what have you done in bad situations

The bottom line is we are humans not machines. If you get sick now and then, its normal. If its too often, the company may have a problem. If the company has a problem and you don't get sick that often, time to look for a new company.

 

man inflation. they used to be 2 for $1 LOL

 

I drive for a pretty large company, probably considered a "bottom feeder" here. Only time I got sick was when I had a terrible migraine, had to pull over to be ill 4 times on the way to the shipper. Dispatch told me to find nearest safe and legal spot, get some sleep, and send in a new ETA when I felt better (to reschedule delivery)
Luckily the shipper took so long, I got in a nap and felt well enough to drive. Just kept my dark sunglasses on all day

 

A five-gallon bucket, heavy duty plastic bags (of various sizes), and multi-purpose napkins could come in handy... you know, for picking blackberries (or eating too many of them).

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Stay at your 9 to 5 job. What do you do in a bad situation you call your dispatcher, tell them the proplem how your going to be delayed then be prepared to get chewed out about it. If you lucky youll get a camera in your truck to take your picture everytime you hit a pothole or get told you have been following to close even though the camera didnt see that truck that passed you and got back into your lane less than 3 seconds ahead of you. Then you have to deal with four wheelers who dont see the need to slow down and get behind you before getting off to the off ramp, heck its much easier to pass you on the left just in time to cut in front of you and get off. Be sure your logbook is right cause if your 15 minutes off and supposed to be somewhere else and you hit them...its your fault.

 

There's TMI in parts of this thread.

 

It also helps to have stuff like Imodium, milk of magnesium, gatorade or pedialyte, coke, or mountain dew, green tea, 5 hour energy for the vitamins, chicken noodle soup for the broth, crackers, tylenol, cold and flu meds ( make sure it doesn't have anything that is a no-no, nose spray, baby wipes, paper towels. Even a kitchen trash bag could come in handy as needed, even for messed clothes.

 

Tampons are good for nose bleeds or if you get shot. Also l have learned to get a prescription for antibiotics. Was fighting a bad UTI last week and those can put you in the hospital with kidney problems if you don't treat it fast l was told. You can even order antibiotics that are OTC legal used for fishtanks. Many preppers stock up on those for doomsday.

 

What to do?

Prepare.

Have a good "aid kit", including some of the things mentioned here in this thread.

If you have family at home, have a secret emergency paper with the needed info about the company, contacts there (including dispatcher's phone numbers), truck license number, driver's license number (SS number is also good to have on record), medications and so on. Keep this some place that it can't get lost but can be accessed if needed. Through the years my wife used it a couple times and it helped her because of stress reduction. Oh and when I was robbed, I had my CC numbers on it so when I had to cancel them, we did a conference call with the CC companies and the bank to cancel all the cards.

Get scripts for all medications for one year worth, this is because if you run out of a med and need it, you can go to any pharmacy and have it filled. I use walmart but a few years back I found out that their pharmacies are independent of each other and the med I needed wasn't even carried in the state's walmarts. SO I went to CVS and got it there - paid cash. I've had an issue with one med that I couldn't get in California so I had to have it mailed in to a UPS store for me to pick up - medications are a pain.

ASK your company what their sick policy is for drivers who are sick while under load, or empty.

I've been sick a bunch of times while I was doing the OTR thing, after the second time, I rearranged my sleeper and put a portable toilet in it - I am not an animal and refuse to use a bucket or a plastic bag.

The rearrangement allowed me more storage so I had more blankets and more room for OTC meds.

Been in the ER a few times, the last time was the worst for my wife. She had problems with the company and the dispatchers - they refused to help her locate me through the qaulcomm. This is a large company that will go unmentioned. That very day in the same area another driver got sick (not as bad as I was), the company bent over backwards for his wife - even offering her a trip to get him. I won't get into any more details other than the hassle of all of it cause me to look for another company.

 

Maybe somewhat relevant also, how do you handle when your manager tries to push you to drive at night when you don't sleep well during the day ?