It's been more than 6 months since I started Speech Therapy for my son - how is he now?
In a nutshell - much improved!
He has finally understood the concept of colour. He can do 3 colours, though probably with about 90% accuracy. I should start introducing more colours!
His question concepts are better. He says "Where Mama?" and "Where bowl?" and even says "What's that noise?"
He has also learned to say "Mama, may I have X please?" which he is using very appropriately. From things like chocolate, milk, rice to "open roof" (opening the sunroof in the car), I have found this to be very encouraging.
His speech therapist has said that he talks a lot now, which he does, and he is coherent which is great. He still can't answer questions well like "What do you want to eat, rice or noodles?" and he will say "Yes". Sometimes he answers it. But I don't know if he understood it.
He has another year before school so I will continue with the therapy. I'm happy that I can finally communicate a little with my son, and I am hoping in another 6 months we can have a REAL conversation.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Diet update: 5:2 diet
I have had numerous comments asking if I have lost weight, and I am proud to say that I have. I wonder how much of it is muscle that I've lost, but if my clothes are not so tight then that's a good thing too I guess!
Trying to explain it to people is hard. They think it's bad that I'm fasting - but I keep telling them I'm not starving, it's just super calorie controlled for 2 days and I can still eat. A lot of people say that they couldn't do that, but I find that calorie controlling every day is much harder for me. I know I wouldn't stick to it.
I have to say that overall I am impressed with this diet. I have never dieted before, and never thought I was going to because I thought diets were silly - if it was only a temporary thing then you'd go back to what you were before the diet once the diet ended, so what was the point? However, I can see that I could easily follow this regime for the rest of my working life, as it fits in so easily with it and I don't feel like I'm missing out (except on those 2 days a week) - but there are plenty of other days to eat stuff! For a busy working professional who doesn't do much exercise, I can see this working. However, for a heavily exercising person, I can't see this being good for them because their gym or exercise workout would probably burn more calories than they were eating so they would be net starving for the day! Perhaps they could do NET calories instead of total calories.
Today is my non fast day and I had a hot chocolate and coconut/mango bread and I'm sitting here nibbling on maltesers. Nope, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all :D
Trying to explain it to people is hard. They think it's bad that I'm fasting - but I keep telling them I'm not starving, it's just super calorie controlled for 2 days and I can still eat. A lot of people say that they couldn't do that, but I find that calorie controlling every day is much harder for me. I know I wouldn't stick to it.
I have to say that overall I am impressed with this diet. I have never dieted before, and never thought I was going to because I thought diets were silly - if it was only a temporary thing then you'd go back to what you were before the diet once the diet ended, so what was the point? However, I can see that I could easily follow this regime for the rest of my working life, as it fits in so easily with it and I don't feel like I'm missing out (except on those 2 days a week) - but there are plenty of other days to eat stuff! For a busy working professional who doesn't do much exercise, I can see this working. However, for a heavily exercising person, I can't see this being good for them because their gym or exercise workout would probably burn more calories than they were eating so they would be net starving for the day! Perhaps they could do NET calories instead of total calories.
Today is my non fast day and I had a hot chocolate and coconut/mango bread and I'm sitting here nibbling on maltesers. Nope, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all :D
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Gardening for the kids turns into gardening for me
This year I thought I would do something cool, fun and hands on with a little bit of nature involved - yes, we decided to plant some seeds and watch them grow!
After the successful crop of cucumber that I had last year, from 2 plants my mother gave me which just grew like crazy, I thought the kids would enjoy doing something like that again!
I'm not much of a gardener though. I have lemon grass in my backyard which survives because it's pretty hardy but it doesn't look that healthy! It's a little threadbare but it's been happily growing there for a while. I also had two basil plants last year, also from my mother. She also gave me a kaffir lime plant ages ago and it was in a pot for some years, but since it went into the ground, it grows in all bizarre directions. It doesn't fruit but the leaves are all I'm interested in anyway! I also have a small lemon plant - it's not a tree because it's so tiny but it does bear fruit!
