Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Disposal of Record of My Resident Days

　　I'm starting writing about my resident days, the story of about 30 years ago. I was being required to complete the progress summary of every inpatient in my charge just after their discharge. I found it too much trouble to organize them as I had to care for other new patients or being transferred to my office one after another.
　　The summary paper consisted of three sheets and when you write on the 1st sheet, your writing is duplicated on the 2nd and 3rd sheets. The 2nd sheet was supposed to be filed into the medical record in the term of the hospitalization and then it was to be archived. The 3rd one was inserted into the opd chart for following-up on the post-discharge patient. Then the 1st one was kept by a doctor in charge.
　　When I finished the resident term, the head doctor told me to privately keep the summaries from then on until when I'll stop working as a doctor never to lose my initial enthusiasm toward medicine by reading them from time to time. I've actually followed his words for more than 30 years. I recalled those days nostalgically and have often felt that the current medicine would have saved some of the departed.
　　I shredded a bunch of them today. I was able to remember some of them, but most of the patients had disappeared from my mind. The patients whose faces I remembered were mostly those who had passed away in my presence. All of them educated me as a clinician. I have no words to express my gratitude to them.
　　I'll start a new chapter of my life as an industrial physician in August. I don't know what I can do or can't do, but I can declare that I will do my best.

研修医時代、自分の受け持った患者の入院記録をまとめる義務があった。通常の仕事の傍ら、記録をまとめることは面倒な仕事だった。記録用紙は３枚綴りの複写式になっていて、二枚目を入院カルテに、三枚目を外来カルテに閉じ、一枚目は自分で保管することになっていた。

研修医生活を終えるとき、院長の挨拶があった。その中で、サマリーは医業を終えるまで保管し、初心を忘れぬよう、折々に読み返すよう勧められた。そして、実際にそうしていた。３０年前の病院の様子が懐かしく、また今ならこの患者を救うことが出来たのに、、、と残念に思うこともたびたびあった。そのサマリーを今日処分した。思い出せる患者もいたがほとんどは記憶にない。全てが医師としての自分を育ててくれた人たち。

Deeply Impressive Gift and Words

　　I'll resign from my office on the last day of June after over 9 calendar years. My work is getting stuck in a rut recently and I'd like to start a new career. Turning 60, people prepare their retirement in general, but for me, I'm afraid that retirement would lead to a mental and physical decline. I'm still fit and decided to start a new life as an industrial physician. I'll write about my new job later many times, but I put it aside this time and will write about the gift from the clerical head.
　　The gift is shown in the following picture, a ballpoint with my name. I worked with him for more than 7 years. I was grateful for his words, "I wished I were able to work with you more!"

６月末で足かけ９年勤務した職場を退職する。仕事がマンネリ化、また新しいことに挑戦したくもなった。６０歳を過ぎて、普通は引退を考える歳だが、そんなことをすると頭がぼけてしまいそうで、敢えて経験のない分野に挑戦することにした。新しい仕事の内容はおいおい書いていくことにして、今日は贈り物について書く。写真は事務長からの餞別。名前入り！　この事務長とは７年以上一緒に働いた。もう少し一緒に働きたかったというねぎらいの言葉が身にしみた。

Industrial Physician

　　I've been working as a general surgeon for more than 30 years tasking my energies to do numerous surgeries and care emergency cases. However, I'm thinking about retirement from the front line. Not only due to the physical strength, but I became eager to have time to enjoy my own life. In general, Japanese surgeons don't have enough time to do so. Then, what do I do since now.
　　The easiest way is to shrink the amount of work in my present office, but I thought that it's not bad to challenge something new to me. It would help mitigate against my aging. It might be stressful for my age to start a new job, but my curiosity seemed to be still alive. I chose the way to an industrial physician in one of the representative industries of Japan.
　　I would never be called from the emergency room and be able to take day-offs according to the calendar. I wouldn't need to come to my office during holidays. I would be free from the care of inpatients. I would have to change the title of my blog to insert "former" before "Japanese". One thing, the skills which I acquired with difficulty must be still useful and I'm visiting some hospitals to help other doctors.

(Vocabulary)
task one's energies 全力を傾ける

これまで30年以上、外科医として勤務してきた。数々の手術、救急医療に携わってきたが、そろそろこの辺りで第一線から引こうと思う。体力的なこともあるが、時間が欲しくなった。日本の外科医は自由な時間が少ない。
今の勤務先で仕事を縮小するのが一番楽な生き方だが、新しいことに挑戦するのも悪くないと思い始め、産業医を志すことにした。この歳で新しいことを始めるのは苦労するだろうが、老化を抑制することになるだろう。

緊急事態での呼び出しはないし、カレンダー通りの休みとなる。また勤務先は大手の企業であり、組合の規定通りの休みも取れる。このブログのタイトルは元外科医の～と変えなければならないが。ただ、折角身につけた技術を無駄にもしたくない。時々、民間病院に出かけていって診療の手伝いもしたいと思っている。

The Second Wave

　　The number of people newly infected with Wuhan virus is being reported every day and its number is decreasing in Japan, but the second wave of prevalence is said to be coming soon. The second wave is actually a fear, but Japan started to cautiously proceed to the way of revival. Authorities issue various political measures to stimulate the economy.
　　As one of the revival policies, my prefecture is issuing discount coupons for accommodations to welcome tourists from across Japan. My wife and I decided to stay at a gorgeous traditional Japanese-style inn, "Ryokan" in Japanese, using the prefecture-issue coupons. The inn is located at the hot spring area in my hometown. Though it is in my hometown, we've never stayed at it. I'd like to enjoy Japan's oldest hot spa, Dogo Onsen, in the beginning of July. If I'm allowed to take pictures inside, I'll upload here. If you don't experience Japan's "Ryokan", I'll advise you to stay at them by any means.

