Nexus 5 Two Column
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A few days ago, a friend introduced me to the ICE (In Case of Emergency) campaign, which encourages people to add a contact in their mobile phones under the name "ICE" so paramedics, police or firefighters know who to contact in case of emergency or accident.

I was surprised to learn that the ICE campaign has been running for a few years now - it appears I'm a latecomer to this concept, but this is still an important campaign and one which I would sincerely encourage all Glamumous readers to consider.

The ICE campaign was started by Bob Brotchie: a paramedic with the East Anglia Ambulance Service who realised that while most of the people he attended had mobile phones with them, he and his colleagues were unsure which contacts to call in case of medical emergency.

To ensure paramedics and emergency personnel know who to contact if we're involved in an accident or medical emergency, we need to add an ICE contact to the phone book on our mobile phones. The ICE contact is the first number paramedics will try to call  for medical information and to inform of your current situation.

We can have more than one ICE contact in place too. I actually have three, which appear in my phone book like this:

• ICE1 Husband
• ICE2 Dad
• ICE3 Mum

This means that if my husband does not answer immediately (due to his job he's often unable to answer calls), my dad or mum may be contacted instead.

I've also programmed ICE numbers into all of my children's handsets too, with details of our emergency contact numbers.

If you don't already have an ICE contact programmed into your handset, please do yourselves a great big favour and add this right away. Perhaps add one for your partner and children's handsets too, so you can be sure you and your whole family are covered in case of emergency.

Image credit: Emergency Phone by Futureshape.

A while back, a routine smear showed that I had abnormal cells: a pre-cancerous condition called dyskaryosis. I panicked at first, as I'm sure many women do when their smear results show abnormalities. After all, we don't often discuss our private female parts!

I was more than relieved to learn that dyskaryosis is not cancer, merely a condition which could become cancerous if left untreated for a number of years. Ten to fifteen years, as the doctors explained, though of course I wasn't taking any chances! I was referred to the hospital for a colposcopy (a detailed examination of the cervix) in order to find the most appropriate course of treatment. For me, this meant removing the affected cells using a treatment called diathermic loop: where heat is passed through a loop-type instrument to cut away the bad parts and cauterise the skin to prevent bleeding and infection.

It may sound painful, but believe me it wasn't! I had my treatment yesterday, and I wonder now why I'd got so worked up about the treatment in the first place! After the initial consultation and explanations, the treatment itself only lasted a matter of minutes and I barely felt a thing. Just a little aching and light headedness. I still ache a little now, and was told to expect some bleeding for the next few weeks until all is healed. No tampons, bubble bath or sex for a whole month, but this is a small price to pay for peace of mind, I'm sure!

For the next few years, I'll need smears more regularly than usual, just to make sure the problem doesn't return. And if it does, early detection will ensure it is most easily treated!

Most instances of cervical cancer occur because women have "slipped through the net" and haven't been screened as regularly as they could be. So, if it's been a long time since your last smear, please do yourself a favor and have one done. I know they're not pleasant and most uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, I'm sure you'd prefer to know you are healthy, or discover a small problem which can be easily treated, than leave it too long and discover the worst!

Technorati Tags: dyskaryosis diathermic+loop cervix cancer

Literally speaking, that is!

Scientists have recently discovered that reading a racy novel can increase your metabolic rate and help you burn more calories:

On average, we burn around one calorie per minute when sitting still, but reading encourages the production of adrenaline, causing BMR to rise to up to 1.75 calories per minute, say the researchers, commissioned by book store Borders. (DailyMail.co.uk)

Could this really be true: substituting a trip to the gym for a mammoth reading session? Sounds too good to be true, but certainly rather interesting. What do you think?

More information:

• How a racy read can help you stay slim
• Can you really read yourself slim?

Technorati Tags: slimming diet reading metabolic+rate

After a smear test recently, I discovered that I have severe dyskaryosis of trhe cervix. I have to admit that I cried when I first read the letter from the hospital. I'd expected my smear test results to come back all clear, believing I was too young to have cancer or anything like that. And being rather uneducated in the field of "women troubles", I feared the worst.

Thankfully, my GP, the staff at the hospital, my father and the internet all managed to convince me that it isn't cancer: it's actually an abnormality of my cervix which could one day become cancer if not treated. Meaning ten to fifteen years from now. Thank God!

Yet I am still anxious. I need to go for treatment, which involved having the abnormal cells scraped off using a process called diathermy. I know it's nothing particularly serious: I'll be in and out of the out-patients' department in less than an hour; after effects will include only period pains and bleeding for a couple of weeks. However, I hate the thoughts of having to spread my legs again in front of a room of strangers (as I did during my colposcopy a couple of weeks back); I'm worried that the poroblem may not go away; I'm worried about being ill when the kids need me to be super mommy.

But at the end of the day, I'm so happy that the problem isn't cancer or any other serious abnormality. My problem can be treated quickly and easily; I shouldn't worry about it, I'll be fine. I know I will, deep down.

I just wish this anxiety would go away...

Technorati Tags: dyskaryosis | diathermy | cancer | cervix | cervical | treatment | womens+problems | health | hospital

Little Angel seems much better now after her visit to the doctor yesterday. It seems I was mistaken in thinking that she would blame me for her suffering. No, she blamed the doctor, and now appears to hate him with a vengeance! She didn't scream but watched intently (while I had to look away) sobbing "I no likey medsinn, no likey doctor! No more medsinn!" A lollipop later and she was merely limping and sobbing quietly, demanding to be cuddled while we walked back to the car.

My little man was upset with me though. He'd overheard that little Angel was going for her injection and was cross that I'd put her through such an ordeal! He even let her play on his Nintendo (his most prized possession) to "help make her feel better".

It makes me feel so happy that my children love each other so much! Of course, things were back to normal within an hour, when they began to tease and argue again...

Hubby dearest appears to have "man flu". That is, he has what we women would call a common cold. For men, it seems a simple cold is blown out of all proportion and requires many cuddles, Lemsips on the hour, back rubs, sumptuous suppers and much TLC. Poor love, he'd be off work for a week, but unfortunately his partner's away on holiday in the Mediterranean sun and he has to run the shop single-handedly for a while. But I still love him to pieces! Last night, he told me that a husband can truly understand how much he loves and appreciates his wife when he is ill. I could have hugged him for hours!

Technorati Tags: children immunisation flu common+cold family health husbands

Uh-oh!
Originally uploaded by AmandaFaz.

In a few minutes i need to take my little angel to see the doctor for her (overdue) jabs. Really dreading this. I low exactly what she's going to do: scream and run! And then blame me. I wish i could make her understand...