Dear Diary, My Brain Has Been Replaced With Cotton Balls

Well, it's that time of year again.

Apparently, my immune system has decided that whatever germs are floating around out there deserve a little vacation inside my body.

I have a head cold.

And let me tell you, I am miserable.

My throat hurts. I have to blow my nose approximately every minute and a half, which is both disgusting and exhausting. My head feels like somebody reached into my skull, removed my brain, and replaced it with a handful of cotton balls. Everything feels foggy. Heavy. Sluggish.

The weird thing is, I'm not even coughing much. I've sneezed maybe twice in the last few hours.

But I still feel like absolute garbage.

And, unfortunately, I had to miss work. That is the part that really pisses me off.

Being sick is bad enough. Being sick when you can't afford to miss work is a whole different kind of miserable.

I don't even live paycheck to paycheck. My paychecks don't cover my bills.

Read that again.

There isn't some magical pile of extra money sitting in my bank account that I can dip into when I get sick. There isn't a comfortable cushion waiting for me to miss a day or two of work. When I don't work, I don't get paid. And when I don't get paid, that money doesn't magically appear somewhere else.

I can't make up the hours. I can't just add an extra day onto the end of the week. The money is simply gone.

And for people in situations like mine, one missed day can hurt a hell of a lot more than someone might realize.

Which brings me to my little sick-person rant:

If you have a cold, stay the hell home.

Seriously.

I don't care if you think it's "just a little cold." I don't care if you feel well enough to go shopping. I don't care if you are bored sitting at home. I don't care if you only need to "run into the store for one thing." Stay home.

Because there are people working in those stores.

There are cashiers, stockers, food service workers, customer service employees, office workers, and countless other people who don't have the luxury of deciding that they aren't going to be exposed to whatever bug you decided to bring along with you.

And maybe the person behind the register doesn't get paid sick time. Maybe they can't afford to miss a shift. Perhaps they don't have health insurance. Maybe they are already one unexpected expense away from falling behind (Or, like me, are already perpetually behind).

And maybe—and this is the part people seem to forget—they need that job.

When you drag yourself into a store with a cold because you don't want to inconvenience yourself by being stuck at home, you are potentially passing that inconvenience onto somebody else.

Except their inconvenience could be much more expensive than yours.

I don't have health insurance.

There. I said it.

And I'm certainly not the only person in that position.

So what happens when I get sick? I try to take care of myself at home.

I drink fluids. I rest. I sleep. I use whatever over-the-counter remedies I can afford. I stay in bed when my body tells me to stay in bed. And I hope it gets better.

Because going to the doctor isn't always as simple as "just make an appointment." For some of us, there's the cost of the appointment. Then there's the cost of whatever medication might be prescribed. Then there's transportation. Then there's the time away from work.

And if you already can't afford to miss work, taking time off to go to the doctor can create another financial problem on top of the one you're already dealing with.

That's why I get so frustrated when people treat contagious illnesses like they're nothing.

No, your cold might not be a big deal to you. But you don't know what the person you are standing next to is dealing with.

You don't know if they have a compromised immune system. You don't know if they have a family member at home who is vulnerable. You don't know if they have health insurance. You don't know if missing two days of work means they can't pay their electric bill. And you certainly don't know whether the person you just infected can afford to be sick.

I'm not saying everybody needs to live inside a plastic bubble.

People have to work. People have to buy groceries. Life doesn't stop just because somebody catches a cold.

But if you are sick and you have the option to stay home?

Stay home.

Order your groceries if you can. Ask somebody to pick something up for you. Wait a couple of days before you go wandering around crowded stores.

And for the love of all things sanitary, cover your coughs and sneezes and wash your hands.

Because there are people on the other side of your "little cold" who may not have the financial ability to absorb the consequences.

As for me, I'm going to spend the rest of today doing absolutely as little as humanly possible.

I'm going to sleep.

I'm going to drink fluids.

I'm going to stay warm.

I'm going to avoid exerting myself.

And I'm going to cross my fingers that by noon tomorrow, this cotton-ball brain has turned back into an actual functioning brain and I can get myself back to work.

Because I really, really can't afford to miss another day.

And that's the ugly reality for a lot of people. Getting sick isn't just about feeling miserable. Sometimes getting sick means losing money you desperately needed. Sometimes it means falling behind. Sometimes it means choosing between taking care of yourself and taking care of your bills.

And sometimes it means lying in bed with a box of tissues beside you, calculating exactly how much today's illness is going to cost you (Just short of $100, IF I don't have to call in tomorrow too).

If you're sick, stay home when you reasonably can.

You might think you're only spreading a cold. But the person who catches it might lose a day's pay. Or two. Or more.

And they may not have the luxury of absorbing that loss.

As for me, I'm going to go back to my tissues, my fluids, and my pathetic little nest of blankets and hope tomorrow is a better day.

And if you happen to be feeling generous and want to help offset the money I lost by having to miss work today, I'm certainly not going to complain.

You can send a tip directly through Vocal, or through Cash App: $ivyrose1428, PayPal: @supportgr, or Venmo: @ivy_rose666.

Because apparently my immune system has decided to take the day off. Unfortunately, my bank account doesn't get to.