We had someone come and do the lawn maintenance and they made me angry because their version of trimming the plants was to attack them with an edge trimmer or something. I came home one day to find my lemon grass cut down to the stumps, and I complained bitterly to hubby. The plant started to grow again after I kept watering it vigorously - only to find the next month when they came they beheaded it again! AND they also cut my basil plants down to the ground, obviously thinking they were weeds. I was devastated and angry and I told my husband these gardeners had to go! Since then I found someone else and he listens to me and knows where all my important plants are so he doesn't go hacking at them.
So I wanted some basil this year, so I went to the shops to investigate and they sell these things. Apparently you just add the seeds, water and put them in the sun and that's it!
I thought to myself, this is just a little bit TOO simple - I wanted the kids to get into it, so I thought I would go and use some chinese takeaway containers (the round ones) and put some potting mix in it and plant the seeds. 4 lots would be good - one for Mummy, Daddy, E and J so that we could all be proud of our own pot.
The kids thought it was great digging into the potting mix to put into the containers. Then I put a few seeds in each. But there were heaps left inside the packet, so I shook it trying to get it out and a whole heap fell into J's pot. Oops. So I went back to E's pot and cut open the packet to get the stragglers out and she ended up with extras too.
We watered it and looked at them every day. It was a little disappointing when everyday the kids would look and there was nothing there.
However, one day, a shoot came out, and then the next, more shoots! Before long, there were heaps of seedlings and it was very exciting for everyone. We could see a difference from morning to night when we came home and we would water them and take them outside to get sun.
Then I tried to move a few seedlings from the takeaway containers into cleaned out paper coffee cups from the coffee shop at work. They were the same size as that kit in Bunnings so I thought it would be cool!
I killed some in the transfer but a few survived and were doing well. E's pot was getting so full - I didn't realise those couple of seeds I had dropped in was closer to 25 seeds because now she had a BUSH of basil seedlings. I bought her a flower pot that she painted herself and I planted all her basil in there. I tried to transplant some of the seedlings back into the original container but they all died! I didn't know transplanted seedlings aren't allowed to have sun...
Watching the seedlings grow has rejuvenated my interest in my herbs outside. I pruned my kaffir lime, and fertilized the lemon tree, and the struggling chives and spring onions that were out in the yard. I hope that I can keep it up! My mother also gave me some french beans which I planted in the garden - unfortunately the kids ripped a few leaves off as they tried to brush past the climbing frame I had put there for the beans, and the poor plants look a little sad. I think the hot days also helped do that to them... the temperatures here in Sydney yoyo'd from the low 20s to the high 30s and back down again, so my poor plants didn't get a break!
Anyway, every day the kids look forward to watering the plants and watching how big they're getting. I think it's a great family project, and it has been rewarding not just for the kids, but for me as well.
After the successful crop of cucumber that I had last year, from 2 plants my mother gave me which just grew like crazy, I thought the kids would enjoy doing something like that again!
I'm not much of a gardener though. I have lemon grass in my backyard which survives because it's pretty hardy but it doesn't look that healthy! It's a little threadbare but it's been happily growing there for a while. I also had two basil plants last year, also from my mother. She also gave me a kaffir lime plant ages ago and it was in a pot for some years, but since it went into the ground, it grows in all bizarre directions. It doesn't fruit but the leaves are all I'm interested in anyway! I also have a small lemon plant - it's not a tree because it's so tiny but it does bear fruit!
We had someone come and do the lawn maintenance and they made me angry because their version of trimming the plants was to attack them with an edge trimmer or something. I came home one day to find my lemon grass cut down to the stumps, and I complained bitterly to hubby. The plant started to grow again after I kept watering it vigorously - only to find the next month when they came they beheaded it again! AND they also cut my basil plants down to the ground, obviously thinking they were weeds. I was devastated and angry and I told my husband these gardeners had to go! Since then I found someone else and he listens to me and knows where all my important plants are so he doesn't go hacking at them.
So I wanted some basil this year, so I went to the shops to investigate and they sell these things. Apparently you just add the seeds, water and put them in the sun and that's it!
