Not MS. Norovirus, trouble with my boss. Please read.

New diagnosis and before diagnosis
1

Tuesday 11th December I called in sick to work after experiencing vomiting for approx 12 hours through the previous night. The vomiting lasted about 24 hours and I was unable to keep even fluids down. I then began to experience severe diarrhea which lasted around 48 hours and looser than normal stools for a further 24-48 hours. Throughout these 5 days I could barely sleep, hadn’t eaten and was slightly dehydrated, which caused headache and extreme fatigue. On day 5 my partner called NHS 24 who advised that in some people the virus was lasting slightly longer than usual but if I still felt as bad by day 7 or became extremely dehydrated then call back. They advised not to visit hospital unless absolutely necessary as this would only risk spreading the virus to already sick people. In addition, their advice was to stay off work for at least 48 hours after the last symptoms. As I work in an office where desks/phones etc were share I thought this was probably for the best as it would mean risking my colleagues becoming ill over the Christmas period.

Thankfully day 6 and 7 were mainly symptom free, so I returned to work on day 8. This meant I had been off work from the Tuesday to Friday the 1st week and the Monday of the following week. My boss was out of the office when I returned to work and only came back into the office today.

Today is my rota day off and I am not due to return to work until next Thursday. Out of the blue this morning my boss phoned me to discuss my absence and questioned why I had needed 5 full days off work when there was a weekend in between (in effect illness for 7 days). She also mentioned that other people in the office who have had the bug were only off for approx 2 days.

This annoyed me to the point of aggressively explaining to her that had my consciencious colleagues remained off work the same way I had then maybe I wouldn’t have caught it in the first place!!!

Now that I’m off the phone I’m questioning whether 5-7 days (5 actual days off) was an excessive period of time to have off due to Norovirus. What do you guys think?

2

If you were sick, you were sick. We all respond differently to viruses. People with underlying medical conditions can have a more severe reaction in which case being off for longer would be expected. It might be a good idea to mend the bridges with your boss, but make it clear that you weren’t exactly taking a holiday! Karen x

3

The rules are as you state 48 hrs after your last symptom…and yes if people stuck to that it wouldn’t be spreading like wildfire.

As Karen says when you see your boss you can explain how ill you were and that you had needed to contact NHS direct because you were so ill and the last thing they wanted was you turning up at hospital as you would pass it on.

Are they aware that your dx also makes your reaction to illness worse?

In my book you did the right thing,and to be fair the boss should be refusing to allow people back into the building until they have gone the 48hrs. I guess its just easier not having to cover them while they are off with no regard to infection control.

Hope you are feeling better as its a nasty little bug.

Pip