Roommates or living alone: what's the better situation when you're sick?

I know I posted about being rested and rejuvenated at work and all that after the holidays on Saturday, but I have to admit, that may have been a bit of a premature post. Don't get my wrong, it wasn't a lie, I definitely am reinvigorated but see I technically wrote that on Thursday and simply scheduled the post for Saturday (blogger has a wonderful feature that let's you schedule posts). Then Thursday evening, promptly after putting my PJs on after getting home from watching the Bama/Oklahoma game I started to feel awful. I mean awful.

That feeling just got worse and worse and this past weekend I was really sick. Not a stomach bug (thankfully) and it ended up not being the flu (thankfully again) but this was the first time in ages that I've felt this horrible for this long. I had a wicked sinus infection last summer and have had colds and bugs over the past few years but this really has been terrible, each day I've gotten worse and worse until, well, I've finally started to feel a bit better today after starting some medicine.

In between epic naps I've had some time over the past few days to ponder some things. Along with self-pity I got to thinking about whether it's better to be sick while living by yourself or with roommates. Being the first time that I've lived alone and therefore that I've been sick alone this came to mind. Of course being around your mother to have her take care of you is the ideal situation but when that's not possible I wondered: Is it better or worse to have roommates around while you're feeling terrible or not?

Here's what I've decided and how I've gotten here by thinking about a few key areas...
 

Space and being able to sprawl out: The clear winner here is living alone. You don't have to worry about a roommate wanting to watch her show on TV or wanting to have friends over or anyone really being around you. While I have no problem laying in my bed for hours -- sick or not -- watching TV, snoozing, reading, whatever, for some reason when that's what I have to do to accommodate a roommate it's misery. I want to be able to be queen of the apartment. Take my medicine when and wherever I want. Spill soup on my sweatshirt in the kitchen and take it off right there (only happened twice this weekend). Leave about fifteen used mugs on the counter for a few days then fill an entire shelf of my dishwasher with mugs (happened once this weekend, I really love mugs, btw). Anyway, you get my point.

When I'm ill I just want my space, but this really goes both ways. It's in no way fun to have a really sick roommate. Maybe you have to cancel the dinner or wine night you were planning on hosting or maybe you just get (understandably) sick of hearing a hacking cough or any other noises associated with sickness that are audible within quarters.

Feeling helpless and lonely and miserable: This one has a caveat, having roommates wins IF this/these roommates help do things for you. I've had some roommates that if asked I would have driven her to the doctor or to the store or go pick up meds or fill a prescription for her in a heartbeat; I'd be out the door so fast she'd have to give me instructions over the phone. And it was mutual. I've also had roommates that despite feeling near death (yup, that's dramatic) neither one of us really even batted an eye. No harm no foul, since I think it's common to be on both sides of this spectrum and of course if someone was/is truly in need I think any person would help a roommate/friend/neighbor out. Still, whether it better to have a roommate or not in this situation is based on how close you might be with a rooms and what your social contract with each other might be.

Wanting to wallow/be alone: Living solo is the east winner when you want to wallow in self-pity and be alone. Especially if your roommate was to get sick at the same time, now you're not the sick one you're just part of a sick duo or trio (anymore that three sick-os in one apartment just sounds too miserable to acknowledge).

Okay, so this is a little clearer than I expected. For me despite the loneliness, despite wanting someone to be around and take the place of your mom for a while, it's better to live alone when you're under the weather than to have a roommate. Just maybe be sure to line up some good friends to bring you meds and mags or maybe have your boyfriend/girlfriend on hand for massages and to deliver you soup for the price of air kisses.

Now if you'll excuse me it's getting late and I have a bath to draw and some meds to take that will make me sufficiently drowsy to overpower the fact that I took a 5+ hour nap this afternoon...