Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Gürtelrose

　　Vom Ende April bis zur ersten Woche im Mai gibt es aufeinanderfolgende Feiertage in Japan und diese Zeit wird "Golden Week" genannt. Ich habe eine Reise nach Kyuschu geplant, aber ich konnte wegen des Erdbebens nicht reisen. Ich habe das Ziel geändert. Aber, ein anderes Unglück hat mich überfallen. Ich habe an einer Gürtelrose erkrankt. Ich musste für einige Tage zu Hause bleiben.
　　Das war die erste Erfahrung mit der Krankhert für mich selbst. Es mag das einzig Gute sein, dass ich das Gefühl der Kranken erleben konnte.

Going Out

　　Staying home all day instead of going out, I got nearly depressed. I decided to go out in the neighborhood. I walked slowly along my usual jogging route in the morning. The school in the picture is Aiko High School, from which I had graduated in 1977. The school had renovated its grounds and looked nice.
　　After lunch, I went out for a drive with my wife to the forest in the adjacent Iyo City. There were places for BBQs, campgrounds, hiking trails, and a small serene pond. I climbed up to the hill summit not on foot but by car. The landscape was great.
　　Though I got refreshed by a natural breeze, the pain due to herpes zoster was still alive. I came by a liquor shop to get a bottle of wine to sterilize my whole body on the way back. Just joking around! It's my lame excuse against my wife.

　じっと家に居ても気が滅入るので、朝、散歩に出た。ジョギングをしているコースをゆっくりと歩き、母校の写真を撮った。人工芝のサッカーコートを作ったというので見に行った。写真をｕｐする。昼食後、伊予市の森林公園へドライブ。そして帰りにワインを一本。全身のアルコール消毒と言ったら、白い目で睨まれた。体調が悪いのにアルコールはダメでしょうと、、、(^_^;)

Miserable holidays

　　You have consecutive holidays, which is called "Golden Week", in Japan from the end of April to the first week of May, though the length varies every year due to the sequence of the day of the week. I had two three-consecutive holidays, I mean six holidays totally, this year. I was going to have a short trip, but I was suffering from herpes zoster. My chest hurt when I moved, and I was staying still in front of the TV all day as if I was watching that the TV set would not be stolen. Thanks to it, I knew how to use the remote of the TV in detail. I knew only a minimum of the functions of the remote until today.

(Vocabulary)
remote (テレビなどの) リモコン（装置）[同意] remote control

４月末から５月上旬にかけてゴールデンウィークと呼ばれる一連の休日がある。今回４／２９－５／１と５／３－５の３連休が２回ある。どちらも２泊３日の小旅行をする予定だった。それが、、帯状疱疹になってしまった。数日前から左胸部痛が有り、もしかしたらと思っていたが、皮疹が出て確定。動くと痛むのでじっと過ごしていた。テレビが盗まれないよう見張り番をするが如く、一日中テレビの前でじっとしていた。お陰でテレビのリモコンの使い方を憶えることが出来たが。

Hepatitis C

　　The disease which is now called Hepatitis C used to be called Non-A Non-B Hepatitis when I was a newcomer to the medical scene. Hepatitis A and B were already known, but other types of hepatitis viruses weren't detected at that time. Non-A Non-B Hepatitis used to be incurable and a dreadful infectious disease. After a while, another hepatitis virus was discovered and it was named Hepatitis C. Though it was detected, the treatment of the hepatitis induced by Hepatitis C virus was extremely difficult and lots of patients were killed. About 10 years ago, the efficacy of the interferon against Hepatitis C was recognized and the treatment by the interferon started, but the therapy was to force the patients into enduring agony.
　　However, the present treatment for Hepatitis C is just taking tablets for several weeks. According to the lecture, which I signed up for today, the lecturer, who is a liver disease specialist, told us that the Hepatitis C virus would be eradicated in near future in Japan, but that would be impossible in the U.S. Do you know why?
　　If you are treated in Japan, the treatment for the Hepatitis C costs around 5, 000, 000 yen (50,000 US$), but due to the universal healthcare system and the national grant you only have to pay around 50,000 yen (500 US$). On the other hand in the States, it is apparently only 5% of the patients to be able to undergo decent treatments due to financial issues. The other 95% of the patients bearing Hepatitis C virus are left untouched. I hope that the universal healthcare system will survive the wave of the TPP.

