I have big news… actually, I mean I had a big event in my life.

I had to take a surgery and I had to stay at the hospital for six days.

This story felt longer than Harry Potter for me.

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On the first day, I went to the hospital with Mossy – my husband at 10 am, it was a medical university hospital. Then, my doctor at the outpatient service, two gynecologists at the ward and two trainee doctors took care of me there.
A nurse who was in charge of my room gave a tour of the facilities, took my blood for a medical check and gave me medicine taken orally – magnesium 34mg ! – Do you know what it means?
Another nurse who was in charge of my surgery met me, the anaesthetist came to explain the general anesthesia, my five doctors explained to Mossy and I about my surgery, and we signed the agreement papers.
I went to bed at 9 pm.

On my surgery day, of course, I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything.
Mossy came to the hospital at 8:00 am, I went to the operating room at 8:40.
In the operating room,  I saw two anaesthetists and two or three trainee anaesthetists, they tried to give the general anesthesia to me.
It was painful! I shouted but in no time the nurse came to me with a mask to make me fall a sleep.
It only felt like one second and then someone called me. I thought maybe an accident happened when they tried the general anesthesia but then the surgery stopped and I saw three surgeons looked down at me calling my name and said, ” The surgery finished. “
Just after that,  I saw Mossy and heard his voice calling me.
I was so sleepy. I was afraid until that day that I would not wake up after taking the general anesthesic, but now I just wanted to sleep.

I don’t remember well after I came back to the room, I woke up sometimes and talked with Mossy, the nurse came every hour to check my temperature, blood pressure, wounds and a drip infusion.
I felt so sleepy, even when someone woke me up, I fell a sleep again soon or was just dozy. I felt like a pain attacked my left arm. As if an air bubble crashed under my skin.
I awoke all of sudden at 10 pm after which I had a little fever.
I still wasn’t allowed to drink, I could only ask the nurse to help me gargle some water. My voice didn’t come back and I was so thirsty.
I remember I was disturbed by pain, fever and thirst the whole night and the nurse took care of me when she came every hour.

The next day after the surgery the nurse came to wake me up, and she inclined my bed ignoring that I was still sleeping. She said I could walk in the afternoon and tried with me.
I still felt so sleepy and couldn’t eat breakfast well, my voice still didn’t come back even though I drank water – eventually my voice came back on the sixth day!
My doctors and the anaesthetist came to check on me, but really, I don’t remember well what I did or what I said until noon because I had a little fever.
After lunch – it was rice porridge but it was just like water. I tried to walk and I could so the nurse removed the catheter bag. The drip infusion finished and was removed. I was then able to move around more freely.

The forth and fifth day at the hospital were just very boring. I didn’t have anything to do, except wait for Mossy’s visit and when the shop cart came to the floor.
A surgeon recommended me to watch the video that she recorded during the surgery. I felt sick from watching the surgery video but she said, “Don’t you think the inside of your stomach is beautiful?”
I said, “Sorry, I really don’t think so…” Even Mossy said that he almost fainted when he saw it despite that he played a similar surgery game.

I came back home on the sixth day by taxi with Mossy.
Each of the three wounds are smaller than 2cm. They are sewn by melted thread and covered by melted tape (so no stitches).
I have to go to the hospital again to the check up on the wounds at the end of this month.

This is my first experience of this kind of surgery, and I hope it is my last!
Thank you for worrying about me and I’m doing better now.

I’ve not ever counted how many lines and stations there are in Tokyo, and also, there are many railways. You can guess how big Tokyo is now.

If you move to Tokyo, you may wonder where you should live. Of course, it depends on your situation; work, school, etc.

Usually, the west side of Tokyo is a more expensive area than the east side, apartment fee, food at supermarkets and so on. In the same way, north is cheaper and south is expensive.
How about the centre? You can find apartments or house there but mostly it’s a business area, not suitable for daily living. Far from the shops, far from the supermarket, you can find only small grocery stores and even then it’s weekdays only.

As for the apartment fees, it depends on the station and how long it takes from station to the apartment. Usually if you walk 1 min. more from the station, you can get an apartment 80US$ cheaper.
If the express stops at the nearest station to your apartment, that area must be expensive.

Now, you may consider it prudent to live a little bit towards the outskirts of Tokyo but I have to tell you if you live in that area it takes one and a half hours from the centre of Tokyo, and you’d end up taking a bus or walking for 20min from the local station to your apartment.

Of course, if you don’t mind the possibility of living without shower room, share the toilet with neighbours, live in a very old building or only have one tiny room, you can live cheaply in Tokyo.

Where would you live in Tokyo?

So, can you tell me, if you were Tom, would you take a shower before you go to bed or when you wake up tomorrow morning?
In Japan, you might notice that many Japanese take a bath or shower before they go to bed.
You might say Japanese cannot go to bed without taking a bath or shower…

Why?

Maybe, it’s an old custom I guess.

As you know, Japanese always take off their shoes whenever they go home. They never go past the entrance area of a home wearing shoes, but do so building, public places…
Japanese must separate cleary “Outside” and “Inside”.
That explains why many Japanese are so nervous to keep the inside of their house clean. Also: no dust, no smell.That’s why many Japanese take a shower or a bath before going to bed. The bed is almost like a sacred place that is the cleanest in the house. No dust from outside, no sweat from working and walking, no smell from the bar……

Are you reading this blog lying on the bed wearing shoes?
Are you sure you didn’t step in dog dirt today?