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?
Eventually we reached the nurse’s station and were greeted by a young and genuinely cheerful nurse named Masako – I would find out later that she is actually *my* nurse. Since Japanese medical care is not outpatient, and most people stay for quite a while, you are assigned a nurse to take care of you. This is of course as opposed to say sending whomever happens to be free at the time you need something. My guess is that the personal relationships that develop become therapeutic in their own way, and the nurse/patient interactions I’ve seen so far seem to support this.
ANYHOW, Masako-san showed me around the wing. First we dropped my stuff off in my room. I’m staying in room 212 if you’re planning on dropping by, ha! My room is the standard 4 person affair, but less cramped than you would expect. My bed is electric and I can adjust overall bed height from the floor, angle of the backrest, and incline of the foot with a nifty remote control. This proved especially fun to do while someone was trying to tell me something, I hope I don’t wear mine out!
Each person has a bedside cabinet with some shelves, minifridge, and TV. The minifridge costs ¥200(˜$2) per day and the TV uses a prepaid card system. This is kinda lame. However, we get a full cable lineup here which is better than any hospital I’ve ever stayed at with free TV. As far as I know there aren’t any porn channels though, and if I have to shell out for a prepaid card I want some adult programming damnit! Also, the TVs may only be enjoyed with headphones – like everything else this place is geared towards silence. This is really an amazingly quiet hospital. I heard an old woman unleash a glorious fart at least 30 meters away down the hall last night as she shuffled off to her room. Seriously, super quiet place!
My room’s best feature is the rather spectacular view I have of the mountains through a window running the length of the room. Of the four beds, mine is one of the two directly against this window and what’s left of the fall colors is quite beautiful.
After showing us my room and briefly introducing myself to my roommates (more on them later) we were shown the bathrooms, shower room, and rehabilitation room. The bathrooms have the super deluxe electronic toilets – a definite perk. The shower room must be reserved every day with residents scrawling their names on a whiteboard for one of the 30 minute timeslots. There are also certain times of day set aside for nurse-assisted bathing. I’m not sure if I’ll need help or not my first few days out of surgery, but I’ve seen exactly zero male nurses in this hospital… Mentioning which brought a cold stare from my darling girlfriend, haha. Looks like I’ll be washing myself come what may 😉
Once orientation was finished we went back to my room, 212 – don’t forget!, and chatted with my new neighbors. As you walk in the door there are two beds on your left and two on your right, and mine is the back left bed against the window. The other left bed is occupied most vigorously by Goshou-san, an otherwise healthy individual of perhaps 60 except for recently having been rendered unable to walk. I don’t know all the details, but I do know that his condition requires an extremely difficult operation on the base of his spine. No one at this hospital is qualified to do it, but he’s been forced to bide his time here where the nurses can assist him in bathing & using the bathroom while his procedure is scheduled at one of the few hospitals in Japan that actually can do it.
Across from him, and on your right as you walk in is the Senior Dance Champion of Western Japan. He somehow managed to fall down in such a way as to sever a couple of knee ligaments and damage his shoulder. He’s already had his knee surgery and now is in intensive daily shoulder rehab while the doctors decide if he needs actual surgery – something rarely done for shoulder patients his age. His wife is his dance partner and eagerly awaits his waltzing return.
That brings us to the last inmate whose bed is across from mine – the stereotypical Disaffected Japanese Youth. Almost certainly younger than me, I have no idea what’s wrong with him because he doesn’t say a word to anybody. He just sleeps, stares at the ceiling, and shuffles out of the room to visit the hospital shop from time to time.
Once all was said and done and I sat down on my bed for the first time and realized how long I’d be staring out that window my eyes began to well up, I’ll admit it. But they’re taking very good care of me here and my girlfriend has been wonderfully supportive. (understatement of the millennium)
Ma Li left at 7pm or so for work, and then I had a long meeting to discuss my surgery with one of the doctors who will be on my team(!) – Kumagi-sensei spent 3 years in Long Island, NY as a child and speaks excellent English. So far, poor Ma Li has born the brunt of the translation duties and it was a relief for us both to discover his near fluency. We discussed the procedure in depth, all possible complications thereof, rehab expectations, and future capabilities. Compared to my first knee reconstruction, marred as it was by misinformation and outright absurdities on the part of the doctor’s predictions for recovery, this full-disclosure is wonderful.
After finishing our meeting there was nothing left to do but shuffle back to my room and draw the curtain, collapse into my bed, and drift off to sleep.
If you’re keeping track, this marks two days of journal entries just describing my first day… So I’ve only been here 2 days and I’m already behind! Haha.
There’s always lots to tell at first though, today (day 2) was much less eventful so I should be able to catch up tomorrow.
Now it’s time to drift off to sleep with the sound of raindrops pitter-pattering against my window…