Hannah

 Yesterday I spent most of the day at the hospital with Hannah!

The day started at 4:30 am!! There are only 3 epilepsy specialists in the whole of northern Kyushu! Hannah managed to get an appointment with the nearest one, but that was still about an hour and a half from where we live! I asked Hannah to check the times of the trains and the bus. She said the best would be to get the express train that leaves at 6:24, which would get us into the city just after 7, so we would have about 20 minutes to find the bus stop.

From our house, in the middle of nowhere, to the station is about 40 minutes. Also, there has been a lot of road works and we weren't sure how busy the roads would be, so an early start was a good idea. 

We got to the station just after 6am. I'm looking at the board for the 6:24 train, but it's not listed. There's one at 6:40! I asked Hannah. She's looking at her phone, then at the board. She grins at me and says that she was looking at the wrong station. The 6:24 train was from the station near her apartment! Never mind!!

We got to the city, then got lost looking for the bus stop. Hannah had Google Maps on her phone, which is great, but the train station and bus station are large buildings, with things on different floors that don't really show up on the map! Took about 10 minutes to find the bus stop. We just got to the stop when the bus pulled up, good timing.

I found the bus ride to be very interesting; it went through parts of the city I hadn't seen before, lots of places I would like to go back to! Also, the passengers were interesting, lots of people going to work, kids going to school. I enjoy watching people and wondering what their lives are like!

The bus stopped right outside the hospital! I was really amazed at the hospital's reception area. More like a hotel than a hospital, there was even a grand piano there! Lovely, comfortable chairs that helped you relax, nice music playing. We went to the receptionist's desk, Hannah gave her name and appointment time, and she was asked to fill out a basic form. I noticed on the form that you ask for help with languages, English and Chinese were offered! We were directed to the second floor. At the elevator, I saw the listings for the floors. From the basement to the 3rd floor were the diagnostic areas, outpatient departments, and doctor offices. On the 4th floor, there is the administration office and a hall. The 5th floor has a restaurant and an indoor pool. The 6th floor is preventive medicine, then the 7th to 10th floors are for inpatients!

downstairs waiting area

The lights for the downstairs lobby area

We had to wait a while, but it was very comfortable, so no problem.

The doctor really took time to take a detailed history from Hannah, he also had the MRI from her last doctor and the notes from the doctor. He asked a lot of questions. Hannah had to have an EEG, which took about 50 minutes!

The conclusion is that she has epilepsy. According to the doctor, she was born with it! He showed us on the MRI an area of her brain that is a lighter color than it should be and not connected to another area! I asked why she didn't have seizures as a child or teenager. The doctor explained that her seizures are triggered by extreme fatigue. Her seizures started because her life became so tiring and stressful, which is normal for a young adult! When we talked later about this, we realized that each seizure came after a particularly hard time in her life, exams, teacher training, and the heat in the summer were all factors in each seizure! Hannah was prescribed some medication; she'll have to take them for the rest of her life!

The visit was long. I'm glad that she has this sorted. She knows what's wrong and has medicine to help her. She is looking into some lifestyle changes, learning how to relax, and also thinking about dietary changes that might help!

After we finished with the hospital, we went back to the train station to get a late lunch!

We found Burger King! There aren't that many in Japan, so it's a nice change. I'm not sure what Hannah ordered, but I got a burger with avocado on and iced Earl Grey tea! Very nice!

Lunch

After that, I was totally exhausted. I was so hot and ached in every part of my lower body!

I would have loved to look around the shops, but felt like I was going to collapse! So we got the train back. Mikey picked us up and drove us back to Hannah's apartment. I'm staying here for a few days!

Tomorrow we have tickets to see Les Misérables! I can't wait!

Respect For The Aged Day

 Today is a national holiday, Respect For The Aged Day, Kerio No Hi（敬老の日). This is more than just another holiday; it's a day to reflect on the importance of ageing, family, and gratitude.

This holiday started in a small town in Hyogo Prefecture in 1947. The town declared September 15th as Old Folks Day. This idea quickly became popular, and in 1966 it was made an official national holiday. In 2003, the holiday was shifted to the third Monday in September as part of the "Happy Monday" system, which aims to give workers more 3-day holidays!

Japan has one of the longest life spans. Life expectancy for men is 81 years, and for women, 87 years old! As of September 1st, 100,000 people were 100 or more years old!  That is rather amazing!

