It's hard to reconcile my desire to relax on sick days with my feeling of guilt over not working.

It's only going to get worse as you go to graduate school, but dude...your labmates present and future will thank you for quarantining yourself when you're sick. You have no idea how many colds and coughs I've gotten from sick labmates, and I'm always annoyed when they insist on working, and getting everybody else sick too.

Working hard while you're sick will only make the recovery process take longer. Relax, sleep, eat, fluids, all that.

Hey, have you decided where you're going to grad school yet?