Breakfast

　　Some of my acquaintances don't have breakfast. Some of them tell me that they do not have enough time to eat breakfast. As I see it, if that's the only reason for not having breakfast, they have only to get up a bit earlier. I wonder if they can work with their full strength without breakfast.
　　I sometimes can't eat lunch thanks to my work, but human beings need to have something before starting their work, don't they? As I take on long operations, my concentration wouldn't continue throughout if I don't have breakfast.
　　It might be unsolicited advice, but I often tell my subordinates to have breakfast. If it is not raining, I go for a short jog and take a shower in the morning before breakfast. That helps get the old juices flowing, and makes me feel ready to take on anything the day may throw at me. The following picture was from the net. It shows a typical Japanese breakfast.

LSD (Long Slow Distance)

　　The topic, LSD, isn't about the hallucinatory drug here. It's a training method for a marathon to make the distance you can run in one time longer, or to get used to the distance itself.
　　I joined my friends to do the LSD training on Jan. 11th. The distance was 25km. They usually run at the pace of more or less 5 minutes per km and they would run the distance at the pace of 7 minutes per km. This pace was actually slow for them, but my best record of 10km is 73 minutes. That works out to 7 minutes and 18 seconds per km. That is to say, 7 minutes per km was not "slow" for me but beyond my ability, but I tried to follow them and was able to finish the distance of 25km along with them.
　　The result is shown in the following picture. I took a rest on the way three times for hydration, urination and lunch break. The watch was halted during these times including waiting time for stoplights. The watch says my average pace was 6 minutes and 47 seconds!

(Vocabulary)
hallucinatory  (薬物などが) 幻覚作用のある
hydrate;
to supply someone or something with water to keep them healthy and in good condition

Depth of Sleep

　　I'm utilizing a PC application of Evernote every day. It's designed for the storage of documents, pictures, motion movies, and so on. I make it a point to scan every kind of paper, like documents concerning my job, receipts, postcards, letters, favorite articles from newspapers and magazines, even some books like my alumni address book. Once those papers are scanned and stored, you can pick up the documents which you want to see anytime and anywhere as long as you are connected to the net.
　　Anyway, a direct mail came to me from the Evernote company. It says, "Evernote is useful for keeping fit!" The company advised me to record my status of sleep using my smartphone.
　　Though I wondered how the smartphone can detect the status of my sleep, I tried to use one of the applications for smartphones which they recommended and I'll show you the result of it. The following two pictures show the sleep status on Nov. 25th and Dec. 1st. on which I had been in my office throughout the night.
　　It records when I went to bed and got up with the depth of my sleep. Actually it's when I was called to the ward that the level of the sleep became shallow. I was surprised at the speed I fell into deep sleep.


　

Osaka Marathon

　　I started jogging after seeing cheerful runners passing over the finish line at the Ehime Marathon in 2013. I usually jogged for a short distance when I started, but I made the distance longer and I joined the Ehime Marathon the next year. As for the result, I had to stop at the time control point of 40.5km. I learnt the technical word of DNF at that time. I wasn't able to finish my first full marathon, but I still kept my wish to finish it. I joined my fourth marathon, the Osaka Marathon, on Oct. 25th.
　　I had a slight convulsion in my left leg at 24km and did a stretch. I took some anti-convulsion medicine at 25km. After taking in salt at 25.2km which I was given from people along the street, the symptom decreased. However, I felt a foretaste of convulsion when I increased my pace, and I ran at the slowest pace that I could successfully finish the race. My record was 6 hours 50 minutes in gross. It took about 40 minutes to pass the start line after the gun.

