Is it Monday already? Gosh, my weekend went by in a blur, and not in a good way.

The last time I made an entry (on Friday), I was a little nauseated, but otherwise getting through the night shift okay. Then, at 4am Saturday morning, I started to develop severe symptoms of gastroenteritis ( food poisoning in layman terms ), which continued for the next 48 hours, with fever and the inability to eat anything except for a few mouthfuls of porridge and small cups of water and fruit juice. I got to know my bed and pillow very well, and only started eating better yesterday evening. I had to call in sick, of course, and hope the ER wasn't too busy during my absence. I'm still having a low-grade fever at the moment, and my tummy's churning, but I'll see how it goes when I report for afternoon shift later today. Do I feel well enough to work? Honestly speaking -- no way. But do I have a choice? Nope. We're short enough as it is, and the way my department works, if you take medical leave and the standby MO gets called down, you jolly well make it up to him/her, meaning you forfeit your off day and pay him/her back another time. In my opinion, this nullifies the concept of "medical leave", 'cos c'mon, if you have to pay someone back for a legitimate sick day, you shouldn't even consider that an MC, right? Oh well, there are forces beyond my control, so let's hope I get through today in one piece ( that's my new mantra, by the way :P ).

So what's the cause of my illness? Probably something I ate from the staff room pantry -- they leave food on the table as supper for the night shift people sometimes. I took some noodles in a packet, but it tasted funny so I threw it away after taking a couple of bites. Must've been super-toxic, considering the effects it had on me. I still get nauseous just thinking about it, blech... That's the last time I ever touch the food on that table.

The upside in all this is how well my mom takes care of me. Really grateful to her for that. :)

I start work at 3. Last temperature check 37.4 degrees Celsius. 5 more hours to go. Help...