Off sick and feeling guilty

What is it about being off work sick that makes you feel so guilty?

It's a situation where you just can't win. I had a bout of bronchitis last year, and whilst I don't think bronchitis itself is contagious (it's a bacterial infection rather than a virus), when I dragged myself in to the office to take care of some urgent work a colleague actually wheeled away from her desk and brought her scarf up over her nose before I could even sit down. I was so ashamed, I grabbed the files I needed and went straight home feeling like the Elephant Man.

On the other hand, I felt awfully guilty calling in sick today - but why? I'm certainly in no fit state to go in today, and even if I did I'd just be passing round my virus. Yet, even though I'm genuinely ill, I feel the need to explain myself; perhaps provide some of the gory details about my symptoms or send a photo showing just how pale and crappy I look. And I couldn't even bring myself to sign off my round robin email without saying I'll be checking my emails if anything urgent comes in! Why?! Likelihood is I won't be able to do much from here and I'll have to delegate it to someone else anyway. It's madness.

In other news, I'm on day 3 of 'not being able to eat anything'. I tried some Complan yesterday, and although I kept most of it down I was up all night with the most horrendous gurgling innards. I mean, have you EVER been kept awake by what sounds like a leopard fight going on in a violent thunderstorm inside you?! It was so loud it woke the husband up several times. Freaky is an understatement.