Selena caught some sort of nasty bug that has laid her out now for about four days. She’s been running a fever and suffering through a cough and sort throat. This is our first time dealing with one of us being very sick, and we don’t really know the ground rules. Here are some issues we’ve uncovered:

Sleeping Arrangements
When the room reeks of illness, and you are unsure if your immune system is up to the task, do you temp rate and lie in the same bed? With a big meeting the next morning, I chose to sleep on the futon instead. I thought I was being wise, but the married folk in the office tell me that was heartless. Shamed, I determined I would brave it the next night, but unfortunately I underestimated the potency of the tea Selena made (which turned out to be not tea, but Thera-flu) and passed out on the futon again the following night too.

Polite Subtlety
Selena is often too nice, and can “nice” her way out of getting what she wants. I think I guessed wrong when she answered “[pause] no, that’s okay” to the question “Do you want me to get rid of the spiky dryer balls?” Fortunately, in that case the stakes were pretty low, but it’s very stressful to discern the true meaning of “[cough] no, that’s okay” when the question is at the level of “Do you want me to call a doctor?”

Time Off
I guessed right, though, to persist this morning when I saw Selena was still in pain. Amidst badgering Selena to get up, get dressed and get in the car so I could drive her to her doctor’s office, I took a second to quickly email work that I would be late.

The doctor told her “f*** the over-the-counter varieties, get some serious ass-kickin’ antibiotics in yo’ system”, (I may be paraphrasing). We then went to the pharmacy for the prescription; I dropped her off at home to rest, and headed into work around noontime. It was then I realized that I have no idea if people do this.

Do you take time off work when you are not the one who’s sick? I’ve never done it before. Then again, I’ve only ever lived with guys like Sam and Jeff and Duke. When a guy is sick, the other guys typically show their concern by generally ignoring him, or encouraging him to quarantine himself in his room until he’s not contagious. If it’s a weekend, you may self-prescribe him a shot of whiskey, but that’s about the extent of the boyz taking care of each other.

Selena’s lucky she’s not one of the boyz.
Wish her well will you.