Growing up, I was always the type of kid who dreaded getting medical attention for anything. Whether I was bleeding profusely or in so much pain that I couldn’t think straight, I did not want to go to a doctor. It wasn’t so much that I feared doctors and nurses, but for some reason I always thought I could push through on my own. In some cases, I did get better. Sometimes slapping on a band-aid and hoping for the best actually worked. However, more often than not, the failure to accept my own vulnerability led to serious consequences and bad news all around.
Getting sick or injured is no longer the “Get Out of School” pass that it was in our pre-Choate existences. Some disillusioned students like to think it is, but only because they’ve not learned that there’s no such thing as a “free” day at Choate. Sure, spending a day at the infirmary instead of taking that math test and writing that history paper seems completely worth it at the moment. However, Choate’s otherwise generally sympathetic teachers have no choice but to be ruthless when it comes to missing major assessments and gaps in learning of new topics. Coaches being pressured to make game rosters and starting lineups can’t effectively evaluate the performance of an injured athlete at practices. In other words, being sick isn’t all that rewarding anymore. All it means now is a major investment in tissues and cough drops and a severe limitation on your ability to function at this school.
For these reasons, many students try to fight or deny sickness—a choice that, considering the alternative of needing to make up sick days at a later time, seems like the lesser of two evils. For that exact reason, I have in my possession eight different types of pain relief pills, two types of cough drops, five boxes of tea loaded with antioxidants, and my personal favorite, Gummy Vites.
Even with all these preventative measures to boost my immune system and reduce the effect of symptoms, I have not yet enjoyed a full week of good health so far this year. I know I’ve gone to classes and practices on multiple occasions when really I should have been at the infirmary watching reruns of classic TV shows and getting proper medical attention. Having had to deal with the incredible stress of making up work after a day spent in the infirmary, I’ll only even consider going there when I feel that my condition poses a direct threat to my well-being. Otherwise, I’ll fight through the sniffling and watery eyes and try to forget the dull ache pervading my body.
Recovering still from a three-week long cold, I’m beginning to realize that it would’ve been a much wiser choice to simply avoid long, drawn-out sickness by getting it taken care of at the beginning. I would have saved myself at least two weeks of physical misery and mental breakdowns. As much as I dislike make-up work, I think it’s more crucial in this close boarding school environment to get taken care of, and then worry about what you missed. Too many of us drag ourselves around in our daily lives and go to classes and practices feeling absolutely miserable. Clearly from the lifelessness of classes lately, there’s something going around campus, hitting teachers and students alike. In this case, it’s really up to each sick individual to decide whether or not to be a liability to others by going to classes. Taking a day off to recover more quickly and get back on track is not all that bad. Unless you find yourself alternating between being sick and getting injured and never quite understanding what “good health” means. In that case, welcome to my life.
