My blogging this week was thrown for a loop when I unexpectedly came down with a bug. No, not a cold or the flu. A computer bug. A Trojan virus to be exact. I was thrilled beyond imagination (which is to say the exact opposite).
As we roll on toward November, no one is exactly thrilled about those cold and flu bugs either. I have a client I see regularly who almost two months ago was already entering a state of high anxiety about flu season. After asking me an unusual amount of questions about the flu, flu shots, and how I felt about flu shots, I asked her if she was concerned about coming to me for massage if I did not have a flu shot. She said yes, a little embarrassed, and I told her that I would be happy to wear a mask during our massages, but I was not going to get a flu shot, simply because the few times that I have, I've developed full-blown flu.
I'm a bit of a short-term pragmatist, then, when it comes to my stance on flu shots. My father, who was a doctor, held the same view, for the same reasons. Like him, my decision is based on this reasoning: "I'm not on salary, I don't have vacation or sick days, and if I get the flu, I will not only be miserable and bored, I will lose income, I will not be available to help my patients, and I simply don't have time for that." I realize from talking to other people though, especially in this area, that there are people who boycott flu shots and other types of immunizations, because they believe that the shots do more damage to the body than even the expected exposure to certain parts of the flu virus.
But no matter what my choices and why I make them, I am glad my client talked to me instead of just avoiding the massage clinic during flu season in an effort to avoid any potential flu exposure. She definitely planned on getting a flu shot, and I definitely planned on not getting a flu shot, but there was a solution we could both live with that still allows her to get the therapeutic massage work she needs. I wish my computer bug had such a painless cure!
As we roll on toward November, no one is exactly thrilled about those cold and flu bugs either. I have a client I see regularly who almost two months ago was already entering a state of high anxiety about flu season. After asking me an unusual amount of questions about the flu, flu shots, and how I felt about flu shots, I asked her if she was concerned about coming to me for massage if I did not have a flu shot. She said yes, a little embarrassed, and I told her that I would be happy to wear a mask during our massages, but I was not going to get a flu shot, simply because the few times that I have, I've developed full-blown flu.
I'm a bit of a short-term pragmatist, then, when it comes to my stance on flu shots. My father, who was a doctor, held the same view, for the same reasons. Like him, my decision is based on this reasoning: "I'm not on salary, I don't have vacation or sick days, and if I get the flu, I will not only be miserable and bored, I will lose income, I will not be available to help my patients, and I simply don't have time for that." I realize from talking to other people though, especially in this area, that there are people who boycott flu shots and other types of immunizations, because they believe that the shots do more damage to the body than even the expected exposure to certain parts of the flu virus.
But no matter what my choices and why I make them, I am glad my client talked to me instead of just avoiding the massage clinic during flu season in an effort to avoid any potential flu exposure. She definitely planned on getting a flu shot, and I definitely planned on not getting a flu shot, but there was a solution we could both live with that still allows her to get the therapeutic massage work she needs. I wish my computer bug had such a painless cure!
1 comment:
You know, since you are exposed to alot of different people in that setting, it's propably a good idea to get one. I do every year. THat way you don't get really sick and miss alot of work. You might rethink that. I also have the problem of clients coming in sick, saying they have a little cold. I sometimes have to turn them away simply because I don't want to get sick. It really makes me mad when people come in sick with little regard to me. SOmetimes I don't think that you can be too careful since this latest flu can be life threatning.
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