I was in so much pain that I could not move. Over the counter pain medicine did not touch it. Getting out of the house to go to an unnecessary doctor's visit was out of the question.

Obviously too little too late but a phone call to the OB would have had the note prepared for you, possibly even sent to your employer after the fact. My wife received one when she had her IUD removed that was for the day of the procedure and 1-3 days after (obviously they could have extended the dates if she was in a great deal of pain).

Here's a couple more details that were omitted from the story. My boss at the time was an extreme evangelical christian and my OB is Planned Parenthood. I am an atheist and I was not open about that at work because I was afraid that telling the truth would hurt my chances of promotion. Bringing in a note from Planned Parenthood to my extremely traditional boss would not have gone over well. Even though Planned Parenthood offers so many more services, a lot of people only see it as an abortion clinic.