Part of this day is to pause and honor what the elderly have done for the younger generations. I love listening to older people talk about their lives, and trying to imagine what it would have been like in Japan after the war, during the recovery time! One of my students told me about her neighbor, a lady in her 90s. This old lady had married during the war, and after a couple of weeks of married life, her husband was called up. They spent the next few years writing to each other. Just before the end of the war, he was killed in action. This lady never remarried; the letters from her husband comforted her throughout her life!  I was so moved by this story.

The community center where we teach is having a special celebration today for the elderly in the local area. They will have some kind of games and give out prizes. The elderly gentleman who runs the community center was an army helicopter pilot. He is in his 70s but still full of energy! He was talking about how he and the other volunteers were organizing this event, talking about the old people. I was listening to him and thinking, "But you are old!".  I know I don't think of myself as old, so maybe he is the same!

If we are lucky enough to grow old, I hope we can do it with some grace and gratitude for our lives. Everyone has their own path, their own struggles, but at the end of the day, if we can say, we have loved and been loved, I think it's enough. I know I moan a lot on here, but I am trying to change my headspace and see the good things in my life. I know I have experienced love, the love from my parents and brothers, the love of my husband and children, and the love of good friends. 

I'm also trying to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the nature that surrounds me here (I still don't like the bugs though!). The other day we had a small rainbow!

a light rainbow

It wasn't there very long, but it made me smile!

I'm Back

 Haven't been anywhere except my bed for the past few days! Lousy head cold on top of allergies.

Feeling a bit better, but I want to take it easy for the next couple of days, as next week is going to be very busy!

Tuesday and Wednesday are my classes in the other city, plus Wednesday morning is the volunteer class that Mikey and I do!

Thursday is an early morning train ride to the big city for Hannah's appointment with an epilepsy specialist. After that, we will go to Hannah's, spend the night there, so she can work on Friday.  Friday evening, come back here, Saturday back to the city to watch Les Misérables!

Just writing that has made me tired!

One good thing is that Mikey has a new car! New to him, looks nice, haven't ridden in it yet, but it will make things a lot easier!

Mikey's car

The weather has been rather crazy, a lot of rain and thunderstorms. One nice thing is the sunsets, some are very dramatic!

The colors don't show up very well in the photos, but you get the idea.

The orange was a lot stronger than this! 

Midnight Thunderstorms

 There has been a lot of turbulent weather this summer.

Almost every week, there have been rainstorms or thunderstorms.

We are lucky, typhoon 15 didn't come anywhere near here, but some areas got hit very hard! In one area, a tornado hit, causing a lot of damage. Houses and other buildings lost roofs, cars were thrown about, and power lines were brought down.  

The heat in parts of the country has been relentless, even though it is the middle of September, it's still in the low 30s centigrade.  I know I complained about this house being too cold when we moved in, but I really want cooler weather! Not cold, but comfortable!

The other night, Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, we had an awful thunderstorm. Driving back from the other city, we could see lightning, but it looked far away!  When I went to bed, at about 11pm, the storm got really bad, no rain until 2am, but lightning and distant thunder. Hannah said that a city near here had 3 lightning strikes!

This is a short video of that storm; it went on for most of the night!

Not fun at all. We are under a thunderstorm advisory at the moment. I really hope we don't have another one like that!

Evening Walk

 Since the events of Friday, Hannah and I have been taking things easy.

Hannah has been sleeping a lot. I think these seizures are brought on by her being over tired, stressed, and a bit run down.

Last night, I didn't really sleep. Every time I was falling asleep, one of the cats would start scratching at my door or fighting.  It was nonstop all night. I managed to sleep from about 4 a.m., but woke up at 7 a.m. with a raging headache.  My headache was made worse by a very bad thunderstorm that rumbled on for about an hour. I spent most of the day in bed. I really hate days like this. I want to do things. I feel time is passing so quickly, and every day needs to be used as wisely as possible!

So this evening I decided to go for a walk with Hannah. Just to get some fresh air and a bit of exercise.

I asked Hannah to take a video.

Enjoy!

It was nice, not too hot! Very noisy, between the birds and different insects! The air felt wonderful, and there was the smell of cut grass around!

Just a few photos from the area!

We came back, and Hannah wanted a shower, but there was a massive centipede in the bathroom! It was balancing on a plastic basket, so I managed to pick up the basket, open the window, and put the centipede outside! These things are awful. They bite, which can be rather nasty. I usually get someone else to deal with them! Hannah said I was brave to get rid of it. I wasn't feeling very brave, my heart was racing, and my hands were shaking!

What A Life!

 Yesterday didn't go as planned!

Not at all, not even a little bit.

