt. with the Rheumy and told him I just could not live like this on Embrel. He agreed (well not really) and put me on Leflunomide 10 mg. Which I am very reluctant to start. It's in the same catagory as Embrel in pill form. It's so hard to know what to do. (I do know I can't live with all the infections) Good luck in finding what works best for you.
Hi everyone! Reading your posts, make me so glad I’m not alone! Since approx three years ago, I get regular chest infections and I’m awaiting a CT scan to check me out for bronchiectasis! I didn’t realise chest problems were part of PsA which I’ve had for six years! I’m on methotrexate and a shed load of analgesia, inc. morphine patches! Even then, I’m in pain 24/7! I was medically retired from nursing, in 2008, and it’s tough!
At least you know we are here and understand what you’re going thro’!
Hi Cheryl, your thread hit very close to home for me and how I feel about being sick with infections and off work. In this past year I have had multiple infections and multiple pneumonia’s. Much more frequently in this past six months or so.
It is easy to see how dedicated and loyal you are to your position and also to your clients, but your first loyalty has to be to yourself. One of the hardest lessons to learn is even though we may feel better it does not mean we are fully recovered. By feeling better we tend to think we are ready to tackle our jobs and go on with our life, sometimes only to find that we are not feeling as good as we originally thought and will often suffer a set back. It doesn’t always mean that we caught another bug and are sick again, it might be the same one that wasn’t completely cleared out of our system.
I commend you for choosing such a wonderful profession, helping children reach their full potential is very rewarding. Take care of yourself first, by doing that you will be giving the children in your care the very best you have to offer. Wishing all the best for you and a speedy recovery
I have lived with being immune suppressed for more than 30 years, (no spleen and Hodgkins disease), and now PSA, Meniers, and God knows what else, and all the medicines that go with that. I took the doctor's advise right away and am very careful with infections...I run to the doctor at the first sign of any sinus, bladder, throat, etc., infection and get on meds right away, and I have never had a really serious event. I will even take penicillin or ampicillin before dental work to prevent an infection. On a nurses advice, I elbow my way to the front of the line for a flu shot, and am up to date with the pneumonia vaccines. It is no different than getting an Embel or Humera injection, in fact I gave myself the pneumonia one. Some could call me a hypochondriac but the doctors and nurses I have come into contact with do not. Sometimes I even have emergency penicillin on hand (I don't right now) to get in front of anything before it gets me. No spleen makes it so that the blood can go septic fast, no time to wait around to see if anything gets better, it usually doesn't. So instead of worrying about it, I have taken positive steps to prevent anything from getting me!
well, I have been there before, it can be very depressing knowing you have responsibilities you cannot fulfill but, you are only human and well in order to be able to survive you need to put yourself first. If rest and staying home from work is what it takes then you are going to have to do that the best you can. Put all your effort into getting well and I hope this makes you feel better. I know a lot of people that get sick and are not proactive about it. They go out to the bar and they don't take care of themselves. It's good that you care about your body and want to be healthy. Keep your head up and stay strong. You are going to need to try your best not to let stress get to you because that will only weigh on top of your immune system. Wishing you a speedy recovery! :)
I am saddened by your suffering and wish I had a way to relieve your illness. I believe nearly all of us suffering from PsA are equally concerned about missing work, but more importantly about enduring life with the constant pain and daily fatigue. I agree with all the writers that you must take care of yourself FIRST, it is a struggle I work on everyday. For many years I worked in the education field also, you need to remember that children are a magnetic to germs and they are great carriers. You need to rethink your attitude about having to be there for the children's sake. Working when you're ill usually doesn't make you the greatest teacher anyway, and what if one of your students has an immune issue just like you? I admire how committed you are to your job, but you need to love yourself more and get completely well before you enrich those student's minds. I am sending you best wishes for quick recovery and lots of wonderful naps! Michelle
Oh my gosh. Thank you everyone. I just got to the end of your responses; I now have tears in my eyes. Thank you so much for your support.
My primary doc called this morning and said that I don’t have pneumonia. So that is a very good thing. He also “gave me permission” to take Thursday and Friday off unless I’m “suddenly doing much better”. He also added that it could still go in that direction.
I really do need support/permission to take care if myself sometimes.
Today we had a snow day so the kids were off too!
I’ve spent the day sending emails to cancel appointments at work and sleeping in between. I’m watching a silly movie about a giant crocodile right now! Feeling better, but I am going to take the days off and worry about “catching up” later.
Again, Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. <3 Blessings to you all…
Well I slept till 2:30 today! I felt guilty so I got up and started washing dishes and planning a crock pot meal. I ended up sitting down, breathing hard and starting sweat all over (even though I felt cold) I started worrying again about work, so I reread all of your posts. They really are helpful to me! Thank you.
Hi Frances,
I went back it work today even tho I’m still coughing my head off. No temp tho. Saw the doc and he gave me a different antibiotic, and inhaler and cough medicine. Feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with work.
I got an email from work that if I took any more days off, I’d have to to use FMLA! I asked are you sure, bc I haven’t used all my suck days this year yet. She said after 5 consecutive days they have it report it to FMLA. Never heard if such a thing but I’ve never taken a whole week off for an illness.
Thanks for asking Frances. How are you doing?
Well I slept till 2:30 today! I felt guilty so I got up and started washing dishes and planning a crock pot meal. I ended up sitting down, breathing hard and starting sweat all over (even though I felt cold) I started worrying again about work, so I reread all of your posts. They really are helpful to me! Thank you.
After 5 days you have to apply FMLA? That doesn't make sense to me. Do you work for a Federal or State government or private sector? Do they really want you in the office getting everyone sick? Or worse causing you to get pneumonia and suing them? That's terrible. Perhaps you should go on a coughing fit in the HR office:-) There are numerous people in my area that have or recently recovered from bronichitis and were home over a week - I was sick for 10 days. I'm concerned that you're going to make yourself sicker without appropriate rest. Do you take a biologic?
Maybe you should get some info about your rights for sick leave and for an accommodation for a disability - PsA. If you're taking a biologic you are more susceptible to getting sick. There was someone else a while back on this forum who was a teacher and their HR office was giving her great difficulty about taking sick leave. They weren't following the "rules" etc and we all told her to fight it. I'm not sure what she did. I bring it up because I wonder if this is a typical reaction in the teaching arena. I believe the moderator tntlamb knows a good bit about FMLA and disability rights.
I'm over my bronchitis and back to work now. Fortunately I was out during a very slow time before the holidays and I have a great supervisor who is very supportive.
Cheryl (CLR) said:
Hi Frances, I went back it work today even tho I'm still coughing my head off. No temp tho. Saw the doc and he gave me a different antibiotic, and inhaler and cough medicine. Feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with work. I got an email from work that if I took any more days off, I'd have to to use FMLA! I asked are you sure, bc I haven't used all my suck days this year yet. She said after 5 consecutive days they have it report it to FMLA. Never heard if such a thing but I've never taken a whole week off for an illness. Thanks for asking Frances. How are you doing?