take your time, hope you get well soon shemmy! no good if stuff doesn't heal together well. we'll be anxiously awaiting your return to good health.
i must admit, i was feeling a bit bored/disappointed by the start of the sidequest at first (mostly because the main storyline is so darn engaging), but towards the undead psions the atmosphere started getting tense, and the ending was really grand. now i wish it wasn't over already
as you wrote, it must have been horrible for the PCs, knowing that their success just makes everything for the other PCs harder.