Sick day.

Second one I've ever taken. Feels weird. But I guess it's the right choice since I don't think I'd be very effective in front of a class today (pain issue, not actual immune-system illness).

Hopefully my kids are angels for the sub, and I don't need to regulate too much when I return. In the meantime, I'm reading, resting, and maybe going to do some grading. Well, I can't just have a WHOLE day off, now can I? :)

I feel like a character from a Frances Hodgson Burnett story.

A week ago I came down with what I assumed was just another cold. A nasty one, sure, and in some ways poorly timed (although my big vacation plans involved a lot of sleeping and reading and hanging out, and my actual vacation activities have now consisted of those, plus drinking a lot of tea, so not that different), but pretty standard.

Today I was diagnosed with bronchitis and croup. Yes, croup. Commonly contracted by the under-five crowd, particularly those living in Victorian novels, and me. I now have an inhaler, and cough syrup with codeine, and some antibiotics (just in case it's bacterial bronchitis in addition to the viral croup, since I'm on day 8 without getting much better).

At least Hulu has the first three seasons of 21 Jump Street. I heart Johnny Depp.

(Image credit to TheGiantVermin)

Sicky Sickerson over here.

This illness? Kicked my butt HARD. It's day 5, and I'm still just sick enough that I wouldn't be able to go into school if I was supposed to, as I haven't been fever-free for 24 hours yet. (It peaked at 101 on Friday; I'm normally around 97.4 so 101 is HIGH for me.) This is the sickest I've been in years, maybe over a decade. (It's not H1N1 though - I did go to the doctor just in case and they said they thought not.)

I've always been of the opinion that I'd rather go in if it's at all possible, that it's easier to be there and be a little sick than to be home and worrying about what havoc is occurring in my class. And maybe that's true, in some ways, but this has made me rethink that a bit. Because if I'd had kids and I'd gone in, I'd be spreading around some hard-core germs.

This is the type of virus that walks up to you, punches you in the face and demands your wallet, then comes back while you're still wondering what happened and kicks you in the ribs a few times just for fun. This is the type of virus that tells everyone it killed a man in Reno just to watch him die, and while you're pretty sure that's an exaggeration, a little part of you wonders if maybe it's not. This is the type of virus that would do something so crazy, so unbelievable, so offensive, that its story would be "ripped from the headlines!" to be featured on an episode of Law and Order.

This is not a virus to which you want to give access to people you care about. This is not a virus that you want to take lightly. Trying to play through the pain works when you've lightly twisted your ankle, not when you've broken your tibia.

I'm going to remember this virus next time I get sick, and I'm going to think hard before I decide to just take some Advil and skip merrily off to school. Sick days exist for a reason. I'm going to use them.

(Photo credit to Around the World Journey)