fit note v sick note

this fit note thing is a bit weird, having worked out a phased return to work it now appears that one day i am considered fit for work, the next i'm not. so what should i do on days when i am not working? retreat to the sofa and day time tv?

one of my biggest faults is probably that i take too long to recognise that i'm not well and should take some time off to recover, combined with the fact that i often go back to work too early, when actually taking a further day or two might have been better in the long run.

take for example the time i had an operation on my head. the operation was on a monday morning, i went to my aunt and uncle's to convalesce and was back home on the thursday of the following week. the next day i went to my gp to get a sick note for my time off and to ask him to sign me back to work as i had to take some young people away for the weekend that evening. he promptly signed me off work for another two weeks and told me what i did in my spare time was up to me!

today i feel at a bit of a loose end. i went to work on monday for five hours and was quite tired by the end of it. yesterday i had a meeting in the afternoon and came home quite tired. today i am not to work, and i am twiddling my thumbs - there is plenty to do housework wise, but that doesn't inspire me! i know that i have a long to do list waiting for me, but officially i can't touch it. and tomorrow i am not working either...

i don't feel that i can gad around town, do a little shopping, lunch with friends etc whilst i'm not well, but i am not wanting to sit around the house all day either.

so any suggestions gratefully received...

what i have done so far today is - set up my wormery (purchased the other week, but you had to send off for the worms and they arrived in the post this morning) and walk to the chemists to pick up a prescription. the walk was a lot easier than when i attempted it last week, which is progress. i can also report progress on the landscaping at the new gp surgery, more plants have been put in and there was a man working on it when i walked past. it really does not look like the picture on the previous post, but i can't find a more up to date one. i also had a facebook conversation with one of my cousins and admired some of his course work via the medium of youtube. isn't modern technology wonderful!

fit note = back to work

it had to happen one day, but now i am back at work...

last week the doctor gave me one of these new 'fit notes' (as opposed to sick notes) and we decided that i would attempt a return to work this week. fortunately work are happy with the suggestion that i have a 'planned re-entry' and i sat down with my line-manager and my diary and we worked through the next four weeks, looking at what days i would work and those that i wouldn't. it was a matter of prioritising meetings and so if i don't come to yours - sorry it's not a priority!

in many ways i was grateful to see my desk again, though even just writing that might imply that i am obviously not well, but it was a bit quiet as my colleague was working in north cornwall today. though maybe that was for the good as i was able to put my head down and work through the emails and the post and come up with an a4 page of 'to do's', but bear in mind this is also on top of the 'to do's' that i had prior to being ill.

anyway this week i worked today 11-4, have a meeting tomorrow afternoon and then another one on friday afternoon (very important one). i did also have a training day on saturday but at lunch time an email came through cancelling it, which in some ways i am disappointed by, but as i now feel very tired after a few hours work is possibly a good thing.

it was also a good day to be back as i had missed some cake whilst i was away (birthday/ leaving do's) and today was claire's birthday and she had brought some cakes - so i enjoyed a jelly tot cupcake with my afternoon tea.