The kids thought it was great digging into the potting mix to put into the containers. Then I put a few seeds in each. But there were heaps left inside the packet, so I shook it trying to get it out and a whole heap fell into J's pot. Oops. So I went back to E's pot and cut open the packet to get the stragglers out and she ended up with extras too.
We watered it and looked at them every day. It was a little disappointing when everyday the kids would look and there was nothing there.
However, one day, a shoot came out, and then the next, more shoots! Before long, there were heaps of seedlings and it was very exciting for everyone. We could see a difference from morning to night when we came home and we would water them and take them outside to get sun.
Then I tried to move a few seedlings from the takeaway containers into cleaned out paper coffee cups from the coffee shop at work. They were the same size as that kit in Bunnings so I thought it would be cool!
I killed some in the transfer but a few survived and were doing well. E's pot was getting so full - I didn't realise those couple of seeds I had dropped in was closer to 25 seeds because now she had a BUSH of basil seedlings. I bought her a flower pot that she painted herself and I planted all her basil in there. I tried to transplant some of the seedlings back into the original container but they all died! I didn't know transplanted seedlings aren't allowed to have sun...
Watching the seedlings grow has rejuvenated my interest in my herbs outside. I pruned my kaffir lime, and fertilized the lemon tree, and the struggling chives and spring onions that were out in the yard. I hope that I can keep it up! My mother also gave me some french beans which I planted in the garden - unfortunately the kids ripped a few leaves off as they tried to brush past the climbing frame I had put there for the beans, and the poor plants look a little sad. I think the hot days also helped do that to them... the temperatures here in Sydney yoyo'd from the low 20s to the high 30s and back down again, so my poor plants didn't get a break!
Anyway, every day the kids look forward to watering the plants and watching how big they're getting. I think it's a great family project, and it has been rewarding not just for the kids, but for me as well.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
5:2 Diet - 6 weeks in
So how have I gone with my 5:2 diet?
It's been a month now, and I've been sticking to my diet and doing quite well I thought. To tell you the truth, I didn't know if I had lost any weight, and my clothes didn't seem to be looser. However, I've decided that I will do the 5:2 diet as part of a lifestyle change, and hubby has decided to do it as well.
We watched Eat Fast and Live Longer, Michael Mosley's documentary on the 5:2 diet, and it was a real eye opener. Having watched and enjoyed his Pain, Pus and Poison documentaries, I was quite keen to watch this one.
The main thing that convinced me to do 5:2 as a lifestyle choice and not just for a diet was when Mosley started talking about Insulin Like Growth Factor (IGF-1). According to the researchers in Mosley's documentary, IGF-1 is responsible for the creation of new cells and when levels of IGF-1 levels drop, the body goes into repair mode, repairing damaged cells. A genetic abnormality which causes low levels of IGF-1 leading to short stature also had the interesting side effect of longevity and a huge reduction in age related diseases such as diabetes, cancer and ischaemic heart disease. Mosley found that long term caloric reduction (ie every day) was too hard, and so tried an intermittent approach, which was where 5:2 began. He went from being prediabetic to normal sugars, and lost weight, as well as reduced blood pressure and LDL.
So, from now on, Tuesdays and Fridays are fast days. It's easier when both of us are fasting. If we have a dinner planned for Friday then we will move it to Thursday, but it will be interesting to see how that works out.
So far, I have dropped 2kg, though I don't feel any different. People think I'm crazy when I say I'm on a diet, and I have to tell them "I'm not doing it for weight loss, it's for the health benefits!" so that they don't start on at me about being anorexic.
I've even started a friend on it! He is prediabetic almost, so hopefully he will do good on it.
I found that it's getting easier to fast. And I do feel conscious about what I am eating on my other days too. I hope that anyone else who is thinking of doing the diet has found this helpful. Willpower on those fasting days really is the tough bit - but substituting high calorie foods for low calorie ones is what will really get you through the day (a bit hard if you don't like eating vegetables though!)
It's been a month now, and I've been sticking to my diet and doing quite well I thought. To tell you the truth, I didn't know if I had lost any weight, and my clothes didn't seem to be looser. However, I've decided that I will do the 5:2 diet as part of a lifestyle change, and hubby has decided to do it as well.
