My dentist wears a mask. Just sayin'.

When I was a young man, I used to go no matter what. I'm sure I hosed some other people in doing so, an prolonged my cold. I can't think of an ailment besides a cold/flu I've stayed home for, except surgery recovery.

At some point I took a work friends recommendation to "burn off" a cold, by getting in bed, under a pile of blankets, and get hot to exacerbate your fever. That works, so i do it when I feel one coming on.

Since I can work at home often, it is less relevant.

One of the keys to not getting sick is a strong and healthy immune system. That takes the right foods, the avoidance of over the counter and prescription drugs. Besides those things I take a product called proberry and AR6 which contain a substance that puts a slippery coating on your antibodies that prevents viruses from attaching...they die and get washed out of the body.
Remember, if your in good health...germs are a good thing, they teach your body to adapt to it's environment.
I wouldn't worry about Zika...like ebola it is much to do about nothing except profit by creatures that really don't give a flying you know what about you or the "collateral" damage they cause.
I also eat right for my blood type which has made the biggest difference in my health and longevity. see: right4yourtype.com

I set up my home office so that I have the ability to do almost anything I need to from home, including answering questions via Imessage from any of the employee computers.

I generally come into the office so long as I wont infect the workers there. I was out for about a month with an ankle replacement surgery, but we didnt miss a beat because of my preparation and ability to use computers and remote access through gotomypc and apple's Imessage and filemaker remote access.

I think planning goes a long way to dealing with illnesses. I try to delegate everything I can and then monitor what happens. My job is really to be the inspiration for what we do, anyway.

Dude, you've got serious stones. (pun intended) ;)

I have had a couple of friends who suffered through kidney stones and they were in such pain they thought they were going to die. I salute you for your fortitude!

I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home, so that's what I do when I'm sick rather than going to the office.

But if the larger question is "do you work when you're sick?", then the answer is yes.

It depends on how bad I feel. If I'm throwing up, I'll stay home. But there isn't much TheraFlu or DayQuil doesn't take enough of an edge off to allow me to function. I may not be 100%, but even if I stay home, I inevitably get buzzed with critical IT issues I have to fix, so it isn't as if I'm just getting the day off anyway...

The one missed lecture was for the surgical removal of a kidney stone. I taught my other lectures earlier that day.

I work when I'm sick because I work from home and because I work on a very small team so we really need all hands on deck all the time.

Although I don't have work, I do go to school when I am sick unless my fever is above 103 degrees F or I'm barfing my guts out. It's just way too much hassle to miss so much. So many things are assigned each day I can't afford to miss.
I did miss one day this year due to illness. I toughed it out the day before and was picked up at the end of Science Olympiad with cold sweats and the tears rolling down. I had a fever of 104 and stayed home the next day. Never went in to the doctor to see what was wrong.
I'm currently sick with a cold, but as I've stated before, I'd have to be barfing my guts out to stay home. :)

I haven't been sick in over twenty years but before that I often did go to work when I was sick.

Figured that work would keep my brain from thinking about being sick.

I tend to go to work unless very ill. I own my own business so I am responsible and if I want to keep clients, I need to perform

Regardless, I am not staying home with the sniffles. On the other hand, if I have full blown flu, I am neither sharing that nor in any shape to perform.

Thanks, Rich. Always glad to help!

Daytime tv is much better when your tv is at the repair shop. Although I am missing My Little Pony.

I'll have to make sure my dentist doesn't spit in my mouth. Great safety tip Mama. Thanks. :-)

Yes. I have a family business and I hate to leave it short handed. Also, daytime TV is mind numbing.

I have missed one lecture in 18 years of being a professor, and had never missed a day of school or work prior to that. I was sick often. Going to work takes my mind off my illness, and usually helps cure the illness.

There is nothing I would rather do than the work that I do.

No Mike, a 9mm and yes it's loaded.

Mike, I make it a rule to not spit into my patients mouths very often. Give me a break. I know you've heard of universal precautions. I have never put my patients at risk, and it's insulting for you to insinuate that I have.

No. I do not go into work when I am sick. And I resent when others do. I went around on this last December, as especially, our work rules specifically stated that you cannot come in when you are sick. I pointed out one employee to HR; and HR said, "Oh, it's just allergies." So I asked him how the cedar allergies were - it being December - and he replied that he was sick. He did not come in the next day.

Coming in when you are sick is like waving around a loaded gun. ... Oh! but I am trained by the NRA and licensed by the state, it is perfectly safe for me to wave around a loaded gun!....

You bring your sickness into the office, as a dentist? How to you avoid infecting other people? Are you cognizant of the fact that having had heart surgery, I am at risk for endocarditis from your germs? How do you know if you have a head cold or the onset of Zika Virus? As viruses mutate, how do you know what happens to yours inside of other people?

Speaking of loaded guns, do you keep your AR-15 and AK-47 in the office, also?

Yes. The main reason is that if I cant go to work then the whole office has to shut down (I'm a dentist, and by law noone can treat patients unless I am in the office). So a good number of patients would have to change their appointments, and a lot of them have taken off from work to come to the office. Also, if I call in sick all the employees still get paid, and all the overhead goes on without any income.
So, unless I am too sick to do good work, I will go in! It works out that I average about 1 day a year off due to sickness.