How Is Illness Handled On The Road When It Lays You Up?

Okay, so I'm a hotel manager and this past Thursday I got a phone call from my boss, the GM, at 6.30am. Now when the GM calls you at 6.30am it's never good as you can imagine. He told me that the 7am girl had just called in and I needed to get to work ASAP to relieve the auditor. From then on it was a really !@#$ day. I hadn't been meant to go in until 9am so I had to hop out of bed, get ready and get to work quickly.

Now I'm not talking the sniffles or a lite cold, I'm not talking you've got an upset stomach and it's just a matter of stopping every so often to hit some restroom. I'm talking something that lays you out, in the case of the girl who called in it was "supposedly" food poisoning. But do you soldier on if you can? Do you call and say the shipment is going to be late cause your sick? Does the company send out someone to drive you and your truck on in? Does someone send another driver with their own tractor to take over your trailer and continue on while you sit at wherever until you feel better?

I mean you're by yourself unless you drive a team. So when you're doubled over you can't exactly drive. I'm a very healthy guy, just a few sore joints and such and rarely if ever sick. But I'm kind of curious as you can't exactly call into the office and whoever else is there just carries on without you.

Okay, so I'm a hotel manager and this past Thursday I got a phone call from my boss, the GM, at 6.30am. Now when the GM calls you at 6.30am it's never good as you can imagine. He told me that the 7am girl had just called in and I needed to get to work ASAP to relieve the auditor. From then on it was a really !@#$ day. I hadn't been meant to go in until 9am so I had to hop out of bed, get ready and get to work quickly.

Now I'm not talking the sniffles or a lite cold, I'm not talking you've got an upset stomach and it's just a matter of stopping every so often to hit some restroom. I'm talking something that lays you out, in the case of the girl who called in it was "supposedly" food poisoning. But do you soldier on if you can? Do you call and say the shipment is going to be late cause your sick? Does the company send out someone to drive you and your truck on in? Does someone send another driver with their own tractor to take over your trailer and continue on while you sit at wherever until you feel better?

I mean you're by yourself unless you drive a team. So when you're doubled over you can't exactly drive. I'm a very healthy guy, just a few sore joints and such and rarely if ever sick. But I'm kind of curious as you can't exactly call into the office and whoever else is there just carries on without you.

Hay Kevin;

There are many threads from the guys & gals on here, that have actually had this happen. Most often, it's #2 and #4 of your scenarios above. If the load can't be delayed, often a company will T'Call it (have another driver retrieve it, and swap trailers with you.)

When daycab guys get sick (like mine did, end of September) they drive on home after notifying company, and wait it out.

Sorry about your workday! BTDT !! I've been in hospitality/foodservice most of my life, too!

~ Anne ~

Kevin B., I've never experienced what you're describing. I also think it's rare. Consider; when you count on this to provide for your family AND you are living out of the truck AND you can't just go out to eat whenever you want, there are fewer chances to get food poisoning.

I've toughed out some illnesses, but I've also learned that taking Zinc and vitamin D3, help keep the boogers at bay. Although I've never been a health nut, eating more fruits and veggies should help keep this kind of illness from happening.

I hope this helps.

I had food poisoning last June. I suspect my fridge didn't cool my cream cheese enough. I was 50 miles to my first delivery and stopped and vomited on shoulder of road. I got to customer and the rocking of them loading made me more sick.

After the stop, I drove to a truck stop and told dispatch. They sent someone the next day to get the load and deliver the final stop. I was given an empty trailer. Luckily I parked very close to the building. There was a hotel across the street, but it was a motel 6 type.... I was more comfortable in my truck than I would have been there. I was still.sick.when the other driver showed. Was not fun and one of my more memorable illnesses.