We watched Eat Fast and Live Longer, Michael Mosley's documentary on the 5:2 diet, and it was a real eye opener. Having watched and enjoyed his Pain, Pus and Poison documentaries, I was quite keen to watch this one.
The main thing that convinced me to do 5:2 as a lifestyle choice and not just for a diet was when Mosley started talking about Insulin Like Growth Factor (IGF-1). According to the researchers in Mosley's documentary, IGF-1 is responsible for the creation of new cells and when levels of IGF-1 levels drop, the body goes into repair mode, repairing damaged cells. A genetic abnormality which causes low levels of IGF-1 leading to short stature also had the interesting side effect of longevity and a huge reduction in age related diseases such as diabetes, cancer and ischaemic heart disease. Mosley found that long term caloric reduction (ie every day) was too hard, and so tried an intermittent approach, which was where 5:2 began. He went from being prediabetic to normal sugars, and lost weight, as well as reduced blood pressure and LDL.
So, from now on, Tuesdays and Fridays are fast days. It's easier when both of us are fasting. If we have a dinner planned for Friday then we will move it to Thursday, but it will be interesting to see how that works out.
So far, I have dropped 2kg, though I don't feel any different. People think I'm crazy when I say I'm on a diet, and I have to tell them "I'm not doing it for weight loss, it's for the health benefits!" so that they don't start on at me about being anorexic.
I've even started a friend on it! He is prediabetic almost, so hopefully he will do good on it.
I found that it's getting easier to fast. And I do feel conscious about what I am eating on my other days too. I hope that anyone else who is thinking of doing the diet has found this helpful. Willpower on those fasting days really is the tough bit - but substituting high calorie foods for low calorie ones is what will really get you through the day (a bit hard if you don't like eating vegetables though!)
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Post baby bloat - The 5:2 diet
I've felt a little on the pudgy side lately. Pants are getting tight and the kilos are creeping on, and I'm getting older so I thought about whether I should go on a diet or not, and have decided that I will. I've never really dieted before and exercise is a lifestyle thing - I did try to do it regularly but I just am too lazy. I need something I can maintain.
One of the people who is in my guild in World of Warcraft, suggested to me to try the Paleo, or Caveman diet. The diet restricts you from eating processed carbohydrates and dairy but you can eat fruit, vegetables, meat - basically anything that Caveman could eat and gather - and it sounded ok in that it wasn't a starvation diet, you could still eat. But cutting out carbs entirely is hard. What would I eat for lunch? And what about rice? It was a good idea, but I wasn't sure if I could stick to it.
Then my sister recommended the 5:2 diet. The principle is that you eat normally for 5 days and fast for 2 non consecutive days. I wasn't sure about these starving diets because I thought it would slow your metabolism but apparently there are a lot of positive things said about this diet.
I came across an article called Two Day Diets: How Mini Fasts can help Maximise Weight Loss, and they had a lot of positive things to say. An article in the Daily mail also had similar good reports. Fasting means eating 500 calories (2000kJ) a day (usual daily intake is 2000 calories, or just under 8500kJ). This fasting appears to cause a drop in levels of growth factor, a hormone linked with cancer and diabetes, as well as a reduction in LDL and triglycerides in the blood. Free radicals are also reduced, as well as levels of inflammation.
Professor Mattson, head of the neuroscience at the US National Institute on Ageing believes that it can protect the brain as well. He states that dropping your food intake dramatically triggers protective processes in the brain, similar to the beneficial effects you get form exercise. This could potentially protect the brain against degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Professor Mattson has done a fair bit of research on fasting in rats - he showed that rats got nearly all the benefits of calorie restriction when they fasted every other day when compared to those who were on a low calorie regimen all the time.
In the International Journal of Obesity also reported that fasting for 2 days had more benefit than a persistent lower calorie regime, with reduced insulin resistance in patients.
That was enough convincing for me. So I've decided that the easiest days to fast are somewhere between Tuesday and Friday - days which I work and don't have much time for lunch. Sat- Mon are days I eat with the family or go out, so I wouldn't be able to stick to it those days.
