Book of Mirrors

So, woke up today with the headache from hell. Not a migraine, just the feels-like-your-head-is-in-a-vice kind. I took two Tylenol #3's (thanks to LuneNoire), and it got worse instead of better, and started travelling down my shoulders. (Not that I think the drugs caused it - just that they weren't effective.) I was also feeling some of the effects of the narcotics, which NEVER happens to me. (20/20 hindsight, they weren't bad effects, but just having ANY is completely not the norm for me.)

So, I tried going to bed a couple of times (needless to say, I had already called off work), and was finally able to sleep, and I woke up around 2pm-ish, feeling much better. Very groggy, with the tiniest of dull aches in the same areas that hurt before, but definitely much better. I've feasted on mangoes and flatbread, and I'm now just chilling out at the 'puter.

So, here's my dilemma:

I was originally scheduled to work today from 9a-4p, so I could attend an informational dinner given tonight on our new lasers. I feel now like I could go to this, and feel OK. (Because I was sick, I gave BlckwngdOrcl the car, but he left me his MARTA card, just in case.) But, I have this idea in my head that, if I call off work on any given day, even if I feel better later in the day, I've forfeited my right to leave the house on any non-doctor-related endeavors. This particular ethic of mine frustrates BlckwngdOrcl to no end, and, for whatever reason today, I wonder if this is a good and noble ethic, or one fueled by my unnaturally high propensity to feel guilty about things. Basically, it's a punishment thing to myself. It stems from that whole stereotype of if-you're-too-sick-to-go-to-work/school-you're-too-sick-to-insertotheractivityhere. Setting aside that this dinner is actually work-related, so it might be BETTER if I go to it, even though I'm one of the weirdos that actually adores meetings and conferences, especially when they're providing a free meal, as this one is...

I'm curious how other people feel about this. I'm too much in my own situation, I think, to look at it more objectively. I'm truly interested in responses here. Do you think this is a good thing, to have this ethic about calling off of work, and not doing anything else the rest of the day, even when I feel better? Or is it just me martyring myself? Or, y'know, any other thoughts you have.