I'm Sick of It

Hey all,

Hope everything is well. I just watched Despicable Me this weekend. Now, that is a good movie. I didn't think it was going to be good, but it is. I really liked it. I finally finished reading The Book Thief. It was a huge success you know, "National Best Seller." I didn't think it was that good.

I have just started reading Samson and the Pirate Monks. This book is about a pastor from Tennessee who was a sex addict. He claims he spent over $300,000 on porn and prostitutes, all while holding a job as a senior pastor. It is about his addiction and his walk to recovery. He was a guest speaker at our church, so I bought the book.

This time of year in Florida, the weather is so hot and cold. Literally. It was 48 this weekend and it is 83 right now. Yesterday it was raining; today is beautiful. This weather takes a toll on peoples’ immune systems. Sickness is running rampant around here.

One of my hygienists got sick about three months ago. It started with a cough that lasted about a week. You could tell she was fighting it off. Then it turned into a full-blown sickness. Of course, she was still coming to work and everyone kept telling her, "Girl, you need to see a doctor." Then the other hygienists started sniffling and fighting it off. Then it started at home. One of my kids got sick and the others slowly followed. First it was the baby and we thought he was teething. But then my daughter was fighting it off like mad.

So both areas of my life are filled with snot and coughing. Then I started to have pain in the back of my throat. You know the kind: when you swallow, you feel like someone is shoving an ice pick in one spot.

And this has gone on for a couple of weeks. It is bad in the morning and I take an ibuprofen. Then I manage through the day and take another ibuprofen before I go to bed. Meanwhile, there is a third person at my office that is now hacking. She sounds terrible. "Girl go to the doctor."

Now my third child and my wife are sick. I don't have a chance. But I remain strong. I am a runner and I don't think I have been really, really sick in about 3 years. My body is a finely tuned machine (well, this is what I tell myself). But the sore throat persists. I am still running and feeling fine except for the ice pick in my throat.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been stressed out and unable to sleep. I have been waking up in the middle of the night sweating and not able to get back to bed. I start worrying about paying all the bills and buying out my dad.

So, with the combination of the ice pick in the throat and the 12 hours of sleep in four days, I have succumbed to sickness. My whole body aches. I am freezing cold all day and all night. I take steaming hot showers and I am still cold. I wrap myself in 3 blankets and I am still am shivering. But my life doesn't stop. I feel like I have to go to work.

I had to coach yesterday too. I went from work straight to the ball field and dealt with 15 kids. Then straight home, where I was asleep by 7:30 (which I haven't done since I was eight). I woke up after 11 hours of sleep and I felt a little bit better. But here it is, 2 p.m., and my body is begging for bed.

Looking back on it, where did I go wrong? When do you tell your sick, snotty, coughing staff to go home? You have patients that have changed their schedule around to get a cleaning. They keep the kids home from school and plan their day around it. They take off work, and then you call them in the middle of the day and tell them that your hygienist went home early because she was sick. They put on a nice face, but inside they are ticked and inconvenienced.

On one hand, you want your hygienist to put a mask on, throw in a cough drop and gut it out. I mean, cancelling a whole day of hygiene can't be good for business. You lose that production and then you might tick off you patients in the meantime (as I alluded to earlier).

Other times you want to force them to go home. But the hygienists are dealing with the same things you are dealing with: bills, family, stress. If they go home, they don't get paid (some of them haven't been here a year to get sick days). If they do have "wellness days” and go home, then they lose those days. And just like you and me, they don't want to use them except for our vacations during the summer or Christmas.

That all seems fine until I am sick. I am sitting here miserable and shaking. I am so cold and my body is rejecting being out of bed. And all because they didn't want to go home. Ugh. I feel like crap and all I know how to do is blame my hygienists. It kind of makes me feel better.

Have a great Wednesday,
john