So what can I eat on my fasting days? There was a great list on Marie Claire about what I can eat:
Breakfast
Muller Light yoghurt (89 cals)
Banana (90 cals)
Boiled egg (89 cals)
45g porridge oats (166 cals)
Orange (59 cals)
Apple (53 cals)
Kiwi fruit (47 cals)
Crumpet (100 cals)
1 slice of brown bread (74 cals)
1/2 tin Heinz Baked Beans (100 cals)
2 egg white omelette (34cals)
1 rice cake with sugar-free jam (45 cals)
Poached egg with a slice of ham (100cals)
Alpen Fruit and Nut Bar (109 cals)
50g Total 0% Greek Yoghurt (48 cals)
Half a slice of brown bread (37 cals)
Half a grapefruit (39 cals)
Lunch
Half a carton of New Covent Garden Soup Winter Broth with Bacon and Kale (96cals)
Pitta (147 cals)
Rice cake (38 cals)
Celery (7 cals)
Itsu miso soup sachet (44 cals)
1 tbsp Light Philadelphia soft cheese (28 cals)
Heinz Weight Watchers tomato soup (76 cals)
One slice of smoked salmon on two wheat crackers (48 cals)
87g cauliflower (23 cals)
Tuna salad (175cals)
Waitrose Beetroot and Cheese Salad (172 cals)
Mushrooms on wholemeal toast (110 cals)
Heinz Weight Watchers Carrot & Lentil Soup (87 cals)
1 cherry tomato (4 cals) Cadbury Highlights Hot Chocolate (40 cals)
1 Light Babybel cheese (40 cals)
Quarter of a tin of Heinz Baked Beans (49 cals)
50g cooked prawns (50 cals)
Dinner
Chicken breast (162 cals)
Cous cous (176 cals)
Young’s cod steak in parsley sauce (101 cals)
Tesco’s chilli chicken noodle salad (195 cals)
Roasted aubergine (18 cals)
38g peas (38 cals)
50g cooked prawns (40 cals)
10 spears of asparagus (50 cals)
Weight Watcher’s Mediterranean Veg Quiche (156 cals)
Morrisons NuMe Cottage Pie (300 cals)
Half fillet of salmon (185 cals)
1 roasted pepper (30 cals) 38g
Feta cheese (100 cals)
100g brown rice (135 cals)
I'll do a weekly update and see how I go!
One of the people who is in my guild in World of Warcraft, suggested to me to try the Paleo, or Caveman diet. The diet restricts you from eating processed carbohydrates and dairy but you can eat fruit, vegetables, meat - basically anything that Caveman could eat and gather - and it sounded ok in that it wasn't a starvation diet, you could still eat. But cutting out carbs entirely is hard. What would I eat for lunch? And what about rice? It was a good idea, but I wasn't sure if I could stick to it.
Then my sister recommended the 5:2 diet. The principle is that you eat normally for 5 days and fast for 2 non consecutive days. I wasn't sure about these starving diets because I thought it would slow your metabolism but apparently there are a lot of positive things said about this diet.
I came across an article called Two Day Diets: How Mini Fasts can help Maximise Weight Loss, and they had a lot of positive things to say. An article in the Daily mail also had similar good reports. Fasting means eating 500 calories (2000kJ) a day (usual daily intake is 2000 calories, or just under 8500kJ). This fasting appears to cause a drop in levels of growth factor, a hormone linked with cancer and diabetes, as well as a reduction in LDL and triglycerides in the blood. Free radicals are also reduced, as well as levels of inflammation.
Professor Mattson, head of the neuroscience at the US National Institute on Ageing believes that it can protect the brain as well. He states that dropping your food intake dramatically triggers protective processes in the brain, similar to the beneficial effects you get form exercise. This could potentially protect the brain against degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Professor Mattson has done a fair bit of research on fasting in rats - he showed that rats got nearly all the benefits of calorie restriction when they fasted every other day when compared to those who were on a low calorie regimen all the time.
In the International Journal of Obesity also reported that fasting for 2 days had more benefit than a persistent lower calorie regime, with reduced insulin resistance in patients.