(Auf Deutsch)
　　Als ich beobachtet habe, wie Teilnehmer am Ehime Marathon das Ziel erreichten, habe ich mich zur Teilname am nächsten Ehime Marathon entschlossen. Ich habe mit kurzem Jogging angefangen, und habe die Strecke, die ich auf einmal laufen konnte, verlängert. Nach einem Jahr habe ich am Ehime Marathon teilgenommen.
　　Das Ergebnis war, daß ich am Zeitkontrollepunkt von 40,5km wegen Zeitüberschreitung gestoppt wurde. Der offizielle Rekord war 5 Stunden 45 Minuten für 40km. Der Rest des Weges war nur noch 2km! Ich konnte nicht den Marathon zum Ende laufen.
　　Ich wollte den Marathon unbedingt erfolgreich beenden und habe seitdem geübt. Am 25. 10. habe ich am vierten Marathon, Osaka Marathon, teilgenommen.
　　Bei der 24-km-Marke habe ich im linken Bein einen Krampf bekommen und Stretching gemacht. Bei der 25-km-Marke habe ich chinesische Medizin eingenommen. Von den Zuschauern an der Straße habe ich an der 25,2-km-Marke Salz bekommen und dieses Salz hat mir den Krampf gemildert.
　　Wenn ich die Geschwindigkeit gesteigert hätte, hat der Krampf vielleicht wieder zu passieren gedroht. Also, mit einer Geschwindigkeit von 10 Minuten pro Kilometer, die langsamste Geschwindigkeit um die volle Strecke laufen zu können, konnte ich das Ziel in 6 Stunden 50 Minuten erreichen.

　２０１３年の愛媛マラソンでゴールする人たちを見て、翌年の愛媛マラソンに参加しようと決心しました。短いジョギングからスタートして、走る距離を伸ばしていき、１年後に愛媛マラソンに挑戦。結果、４０．５ｋｍの関門で時間切れでストップ。公式記録は４０ｋｍで５時間４５分。マラソンのフィニッシュはかなわなかったけれど、完走したいと思い、それ以後も練習を続け、１０月２５日に４回目のマラソンを走りました。大阪マラソンです。
　２４ｋｍ地点で左足にけいれんがあり、ストレッチをして、２５ｋｍでは薬を服用。そして２５．２ｋｍで沿道の人から塩をもらい、症状は軽快。スピードを上げると再びけいれんが起こりそうだったのでゴールできるぎりぎりのゆっくりとしたスピードで走り、なんとか６時間５０分で完走しました。

Exercise on the Deck

　　I had a good sleep on the last night of this trip and got up refreshed at shortly after 5 o'clock in the morning. We were supposed to arrive in Otaru at about 10 o'clock and finish our cruise tour there. After having straightened our room, I went out on the roof deck with a cup of coffee. It was a clear sky and a nice ocean view! The light exercise session was just about to start and I joined in. Stretching and walking on the deck blown by a salt breeze was really comfortable. It became a good appetizer at the same time. I ate breakfast twice or more than usual.
　　I had another travel plan in Hokkaido for two more days after disembarkation and so I packed our possessions which we wouldn't need any more into the suitcase and it was to be sent to my home. I got sad to think of us leaving the Nippon Maru. We met new acquaintances and began to chat frankly with crew members. I decided to join a fan club of the Nippon Maru, the "Dolphins' Club," to get the information of the ship. I'll show you the scene of Otaru City from the deck and today's bulletin below.
　　After the cruise we stayed in Hokkaido for two days for some reason. I'll write about a surprise in the next entry on the way home.

