Health Check Day at Work
Every year the company provides mandatory health checks for all of the employees. This starts with a 100 question or so form to fill out. The questions cover a large range of health topics, but seem to focus on stress and mental health. (Maybe it is because Japan has a history of workers dying from overworking.) It took Mio and me close to 1 hour to fill in the answers. The night before the actual tests, we are not allowed to drink, eat or smoke after 9 pm. Even drinking water is forbidden
The health checks are done in groups. A health company is contracted to do the work and they seem to do a pretty thorough job. A whole floor of our office building is dedicated to this undertaking and it takes a whole week just to do our Tokyo office. The health check starts with a weight, height and vision test. Then bodily fluids are collected. Then a heart, pulse and breathing check. Then an EKG is given. Then blood is drawn. Then a hearing test. Then we have to go outside to a couple of waiting mobile x-ray buses for the chest x-ray and stomach cancer test. This is where it gets fun.
I find it interesting that they give a yearly chest x-ray. I was always under the impression that the chest and brain were things doctors did not like to x-ray too often. I guess that with all the heavy smokers here, they take that risk with the yearly chest x-ray.
The stomach cancer test was the most interesting. First I had to drink some powder and wash it down with a small bit of water. This powder explodes when it hits the stomach, expanding it. I was told not to burp, as they wanted the stomach to be full of air. Then, I was asked to chug a cup of barium so the x-ray machine could see inside of me. From here, it was onto a bed that tilts and whirls in all directions. It was more like an amusement park ride than a stomach cancer test as the operator whirled me left, right, up, down, nearly upside down, and had me roll over on the bed several times to mix up the stuff in my stomach. This was actually the 'funnest' part of the whole process.
It took almost 1 hour to go through all of the tests. I can say that it was truly interesting and different. I also can say that I have a better impression of some of my co-workers after standing around together in our underwear (no robes/gowns). This certainly brought a whole new meaning to getting to know my co-workers, especially the ones I had never met before. The whole process was interesting for the medical staff as well. They were not prepared for a foreigner. Most did not notice me, but a few were quite surprised and not quite sure how to communicate with me. The first thing they did was ask me if I understood Japanese. The most challenging part was the ride on the stomach cancer machine. The young technician was giving me rapid fire instructions/commands to roll this way and that as she whirled the bed around. I was not used to these types of commands/instructions and could not follow along. She had to keep coming into the room and manipulating my body into the right position, and then going back out to work the controls. She was glad when we were done.
Now that it’s all done, I look forward to getting the results some day. It will be interesting to see if anything significant has changed since arriving in Japan. One thing I have noticed already is that my blood pressure seems on the low side here. It’s probably from the radical change in diet and considerably more walking here.
The health checks are done in groups. A health company is contracted to do the work and they seem to do a pretty thorough job. A whole floor of our office building is dedicated to this undertaking and it takes a whole week just to do our Tokyo office. The health check starts with a weight, height and vision test. Then bodily fluids are collected. Then a heart, pulse and breathing check. Then an EKG is given. Then blood is drawn. Then a hearing test. Then we have to go outside to a couple of waiting mobile x-ray buses for the chest x-ray and stomach cancer test. This is where it gets fun.
I find it interesting that they give a yearly chest x-ray. I was always under the impression that the chest and brain were things doctors did not like to x-ray too often. I guess that with all the heavy smokers here, they take that risk with the yearly chest x-ray.
The stomach cancer test was the most interesting. First I had to drink some powder and wash it down with a small bit of water. This powder explodes when it hits the stomach, expanding it. I was told not to burp, as they wanted the stomach to be full of air. Then, I was asked to chug a cup of barium so the x-ray machine could see inside of me. From here, it was onto a bed that tilts and whirls in all directions. It was more like an amusement park ride than a stomach cancer test as the operator whirled me left, right, up, down, nearly upside down, and had me roll over on the bed several times to mix up the stuff in my stomach. This was actually the 'funnest' part of the whole process.
It took almost 1 hour to go through all of the tests. I can say that it was truly interesting and different. I also can say that I have a better impression of some of my co-workers after standing around together in our underwear (no robes/gowns). This certainly brought a whole new meaning to getting to know my co-workers, especially the ones I had never met before. The whole process was interesting for the medical staff as well. They were not prepared for a foreigner. Most did not notice me, but a few were quite surprised and not quite sure how to communicate with me. The first thing they did was ask me if I understood Japanese. The most challenging part was the ride on the stomach cancer machine. The young technician was giving me rapid fire instructions/commands to roll this way and that as she whirled the bed around. I was not used to these types of commands/instructions and could not follow along. She had to keep coming into the room and manipulating my body into the right position, and then going back out to work the controls. She was glad when we were done.
Now that it’s all done, I look forward to getting the results some day. It will be interesting to see if anything significant has changed since arriving in Japan. One thing I have noticed already is that my blood pressure seems on the low side here. It’s probably from the radical change in diet and considerably more walking here.
posted by Terry & Mio @ 12:33 PM
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