 

Catastrophic Flood in Southern China

　　Sometimes I think the world is going to the dogs. I think so also when the information is concealed. I knew about the catastrophic flood in China through YouTube, and to top it off, the Three Gorges Dam is reportedly on the brink of collapse. Japan's media haven't reported the torrential rain in China until today.
　　Japanese media have a tendency to conceal the bad news about China and Korea. Lots of people in Japan came to know that fact and to keep them away. Japanese media will end up bringing ruin on themselves.

 

Update of Software

　　My car, Tesla Model 3, nicknamed Ryuseigo, has just updated again. The updated software, released in the 20th week of 2020 in the U.S. was delivered to users in Japan. The A.I. of Ryuseigo will became wiser again. The 2020 version of Navigation data was already delivered in the beginning of June. The A.I.'s function has been updating once a month or two months. I think that the Tesla car's concept is totally different from the cars which have been made before.

Lifting of Restrictions

　　People living in Japan have had various restrictions imposed on them concerning their daily lives as one of the measures to brace for the prevalence of the Wuhan virus infection. For instance, they were asked to refrain moving to other prefectures and going out to downtown. The owners and managers of restaurants or bars were softly ordered to shrink their business. In general, restrictions were not so strict as those of other countries, but the turnout to tourist spots and downtown plunged to almost zero. These restrictions have had an evil influence on almost all industries, but today, the restrictions were eventually lifted and all businesses started their jobs today.

(Vocabulary)
turnout　 (パーティー，イベントなどの) 出席［参加］者数, 観客数, 人出
a big/good turnout 　多くの人出

Heartful Supply

　　Today, we, health care personnel received an unexpected supply of refreshments from a local dairy company. While cows produce milk, all the schools are closed due to the Wuhan virus and their products lost most part of the demand. The company leaders seemingly wanted to show thanks to medical personnel occupied with the extra task to prevent patients from the Wuhan virus infection. In this rainy season of two years ago, this company transported fresh water to my office by their milk truck, when the region suffered from a big flood damage. My office wasn't damaged on the basis of hardware, but the water supply was cut. The milk truck transported water for the bath. Not only the inpatient but also the neighborhood were able to be refreshed through the bath.

(Vocabulary)
provision [C,U] (必要品・サービスなどの) 供給, 支給
a supply of refreshments to a person occupied with some task　差し入れ

My Opinion about the Ongoing Riots in the U.S.

　　A black man was killed through the crackdown in Minneapolis. Sorry to hear that. By the way, what do they want to do who join the riots across the U.S.? They threaten the country's security, destroy private or public estate and commit robberies. Does their conduct commemorate the victim? According to the follow-up reports, the deceased man with a background of robbery and drug abuse seemingly had just got out of prison and was carrying a counterfeit $20 bill when he was detected by police. He was ordered to get out of the car, but he resisted arrest. That's why he was forcibly taken out. The act of policemen, which led to his death, was surely overdoing it, but they were also human beings. They might have had a kind of fear that they wouldn't put anything past him if they relaxed their attention. The victim was reported to be Wohan virus positive. He might have been under the influence of the Wohan virus infection. I wonder if the policemen aren't allowed to speak in vindication of their conduct. Their act was just law enforcement. I'm worrying about the decrease of applicants for the police and other security personnel due to over-accusation against police.

 

警察官の行為により一人の黒人が亡くなった。残念なことだ。ところで、暴動に加わっている人たちは一体何をしたいのだろうか？治安を乱し、商店を壊し、品物を略奪、、、これが亡くなった人を追悼する行為だろうか。

いろいろと調べてみると、どうやら亡くなった黒人は２０ドルの偽札を持ち、窃盗や薬物使用の前歴があって、警察官の取り調べに応じず、車の外へ自ら出てこなかったというではないか。無理矢理３人の警察官に車から引きずり出されたのはそういう訳だ。警察官の行為が度を過ぎていたことは間違いないが、彼らも人の子。油断をすると何をされるかわからないという恐怖はあったのでは無いか。武漢ウイルス陽性だったとも報じられており、息が出来ないという訴えにはその影響もあったかも知れないと思う。そして、警察官にはなんら弁明は許されないのだろうか？取り調べ自体は正当な職務の遂行で、こんなことで警察官を批判するなら警察官のなり手がいなくなるのではないかと心配している。