　 　 　

Jogging Shoes

　　My jogging shoes got worn to a useless level. I remember the day as if it was yesterday when I saw the Ehime Marathon at the finish point in February in 2013 and immediately decided to take up jogging to join the marathon, and bought the shoes on the way back. Two and a half years have passed since then. I couldn't have finished any marathon, but my physical strength became surely stronger before I started to jog. I am really thankful for the opportunity to see the successful runners' joyful faces and making friends with several fellow marathon runners.
　　Back to the shoes, I wonder how long I had run with these shoes. Judging from my runner's watch, the distance will come to from 600 to 700km. I attended 10km roadraces twice this year and I'll join the Osaka Marathon on Oct. 25th for the first finish after another 10km roadrace on Oct. 10th. The green shoes in the picture are the replacement.

(Vocabulary)
come to sth:
 to add up to a total amount:
That comes to £23.50. / The bill came to £48.50.

50th Anniversary

　　I've been a member of Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club since 2010. I didn't care much about the club before then. Seeing the names of various lions clubs on the street corner or in the list of sponsors in social or sporting events, I knew just its name. One day, one of my acquaintances called me and invited me to the club. I didn't fully understand the activities of the club, but he was sincere and had a high social status. I accepted his offer without a second thought.
　　Five years have passed since then. I've made lots of friends in the club, who are big names in the city. (FYI, my club is the 8th biggest in the number of members in Japan.) Chatting with them gives me a variety of information such as politics, economics, marketing, which I don't know much about, and hobbies - fishing, diving, aerobics, golf, jogging - the list is endless. When it comes to jogging, a relay marathon team is supposed to be set up from the members including me to join the municipal sporting event which will be held in October. The relay marathon might be unknown globally, but it's getting popular in Japan. It's a race for 10 runners to run the distance of a full marathon. Namely, a runner runs only about 4km.
　　The club turns its 50th year in May and the picture shows me at the reception desk at the 50th anniversary party.

The 24th Asagiriko Marathon

　　A month has passed since the last 10km run, about which I wrote in this entry(link). As I had a hard time on the run, I was going to exercise on a regular basis, but I didn't. As the day of the Asagiriko Marathon was coming close, I got uneasy. After the spring holiday, I had tons of work to do, and it might give me an out.
　　Anyway, the day, May 3rd had come. In this year, a famous non-profesional runner was to join the half marathon category, so the number of the participants has increased considerably compared with the number of last year. I saw him running, and his speed astonished me. He ran through the half marathon in 67 minutes or so, which was faster than I ran 10km. He aims to be chosen as one of the representatives in the next Olympics. As for me, I ran a leisurely 10km in the aim of keeping fit.

Tougenkyo Marathon

　　Tougenkyo, which can be literally called Xanadu in English, is another name for Matsuno Town, which is located in the southern part of Ehime Prefecture. The town is well known for its production of peaches. The peach farms are very beautiful in this season, and the area around the farms are filled with a lovely scent. The Tougenkyo Marathon was held using the paths stretching into the orchards. I attended the 10 km category.
　　It takes about two and a half hours to drive from my home to the town. I left home shortly before 6 o'clock. As I came close to the town, the weather became terrible. I wanted to run under a blue sky, but the rain gradually got harsher.
　　Though the rain weakened for a while, after the race started, the rain got heavier. It seemed that if you ran with your mouth open, you did not need water aid stations during the race. I was tired, but I was able to finish within a the similar time to last year. I wore a plastic bag as a makeshift raincoat, which is usually used for garbage, as shown in the following picture.

Rogaine

　　I've got a bald patch these days. I looked for hair growing agents in neighboring drugstores, but nothing attracted my eyes. I searched medical databases for some information on external medication. I knew a hair-growth drug in tablet form, but I prefer topical agents to oral medicine.
　　According to several papers on hair-growth, minoxidil is said to have a conclusive effect on hair-growth. Though there's a single product containing minoxidil in Japan, its cost is relatively high and so I ordered cheaper Rogaine from the U.S., before I visited Okinawa last week. When I came back home, the Rogaine had already arrived. After having a picture of my head taken from above as the control, I started using Rogaine today in the evening.
　　I'm going to apply it punctually twice a day for at least four months. I'm sure to take pictures of my head on a regular basis and I'll show you a series of pictures of my head in the summer.

