On being sick

 Influenza ward (it appears outdoors) Walter Reed Hospital.  1918.

I have had, I'm pretty sure, the flu this past week.

Taking my doing 1918 day by day, as it were, or as it's accidentally become, a bit too far.

Anyhow, I had thought I was being really lucky.  I didn't take the flue shot as I used to be allergic to one of the constituents.  A recent allergy test revealed that is no longer the case, but I still didn't get it.  Anyhow, people were getting sick all around me, but I wasn't.

But I wasn't getting very much sleep either.  Due to work pressures and stress I was down to about four hours a night for about two months running.  Way less than you should be getting.

My partner who has the next office over from mine was taken out by some bug, perhaps the flu, for a couple of days about three weeks ago.  He recovered pretty quickly.  Our associated was in rough shape about the same time.  My daughter came home with some really nasty virus.  But I kept on keeping on.

I went down to Denver for a small one day trial.  Opposing counsel had the flu and I spent part of the time holed up in a jury room with that counsel.  He got sicker and sicker as the day went on.

We came back and I was still find.

A week ago today I went into our office.

The boiler was out, and it was really cold.  I was shivering in my office and recovered a space heater from another office to heat mine, but that was probably too late.

I felt okay on Sunday, however.

On Monday I felt a little weird when I went into the office.  My throat hurt a bit, but I told myself that I wasn't really sick.  Probably had been snoring or something.

The heat was still out for most of they day.

By the time I got home it was undeniable.  When I woke up the next day I was too sick to go in.  I worked, however, from home.  All day.  I put as many hours as I would have as if I'd been there at work.

The next day I felt a little better and I worked all day and into the night, as I had a meeting that night.  By the following morning I was hugely ill.  I went into the office as I had no choice.  The next day was even worse.  I made it to noon and came home.

I feel a little better today.  I've become so acclimated to working six days a week I'm struggling not to go down to my office, but I'm not going to.  I think I'm getting the "you're sick, rest today" warning from my system.

A few observations that have occurred to me this past week.

When you are employed as a lawyer, it isn't really possible to have sick days.  I don't think many folks outside the profession grasp that, but unless you are hospitalized, everything keeps moving, so you will too.

That's bad, as that's how other people get infected, and its how people get so run down they end up in the hospital or dead. But that's the way it is.

I can't stand perfume. Ever.  But when you are sick, it's completely vile.

I really don't grasp why women wear perfume.  It's horrid.  It is a weird, weird, holdover from an earlier era when the entire world stank.  That days is over.

The combined cigarette smoke, perfume smell is even worse.  The perfume isn't going to cover the cigarette smell, it combines with it. The result is horrid.

You never really get over any significant injury that you've ever had. When you have something like this, you remember every bad injury you ever had.  I hurt everywhere.