Slacker

Hi there.  Been quiet lately, no?  Today I'm home sick.  I haven't missed a day of work yet, but I felt so darn crummy today, I didn't think I could make it through the afternoon patient turnover, work 12 hours, then be on call.  So I called my manager and asked them to bring in the evening person early and I went home.  I feel kind of bad about it.  I have a lot of guilt about missing work.  At least today was a good day to leave early.  I helped get the day started at 6 like usual, so they're not behind schedule (like so often happens when someone calls in sick and the day starts short-handed).  We have a moderate patient load with no portable one-on-one runs.  So staff can stay in the room with a manageable number of patients.  Still.  Do you remember going to the school nurse and as soon as your mom says she will come pick you up, you felt better?  That's how I was today.  Once my manager confirmed I could go early I thought "Oh, Rachel, you're not that sick.  Stick it out!"  But I'm trying to be nice to myself instead of running haggard.  I've got indigestion, nausea, some woman troubles, and I kept nearly fainting while working this morning.  Seriously, I grabbed the wall on my way back from the kitchen with coffee for a patient.  Also, I have an old dance injury in my back that flared up this week.  It's not as bad as it was during last year's flare-up, but it makes moving around and lifting fairly painful.  Thus I just got up from a nap and ate my lunch.  I'm going to lay low and still do call tonight.  I hope I can power through my next set of shifts - MTW all in a row! so I can have an enjoyable Thanksgiving break.