(Vocabulary)
a bald patch  (頭の) はげた部分
patch (周囲と異なって見える) 部分, 箇所, (動物などの) 斑点
The cat's fur was mainly white, with black patches. その猫の毛は白地に黒いぶちがところどころにあった．
external medication / medicine 外用薬
topical
時事の, 話題になっている, 〈歌・冗談などが〉 時事問題を扱った
a topical issue 時事問題
《[名]の前でのみ》(専門) (薬剤が) 局所用の, 局部の
conclusive 〈証拠・根拠などが〉 決定的な, 疑う余地のない[反意] inconclusive
conclusively 疑う余地もなく, 明確に

Asahiya Inn 2

　　"Asahi" of Asahiya means sunrise. The inn faces east and I could have seen the magnificent view of the sunrise the next morning, but a thin veil of cloud hindered us. A house lizard bugged my wife last night and she was short of sleep this morning. I went out walking around the inn alone. It was so serene and there was nothing civilized around. No car passed during my hour's walk.
　　The field where the inn's owner was raising crops for guests was just in front of my room. The crops must be safe and healthy to be harvested in such an uncontaminated soil.
　　Today's plan is to drive down along the west coastline from Hedomisaki Cape, the northern end of Okinawa Island, and we headed for it in the first place.

Asahiya Inn

　　Today's inn is really interesting whether in a good or bad way. Okinawa is generally divided into two parts; one is best for sightseeing and marine leisure activities in the southern half of the island, and the other is rich in untouched nature. Today's inn is located in the latter.
　　Our room was stark and equipped with the requisite minimum; no ornaments, no air-conditioner, though I found a tiny fridge. It was apparently built by amateur carpenters. A month before, I saw an article featuring this inn on the net, and chose it as the third inn in Okinawa. The article gave credit for the beautiful sunrise from the window. At least I agreed with that, for the inn stood on a cliff facing east. It must be beautiful, but the room was so shabby and my wife grew a little angry at me for my choice.
　　The owner's policy was to be nature-friendly in all respects and not to harm the environment as much as possible. Naturally, they don't use artificial detergent, fertilizer, transgenic crops, and avoid everything which seems to be unhealthy.
　　No TV, no internet access both in wired or wireless, no phone line, of course. No sounds without the sound of the continuous waves and unknown sound from the wood. We spent a leisurely night free from daily chores. The inn was acceptable for me, but my wife's scream might have interfered with the sound sleep of our neighbors. A house lizard intruded my room after midnight.

(Vocabulary)
whether in a good or bad way 良い意味でも悪い意味でも
requisite minimum 必要最小限 拡張検索
transgenic crop 遺伝子組み換え作物
in all respects あらゆる点で
house lizard ヤモリ

Maintenance of My Bicycle

　　Spring is just around the corner in my hometown. I took my bicycle out and did some maintenance work, lubricating gears with oil, examining tires for any damage, checking the battery of the light and cycle computer,,,. Everything was ok and I'm just waiting for spring.

(Vocabulary)
lubricate
1 …に油を差す, (潤滑油などで) …を滑らかにする
2 〈仕事・取引など〉 を円滑に進むようにする

Recycling Of Glasses

　　I belong to the Matsuyama Chuo Lions Club. The Lions Club year commences on July 1st each year and ends on June 30th of the following year. At the beginning of this Lions' year, a new activity was picked up, which was the collection and recycling of unneeded glasses for the sake of people in the developing world. Every club members was told to collect them around his or her own environment. The following picture shows the poster, which has been raised in my office, asking patients to offer unnecessary glasses regardless of their power. Up to the end of the year 2014, nearly 600 pairs of glasses have been collected.
　　In Japan, naturally, glasses are adjusted to the wearer's eyes. What should they do with these glasses? Probably, I think, they will wear them, putting up with some unadjusted matters.
　　We, the club members, polished glasses and sent them to Australia, where the glasses from all over the world are to be classified and sent to the last destination. If people who receive one of them would be thankful, it's our pleasure.

