Why Is It So Hard To Stay Home Sick!

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Ok this us my 4th day home sick. I am improving daily and will probably return on Friday. My husband says I should just stay home the rest of the week. I have adequate sick leave, my job is not bothering me. Why do I have such a hard time staying home?  I guess it’s ingrained  in me from childhood and then reinforced as a doctor. My dad hardly ever missed a day of work. As a doctor we’re taught in training not to take days off. Being an intern is like pledging or boot camp for a year our taught not to miss work. Even if sick. You have to be sicker than your patients to stay home. I was having a really hard time with missing so many days this week until now. My doctor just called and said I have E.Coli. I don’t feel bad about staying home now.  Mainly because this is a serious illness in kids and I don’t want to give to kids.  I admit I will log in to tie up some loose ends I feel it’s easier for me to handle. I haven’t done this all week because I was anticipating going back Friday. I have next week off already which is a blessing. It will give me time to get back to normal. It’s so hard to make me sit still but this has really knocked me down. I’ve seriously been a cough potato not even on my laptop till last night. I wrote earlier post on my phone because I could do it lying down. I feeling better every day so don’t worry;)

Processed Food: Now I Get It

Ok I finally get it. Today I started eat after not eating for two days with nausea and diarrhea. I usually tell people a BRAT diet the first two days. Bananas,rice, apple sauce and toast. I was planning on going to the store before I got sick. No bananas or apple sauce in the house. Only whole grain toast and brown rice. My handout from ER said avoid those. I was left with cup of noodles unless I wanted to cook. When I reviewed my hand out I realized I should avoid everything I usually eat. Whole grain foods, fruits with skin, green leafy vegetables. Avoid cocoa and spices. I don’t buy regular cracker. I have garlic rosemary crackers. I realize they don’t want your GI system to work hard. They want foods that are easy digestible. Processed food fits the bill. Well I guess I can live with this for a few days. My gluten free trial is over for now. The noodles didn’t bother me. I’ll still keep dairy free. Wish me a speedy recovery.

The Doctor is Sick!!

I hate it when I’m a patient. I never think I’m as sick as my patients. I
have to be bad to go to the doctor. Well I reached that point at 6 am. I was having diarrhea with crampy abdominal pain every 1/2 hour from 9:30pm till 6 am. When it turned to more blood than poop with R lower quadrant abdominal pain I decided to go to the ER. Most likely a case of salmonella. I got IV fluids, antibiotics, pain meds and imodium. I’m not to sure on the imodium part we don’t use that or the antibiotic with children’s diarrhea. That is why I’m not my doctor. Well off to sip fluids;)