All started at 5am, I hadn't really slept. I'd fall asleep, have weird dreams that would wake me up, try to sleep again, only to have the cats fighting! At 5am, I was wondering if I should just give up, get up and do a few things, but it started to rain. I gave up, as I had planned to do outside, and actually managed to sleep until just after 6am. Hannah sent me a photo of her breakfast! She had teacher training last week, so an early start. We have this little ritual, she would send a photo of her breakfast, and I would send photos of the cats!

I had my breakfast, thought about doing some chores, but I was so tired that I went back to bed for an hour, which turned into 2!

At 10:30, my phone rang. It was Hannah. Cue panic attack. As I said, she is doing teacher training, so her phone is off between 8am and 4:30 pm, so why was she calling?

She'd had another seizure! 

I yelled for Mikey to get ready, I packed a few things because I didn't know what she would want to do. If she wanted me to stay with her for a few days or come back here for a while.

Hannah sent the address of the hospital she was taken to. It took an hour to get there, a very long hour!

When Hannah had called me, she had just come round and was in the ambulance; she wasn't very clear about what had happened and why she was in the ambulance.

We got to the hospital, Hannah had had some tests and an MRI. I went in to see the doctor with her. The consultation was long and detailed. He thinks she might have epilepsy, especially since this is the third one in a year. Even though the doctor is a neurologist, he said he could diagnose her with epilepsy because that isn't his field. He suggested a few hospitals that have specialists, none of them near here. The nearest is about an hour away.

After the hospital, we went to Hannah's apartment, she packed her stuff, I cleaned her dishes, and she is staying here for a week. She's tired, stressed, and has cuts on her lips!

Even though this was really scary for Hannah, she was really worried about the kids that she was observing. It was a junior high school, 3rd-grade class, so the kids were about 15 years old. She was worried that they might have been scared or traumatized by seeing someone have a seizure. She wrote to the class teacher, apologizing for having the seizure and asking if the kids were okay. The teacher said that the kids were fine and asking after Hannah!

So my day of cleaning the garden, cleaning the house, completely changed! I still have to do all that. I did a bit today, but I need to do a lot more tomorrow. Having Hannah here means she can help as well!

One good thing, I didn't turn to sweets to get me through yesterday. I didn't eat very healthily, but didn't buy any sweet breads or ice cream, which is what I usually do!

The cats reminded me not to ignore them by eating through a loaf of bread!

My poor bread!

This is what greeted me when I got back last night!

Hannah has an appointment for the 18th. I really hope she can get this sorted out. We are looking into diet and lifestyle changes to help.

If anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment!

Please be kind if you do comment; this is stressful and scary for us!

Hospital Visit

 Yesterday was my check-up for diabetes and high blood pressure!

No change at all. My A1c number is still 6. Between 4.6 and 6.2 is good; the lower the better. 

All my other numbers came back as okay, but not great!

The other problem was the result of the sleep apnea test that I did. The doctor explained that it wasn't a detailed test, but it gave some idea of my situation. I don't have sleep apnea, but I did stop breathing a couple of times, and I snored three times. I'm in the mid-range, so I don't need to wear an oxygen mask, but it could come to that if I don't lose weight!

So I have to lose 6kgs by my next appointment in December! Oh bother!

The doctor offered me one of these medicines that is taken by injection. I don't know enough about that medicine to make an informed decision. I don't know which one he was offering. I've heard of a few different ones. I think they can help, but I'm worried about side effects. I'll try by myself until December, but if I can't lose enough, then I might have the injections!

So I restarted my diet today. It's now 6pm and I'm miserable. I want something sweet, some toast and jam, but I can't, I have to stop sweets and lower my carbs!

The weather isn't helping; it's cooler, which is nice, but pouring down with rain!

I need to find something to do with my hands. I eat when I'm bored or not active. Doing something helps. Reading or watching TV allows me to snack. I think I should find out my knitting needles or crochet hooks.  I've realized that in the morning, I don't get the munchies because I'm busy with cleaning, gardening, or cooking.  In the afternoon, I'm free to do what I want. Also, I have to be quiet as David is sleeping. This house is small, so it's easy to disturb him!

Get ready for a lot of complaints! One thing I've realized is that dieting is not about willpower; it's about consistency, doing what works over and over again. I know I'm not in the right headspace to start, but no choice, if I wait until I'm ready, I'll never lose anything!

Just to end on something interesting! This is a screenshot of my TV, I was watching YouTube. The first short is my video! That was such a weird feeling! I was scrolling down to get to the news. I saw the shorts and thought that the first video looked familiar. I clicked on it and it was my video.

I never expected my video to turn up like that! It got 900 views!