(Vocabulary)
power of a lens 　レンズの度数

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer, My Mentor

Ein ehemaliger Lehrer

　　Ein ehemaliger Englischlehrer, dem ich viel verdanke, lebt in Okayama Präfektur. Er hat an der Zuckerkrankheit lange gelitten und ihr Komplikation hat einen schlechten Verlauf genommen. Jetzt ist er ganz blind geworden. Er wird dreimal pro Woche von einer Krankenschwester der Klinik gut gepflegt, aber war dabei, sich zu verschlechtern. Jetzt ist er im Krankenhaus und sucht eine Wohnung, in die er die Hilfe täglich den ganzen Tag bekommen kann.
　　Ich ging mit meiner dritten Tochter am letzten Sonntag ins Krankenhaus um ihn zu besuchen. Wenn ich ihn vor etwa 40 Jahren nicht getroffen hätte, wäre ich ein anderer Mensch geworden. Er hat aus mir gemacht, was ich heute bin. Meine Tochter ist mir gleich. Es ist ganz natürlich, dass man alt wird, aber ich finde es traurig.

　言葉で語り尽くせないほどの恩を受けた恩師が岡山にいる。長年糖尿病を患い、その合併症が進行し、今はもう完全に盲目となってしまった。自宅で公的な介護を受けていたが、もはや自宅での生活は無理な状況となり、一旦入院した。今後は施設を探すことになる。
　先週の日曜日に三女と一緒にお見舞いに行ってきた。この人に会わなければ今の自分はなく、また三女もこの先生に会わなければ今はない。老いるのは当たり前のことだが、寂しくてならない。

My Mentor

　　My family members, friends and I visit Canada very often, mainly for skiing. What prompted our frequent trips to Canada was the presence of an English teacher. He was undoubtedly a mentor of ours. Three daughters had an interest in languages and now each of them is very skilled in their respective languages. I was just thankful to go skiing with him.
　　Almost 30 years have passed since my first visit to Canada. Our mentor is over 80 now. I know that human beings have to accept the inevitability of aging, but it's sad to see him getting old. He has been suffering from diabetes for a long time, and its accompanying symptom of retinopathy is getting worse. He has lost much of his sight and was transferred to a facility for the aged.
　　I visited him with my youngest daughter, who was recently recognized as one of the best English speakers among Japanese medical students by the Government. This achievement is definitely with his assistance. I have no words to express my gratitude.

(Vocabulary)
accessory symptom, accompanying symptom  随伴症状

2014 Chiba Aqua-Line Marathon

　　The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, also known as the Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway, is a bridge - tunnel combination across Tokyo Bay in Japan. It connects the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture with the city of Kisaradu in Chiba Prefecture. With an overall length of 14 km, it includes a 4.4 km bridge and 9.6 km tunnel underneath the bay - the fourth-longest underwater tunnel in the world.
　　Around the City of Kisaradu including the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, the 2014 Chiba Aqua-Line Marathon was held and I took part in it. The bridge section of the Aqua-Line was used as a part of the marathon route. Needless to say, the bridge was built for passenger and cargo traffic, and people are not allowed to walk on it. Only on the marathon day, the bridge is open to runners. That is, it's the single chance to take such a picture that I'll show you below. For your information, the guy who took this picture was a strange runner. When I saw him ask one of the organizing staff members to shoot his picture and be rejected, I suggested to him that we take pictures in rotation. The point of the picture was about 10km, and I ran with two friends to this point to take pictures of each other, but thanks to him, all three were able to enter in one picture. As for the result, don't ask me!