Christmas day of 2020, I was visiting with brothers in Illinois. We had a wonderful leg of lamb dinner. I was going to leave by 1800 to get to the Walmart DC in Tomah WI because I was to deliver the next morning early. While visiting with everyone, I started getting pressure in my chest. At that time I was 69.5 years old and had gone through AFib, having my heart shocked about 10 months earlier. The VA doctors keep telling me I'm going to have heart attacks or strokes if I don't do my CPAP machine and take my meds regularly. With the pain increasing and getting to be unbearable, I had my sister-in-law run me to the emergency room in Peoria. By the time I got there I was out of it and they started treating me for a heart attack, but they discovered that wasn't the problem. However the pain was really bad, so they kept me overnight and the next day they did more tests and found out it was my gallbladder which needed surgery.

I gave my sister-in-law my company phone numbers and had her call whoever was on call that weekend to let them know the situation and where the truck was. The truck was at a little convenience store truck stop 30 miles from my brother's place. So he ran the keys over there, met the guy and they swapped trailers out and the driver took the load of pickles to the Walmart DC. It was good that I was at my family's place because I have a little miniature Rat Terrier and he was taken care of because I ended up being in the hospital five days.

About 3 weeks ago I got really sick with a fever and chest congestion... I think I was developing pneumonia. My dispatcher that brings me from the East Coast back to Idaho was really worried and wanted me to go to a VA near where I was delivering. I felt well enough that I didn't want to go and have my nose jabbed for the Chinese virus and then get talked to about getting the jab, which I'm not going to. I struggled for a couple weeks and the company slow down my trips and this last reset turned into 4.5 days off, which was nice. I'm pretty much feeling better and no I don't wear a d@mn mask because my cardiologist has found out that people with lung and heart issues end up getting sicker with pneumonia and other ailments.

Laura

This is where daycab drivers (home daily) have an advantage. If we're sick just call the boss and tell em you aren't coming in . There's been 1 time I felt like absolute crap but went into work anyways. I had 1 trailer going to a store 3 miles away and back, then grab another load going 140 miles away to council bluffs. While cranking up the landing gear I started feeling worse. Ended up calling the office and told them since I'm already in I'll do the first load it'll just take me a little longer. I threw up on the side of the trailer after I arrived at the store.. They were able to get another driver to cover the other load. There have been numerous times I've worked through general feelings of being sick. It's all part of the job and people do it in all career fields. We know our bodies well enough to know when we simply can not, or should not continue on. Drivers are also protected by the FMCSA to not operate a vehicle when we're too sick to do so, which the DRIVER is the one who determines that. You won't catch any flack for informing your company you're too sick to drive but if it becomes a regular thing they could require you to see a doctor to ensure you're still safe to be driving.

The biggest thing is keeping dispatch or whoever needs to know informed. Appointments can be rescheduled, they just need to be made aware of any issues/delays so they can find a solution.

I've had a couple times that I wasn't feeling well, I hardly ever get sick, but I picked up way way too strong of a juice for my vape, after vaping it all day, it made me sick. I just pulled into a truck stop, called dispatch and said I needed another day or two on the load that I had a stomach flu. Just stayed there for a 34 til I felt better and then delivered it.

I've also met and finished a load from drivers who got sick at a truck stop, those loads had to get delivered on time.

Just to add to the experiences here, I've had stomach problems before, usually having to stop more often than I would normally. Once or twice I've gotten some bad Chester's chicken. Usually for me it passes pretty quick, otherwise I just let dispatch know I need to slow down for a day or 2 and let them know im ready to pick it up when I start feeling better.

I don't know about others, but I've gotten into the habit of making sure I have a full med kit on the truck with me. I got over the counter stuff to treat just about anything that can go wrong. From allergies to colds to upset stomachs to cuts and scrapes.

One aspect of this issue is how long the illness will sideline the driver. Short term illness? No problem, the company will work with the driver. But how long will the company wait before it needs the truck back on the road? This can be a huge issue for OTR drivers who basically live in their trucks. I’m sure various companies have various time frames. But an illness of multiple weeks may require the driver to move out of the truck so another driver can use it.

Trucking is equivalent to a 500,000 piece jig saw puzzle. In my experience, each driver is treated as an individual and an illness is evaluated on an individual basis. Each company has it’s own criteria, so it’s impossible to give exact predictions about illness issues. The best thing is not to get sick. LOL