Poorly Sick

I’m off sick, boo, but it’s Thursday, which means it’s R2BC (reasons to be cheerful) day so I’m on the sofa under a blanket, looking for the bright side:

1- I’m sick on a work day.

I do feel bad that I’m not in work today, there was stuff I wanted to get done, I’m missing our monthly lab meeting and there is also a slight risk that my colleagues just think I have a hangover. We hosted a meeting last night, the kind that comes with some food and a fair bit of booze. I actually had none of the latter as I was already starting to feel dodgy, I just hope this was noted by my lab mates! (If you’re reading this – I’m really really not just hungover!!)

However, the down sides of being poorly on a work day are as nothing compared to those of being ill on a Mummy day. The sick leave policy of the stay at home Mum is positively Dickensian. Pounding head? Snot face? Running to the loo every five minutes? Tough. There is a small person who wants food and entertainment and will scream as loud as needs be to get it. There is the DVDs on the sofa option but it will only last so long and you’ll probably feel guilty about it – other people are doing crafts, baking, learning chuffing mandarin you’re grumpy and hoping you’re child will be zombified in front of Happy Feet for as long as humanly possible. ooh the guilt fairy.

So being poorly sick on a work day is, relatively speaking, pretty sweet. I feel rubbish, but after the struggle to get E to nursery I could just gingerly sip my peppermint tea, then go back to bed. I am so very glad of that!

2- Vaccinations

The Lovely Mr McG landing at the sort of airstrip that makes me feel even sicker…

I’m not really all that poorly, I’m taking the opportunity to feel sorry for myself of course, but while I’ve been under my blanket on the sofa I’ve been catching up on some TV that’s reminded me just how lucky I am.  Ewan McGregor’s Cold Chain Mission follows the lovely Mr McG as he travels with teams delivering vaccines to some of the remotest places on Earth. Here we pretty much take it for granted that our kids can be vaccinated against diseases that killed or disabled many in our parents or grandparents generations. It’s horrible seeing those pins stuck in your tiny baby but they won’t remember it by the time you get home from the GP’s surgery, and home is probably only minutes away. The Nepalese families in the first episode of this programme live 22 hours walk, not from the nearest hospital or big town, but from the nearest road. Others in the Republic of Congo are days away from the outside world, only able to travel in small boats. For them popping to the GP is out of the question so they rely on teams of people who will literally trek over mountains and wade through swamps to ensure their children are protected. If the weather, or the politics stops them getting through then the children could miss out. How lucky I am to just take it for granted that I need never worry about my child being crippled by polio, blinded by measles or god forbid something even worse.

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Also, frankly, how lucky I am to have 2 hours of Ewan McGregor to watch while I’m feeling ill, although unusually for him he remained fully clothed at all times…

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