Hospital – Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2006-12-30 Drew Leave a comment

Had a major breakdown in communications with my temporary Drew’s Journal assistant, spare heir Steven. So, 11 days after the last post, I’m writing and posting this one myself… and baby, it’s a doozy!

I AM OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!

Ok, not forever, but in Japan celebrating the New Year’s holiday, known as Shougatsu, is pretty much the biggest event of the year and all ambulatory and semi-ambulatory patients are encouraged to leave the hospital for New Year’s weekend and spend time with their families. Only a skeleton crew of nurses man the wards, and only the most infirm patients remain.

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Hospital – A Journey of a Thousand Miles

2006-12-19 Drew Leave a comment

Things are progressing slowly now here at the hospital, which is what rehab is all about I guess.

I’ve had some calf pain the last few days and the doctors were worried about embolism but my bloodtest came back ok.

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Hospital – Out of the Woods

2006-12-16 Drew Leave a comment

I’m back. Please excuse me taking those 4 days off. The truth of the matter was that I didn’t really feel a need to chronicle excruciating pain in every detail – who wants to read about that?

I’ve made it through the worst part now, and from here on out I should be feeling better and better every day.

My last IV, an epidural drip, comes out today and then I will officially be free of tubes and hoses – very nice.

The surgery was a success; the only complication was a rather low blood oxygen level on my part.

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Hospital – Any Last Requests

2006-12-11 Drew Leave a comment

The day began early with some crazy nurse coming into our room just before 7 AM to switch on the lights and open the blinds – I swear they do that earlier and earlier every morning.

The Disaffected Japanese Youth was rousted at 7:30 AM to begin his march to the slaughterhouse. The best I was able to understand from the nurse is that he has some sort of rare bone disorder in his shoulder and they’re gonna shave a bunch of it off. In any case, I won’t be seeing him again; they transferred all his stuff to another room as soon as he left.

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Hospital – Idle Hands

2006-12-10 Drew Leave a comment

Absolutely nothing of consequence to report for today. No rehab, no meetings, nothing. The Senior Dancing Champion of Western Japan was discharged yesterday morning, I forgot to mention that in last night’s post.

Tomorrow, the day before the big event, should provide much fodder for discussion.

Until then, I’m taking the day off – these thumb keyboards weren’t intended for typing out 2,000 word journal posts, my thumbs are taking some serious punishment!

Take care everyone, Tuesday my world will be turned upside down!

Hospital – Do You Understand the Risks Young Man?

2006-12-09 Drew Leave a comment

Day 4, Saturday, turned out to be quite a bit more interesting than I initially expected. There wasn’t supposed to be much happening today, just a short meeting with Dr. Hara to go over my new MRI images.

When I woke up for breakfast though I found a message waiting for me on my phone from Ma Li telling me she was going to drop by in the afternoon. I hadn’t expected her back until Monday so that was a pleasant surprise!

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Hospital – Drew Locks Horns with the Head Rehab Nurse

2006-12-08 Drew Leave a comment

We’re talking about Day 2 now, even though this is Day 3, just to make sure we’re all on the same page…

Every evening, provided there’s actually anything scheduled, you’re given a sheet detailing the following day’s activities. The sheet I received before heading to bed Wednesday night promised me a blood test in the morning and rehabilitation at 11 AM – other than that I would be left to my own devices.

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Hospital – Dinner with the Dancing Champion of Western Japan

2006-12-07 Drew Leave a comment

When I stepped out of the elevator onto the 2nd floor of East Ward, Residence Wing, my fate truly began to sink in. Ma Li and I slowly walked down the long hall past 4 person room after 4 person room – all of which were filled with decrepit senior citizens. Aging’s a bitch, ain’t it?

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Hospital – It Begins

2006-12-06 Drew Leave a comment

Ma Li and arrived at Oita Univ. Hospital at 10:15 – just a tad late for our 10am check-in. I immediately began a battery of medical tests. The first stop was an EKG disguised as a medieval torture device. I had to lay down on a table while large clamps with suspicious wires running from them were attached to my ankles and wrists. Next, four large metal electrodes were suction-cupped to my chest in an array across the general location of my heart. I then braced myself for the electronic execution – but it never came. Instead the kind lady smiled and removed the life-sucking apparati and sent me off to my next stop.

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Drew's Journal

Monthly Archives: December 2006