That was enough convincing for me. So I've decided that the easiest days to fast are somewhere between Tuesday and Friday - days which I work and don't have much time for lunch. Sat- Mon are days I eat with the family or go out, so I wouldn't be able to stick to it those days.
So what can I eat on my fasting days? There was a great list on Marie Claire about what I can eat:
Breakfast
Muller Light yoghurt (89 cals)
Banana (90 cals)
Boiled egg (89 cals)
45g porridge oats (166 cals)
Orange (59 cals)
Apple (53 cals)
Kiwi fruit (47 cals)
Crumpet (100 cals)
1 slice of brown bread (74 cals)
1/2 tin Heinz Baked Beans (100 cals)
2 egg white omelette (34cals)
1 rice cake with sugar-free jam (45 cals)
Poached egg with a slice of ham (100cals)
Alpen Fruit and Nut Bar (109 cals)
50g Total 0% Greek Yoghurt (48 cals)
Half a slice of brown bread (37 cals)
Half a grapefruit (39 cals)
Lunch
Half a carton of New Covent Garden Soup Winter Broth with Bacon and Kale (96cals)
Pitta (147 cals)
Rice cake (38 cals)
Celery (7 cals)
Itsu miso soup sachet (44 cals)
1 tbsp Light Philadelphia soft cheese (28 cals)
Heinz Weight Watchers tomato soup (76 cals)
One slice of smoked salmon on two wheat crackers (48 cals)
87g cauliflower (23 cals)
Tuna salad (175cals)
Waitrose Beetroot and Cheese Salad (172 cals)
Mushrooms on wholemeal toast (110 cals)
Heinz Weight Watchers Carrot & Lentil Soup (87 cals)
1 cherry tomato (4 cals) Cadbury Highlights Hot Chocolate (40 cals)
1 Light Babybel cheese (40 cals)
Quarter of a tin of Heinz Baked Beans (49 cals)
50g cooked prawns (50 cals)
Dinner
Chicken breast (162 cals)
Cous cous (176 cals)
Young’s cod steak in parsley sauce (101 cals)
Tesco’s chilli chicken noodle salad (195 cals)
Roasted aubergine (18 cals)
38g peas (38 cals)
50g cooked prawns (40 cals)
10 spears of asparagus (50 cals)
Weight Watcher’s Mediterranean Veg Quiche (156 cals)
Morrisons NuMe Cottage Pie (300 cals)
Half fillet of salmon (185 cals)
1 roasted pepper (30 cals) 38g
Feta cheese (100 cals)
100g brown rice (135 cals)
I'll do a weekly update and see how I go!
Children: Speech improving
I am not sure if it is the speech therapy or time, but my son has had a marked improvement in his speaking in the last week or two.
He's been singing songs - lots of songs, not just one or two - which include Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row row row your boat, Big Balloon (Peppa pig), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Fruit Salad... it's so heartwarming and encouraging!
Even last week at Daycare, the teacher said that he was very happy that day, talking a lot and singing, and that he was her favourite boy in the day care. He is very friendly after all.
I'm supposed to be doing the choice boards with him now, but I find it a little hard as he already knows the words. The choice boards are good if they aren't talking yet, I can see that, but I am still a little hesitant as to how to give him the most benefit from them.
The other great thing is that he's started looking at books. He used to hate books, but every night he likes to read Charlie and Lola, and also Room on the Broom as well as his picture ABC book. He would rather point at the pictures and talk about them than listen to me read the words, but it's a start.
I wonder what he'll be like at the end of the year?
He's been singing songs - lots of songs, not just one or two - which include Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row row row your boat, Big Balloon (Peppa pig), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Fruit Salad... it's so heartwarming and encouraging!
Even last week at Daycare, the teacher said that he was very happy that day, talking a lot and singing, and that he was her favourite boy in the day care. He is very friendly after all.
I'm supposed to be doing the choice boards with him now, but I find it a little hard as he already knows the words. The choice boards are good if they aren't talking yet, I can see that, but I am still a little hesitant as to how to give him the most benefit from them.
The other great thing is that he's started looking at books. He used to hate books, but every night he likes to read Charlie and Lola, and also Room on the Broom as well as his picture ABC book. He would rather point at the pictures and talk about them than listen to me read the words, but it's a start.
