We are allowed 10 absences a year at work. I usually take ten. When I was pregnant, I had to borrow 20 days and am now in the whole. I was supposed to be tenured last year, but because I had too many absences (16 but all accounted for with medical notes) my principal postponed my tenure to this year. Well, I started off very well. I got sick two weeks ago with a killer flu, but I went to work every day and trudged through it. Then Sunday night I started with horrible coughing fits that sent me straight into an asthma attack. I stayed home Monday thinking that I would be well enough to go to work on Tuesday. I awoke to a coughing fit and shivers. I took my temperature and it was 101.9. DOTM decided to take me to the hospital as I was not able to catch my breath. Well, at the hospital my temp was 103.5. I was given a nebulizer treatment, an EKG (standard for people who can’t breath), a chest x-ray, and a bunch of blood cultures to determine if I had pneumonia. Luckily, it wasn’t pneumonia. It is, however, a VERY BAD CASE OF BRONCHITIS. So bad that I am not allowed to go back to work until next Monday. The problem is that now I had 14 absences and I don’t think I am going to get tenure. How shitty is that?