I wonder what he'll be like at the end of the year?
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Coming to work when sick - should you just stay at home?
Currently I am in the 4th week of illness with a cold that came on top of me still recovering from a cold. I have been coughing up green phlegm and my cough is revolting, and my nose is runny and I sound awful. Why don't I call in sick, people ask.
It's true - I often feel like it's some kind of show of weakness if I call in sick. Obviously if I am REALLY sick with something dreadfully contagious then I don't go in to work - I don't want to give it to my patients. But what about that cold that I'm carting around, perhaps I should be calling in sick?
An article in the Sydney Morning Herald made me think about the impact of my going in to work sick. I mean, obviously I knew this already, working in the health care profession, but because colds just seem to be a part of life when you're in medicine, I hadn't really thought about it.
The best I can do is keep my mask on so that I don't cough my filthy secretions everywhere and wash my hands every time I touch my nose. The article states that you are being selfish by coming into work when you're ill, but I don't think it's selfish. There are deadlines and things to meet, and people who are relying on you and the domino effect of you being sick that affects your patients who are awaiting their surgeries. Perhaps focussing on certain hygiene practices at work to help minimise transmission can help.
It's true - I often feel like it's some kind of show of weakness if I call in sick. Obviously if I am REALLY sick with something dreadfully contagious then I don't go in to work - I don't want to give it to my patients. But what about that cold that I'm carting around, perhaps I should be calling in sick?
An article in the Sydney Morning Herald made me think about the impact of my going in to work sick. I mean, obviously I knew this already, working in the health care profession, but because colds just seem to be a part of life when you're in medicine, I hadn't really thought about it.
Turns out this attitude imposes a massive impost on the economy. A 2011 study done by health insurer Medibank Private found that people who went to work when they were sick cost the economy $34.1 billion in the 2009/2010 financial year – yes, you read that right – and lowered GDP by 2.7 per cent.I guess I hadn't really thought about that aspect of it. With a son in child care, and both parents working in hospitals, we just take the cycle of colds in stride. For businesses I can see why they would encourage people to get sick, especially if they don't have much leway for covering sick leave. This example from the article:
“I once looked after an office where all the team sat in pods down one side of the building. One of my team came back from overseas, where she caught a shocker of a ‘flu. Because she thought it would look suspicious for her not to return to work, she came into the office as pale as a ghost. She literally didn't stop coughing and sneezing until a few of her colleagues came to me complaining and suggesting I send her home,” Slezak says.
“I did send her home – via the doctor who gave her a medical certificate to stay home for the rest of the week. But she came back in the next day, claiming she felt better. Over the next six weeks it was like a domino effect as that ‘flu literally struck my entire team down, pod after pod. I had staff off sick for days at a time and at one point an entire business unit was out for the count. Even I wasn't able to escape it."However, as a contracter, any day I call in sick, I don't get paid. And when I work in the private hospital, it's really hard to find someone at last minute to cover you, and the patients you may have to cancel because you are sick have many inconveniences as well because THEY had to take the day off, or get their next of kin to take them in and thus they had to take a day off and having to reorganise all that can be a big drama and you end up with some very disgruntled people.
The best I can do is keep my mask on so that I don't cough my filthy secretions everywhere and wash my hands every time I touch my nose. The article states that you are being selfish by coming into work when you're ill, but I don't think it's selfish. There are deadlines and things to meet, and people who are relying on you and the domino effect of you being sick that affects your patients who are awaiting their surgeries. Perhaps focussing on certain hygiene practices at work to help minimise transmission can help.
In Asian countries, mask wearing when ill seems to be a very common practice. I think that it would be good if people in Australia did that as well - though it's all very well to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, that hand is covered in germs when you touch a door or a table or a pen, but perhaps with a mask over your face, hopefully most of that is caught in the cloth, and a quick rub of some quick drying antibacterial hand gel after you touch you face or nose would help minimising infecting co-workers. If businesses could invest in that, so people who do want to come to work and help get their job done (rather than implying they are selfish and irresponsible) then productivity could be maintained.
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