Hospital life continued

Many of my blog readers seemed to be surprised that roommates aren't supposed to chat and make the most of the time we have together.  It didn't seem particularly odd to me but that's probably because I had already been hospitalized in this hospital for a week last year and it was the same thing.

TEN years ago I was in the hospital (a different hospital) for a week for surgery from a knee injury and at that time I remember all of us in our room had our curtains pushed aside and we chatted and shared snacks and did origami together.  I even was teaching one lady to do patchwork or at least to get a start on sewing pieces together.  It was a very cheerful time with lots of flowers and edibles that visitors would bring and we would all get involved with chatting with each other's visitors also!

Last October I came in to the hospital during Covid and there were so many precautions even before they would allow me to be seen by a doctor.  Taking my temperature everyday for 10 days before my appointment, of course wearing a mask, and Tetsu had to follow the same precautions just because he was accompanying me.  And once in the room I had very little contact with my roommates.

This time around, once admitted and assigned to a quad room, the curtains were pulled tight again and we are required to wear masks when out of the room.  No visitors are allowed on the ward at all and the amount of talking to each other has been limited.   No visitors allowed means no flowers and no snacking.  Patients also are not allowed OFF the ward, so though there are convenience stores and a Starbucks on the first floor, we are not allowed to visit.  

Some of the patients have family members pick up and bring back laundry (most of us wear our own pajamas though there was an option to use hospital pajamas that would be laundered) but as I live an hour away from the hospital, I told Tetsu that I was managing fine with the pay washing machine and dryer in the ward.  Tetsu insisted he didn't mind the trip, but if we couldn't even talk with each other (a wave from 20 meters away) I declined his offer...

In front of the elevators there is a table with two bottles of sanitizing gel (there is also a bottle in front of all rooms) and lots of signs saying DO NOT ENTER.  A call button is on the table so that family who are delivering laundry can call the nurse to come and pick it up and take it to the patient.  And if a family member plans to come with laundry they have to show proof of a normal temperature for the past 10 days and get clearance at the entrance to the hospital.  Patients are kept very isolated and protected!

So that is why roommates are not supposed to socialize.  Japan is still very concerned with a resurgence of Covid and the nurses not only wear masks but also face shields.  Life is not as colorful as when visitors were coming in and out during visiting hours (non-existent now), but it is definitely quieter and I guess that's the purpose for patients to be in the hospital.  To rest, recuperate and recover.

 

Hospital life

Good morning from my hospital room!  I am on day 5 since my surgery and maybe you can tell, I'm in fine spirits.  Today's post is only hospital talk so it may get a bit tedious.

(The community day room where patients can watch the Doctor Heli take off and land)

Surgery was scheduled for Monday morning at 8:30 AM and Tetsu arrived at the hospital at around 7:45 though I wasn't allowed out of the room to see him.  The nurse had hooked me up to an IV and she helped me change into a surgical gown and then together we passed Tetsu in the hallway giving him a wave and I walked a couple of floors down to the operating room.  Once on a table the anesthesiologist did a lumbar procedure (I think it must be called an epidural) and also put something in my IV to make me drowsy though I could still hear what was going on around me.  I had been fearful of having to be awake throughout the sawing and grinding etc, but whatever anesthesia I was given, the noise (and I remember hearing it) didn't much bother me.  The surgery was an hour and a half but it sure seemed shorter to me.  I was placed back on my bed and was wheeled back past Tetsu in the hallway and I was with it enough to give him a thumbs up and another wave.

(The very boring view from my hospital bed)

The doctor must have come in to tell me all was fine and to inform Tetsu because from then on I was in my room with nurses coming to check on me.  As the local anesthesia wore off the pain was starting to become very uncomfortable but when I mentioned it to the nurse something more was put in my IV and since then I haven't felt any major pain.  Amazing!

For the first two days I was hooked up to a urine bag, and a wound drainage bag and IV and then later a blood transfusion which was just my own blood they were returning to me that the hospital had stocked a couple of weeks before.  I was sitting up in bed the next morning and feeling perky enough to ask for someone to hand me my iPhone and Kindle so I was no longer bored with looking at the ceiling as I'd been the night before.

(My walker the first day)

Tuesday the drainage and urine bags were removed and the physical therapist arrived wheeling a walker and after some soft muscle massages he had me up and walking down the hall hanging on for dear life to the walker!  Hey!  I can do this and it's not too bad! 

(And my pink cane)

The next day, Wednesday I was finally disconnected from the IV and the therapist had me walking a lap around the hospital ward with a cane and the walker could be retired!  

(Practicing a lap with no cane!)

And then yesterday, Thursday,  we walked another lap around the ward without the cane! I'm basically free again!  My homework for this weekend is to walk as much as possible around the hospital ward using the cane still, and today I think the therapist is going to start giving advice about how to tackle stairs.  Isn't that amazing!  In four days I'm walking almost normally again!  Supposedly before surgery the bad leg had been about 3/4 of an inch shorter than the other (what with the wearing away of the cartilage) but now they are of equal lengths and I don't see-saw any more when I walk!  I'm really happy about that (vanity).

(We've only had bread once for breakfast.  Usually it is white rice)

(Lunch was a tofu hamburger.  I decorated my hamburger myself)

I am in a room with three other ladies (well, one lady went home yesterday) and we are discouraged from talking with each other and instead have our curtains tightly surrounding our beds.  Even so, I do exchange a few words with one lady who is 86, and the other roommate is 100 and quite chipper!

(At least once a day we are served fish)

Our meals are simple but tasty.  Every time one is served I think that Tetsu would never survive on this amount of food (maybe for men there are bigger portions).  1400 calories a day with very little sugar or salt...  And no choice of menu like a remember in the States (when I was in high school I was a Candy Striper during summer vacations).

(My reward to myself in the afternoon after walking laps!)

Anyway, everything is going smoothly and I am so happy with the progress I'm making.  I'm back to tatting and painting but most of the time I'm just relaxing.  The hospital is so comfortable and cool while Tetsu and the animals and the rest of Japan swelters in the horrible heat.  I feel rather guilty but I'm enjoying the time while I can!

Pre-operation

I thought I'd report in and let you know that I am now in the hospital and getting ready for surgery tomorrow morning.

This last week I have been staying close to home as I sure didn't want to catch a cold or anything worse at the last minute which would postpone my surgery.  I didn't do any swimming or go to church and only met up with a couple of friends in the last couple of days.  Still, every headache (it was so hot!) and cough made me anxious if I was really going to get admitted.  I had been so smug about not  being particularly worried about this surgery until then.

I got in some whimsical sketching this last week, trying to incorporate some fun characters into every day objects...  I've been taking another Skillshare class, this time with Terry Runyan.

My patchwork friend and cat mentor, Mrs. N, gave me a beautiful gold ring that she had sized for me and I sent her a thank you card with a whimsical cat.

Everybody wants to monopolize the fan!  (We have air-conditioning too but the fan circulates the cool air for us.)

Here is the real thing.

At the start of the week, Takumi contacted me and offered to buy me a Garmin Activity watch which he and Julieta seem to love and he felt that it would be really great for me to keep track of exercise reps and watch my heartbeat and sleep patterns and walking goals (once I get to walking again!)  I took him up on the generous offer and a few days later my Garmin Watch arrived!  Since then I've been pouring over Youtube videos learning how to use it and Takumi spent a long video chat with me getting a few things set up that he thought would be helpful.  Talk about taking my mind off upcoming events!

Besides that, I packed a small carry-on bag and my sketching and journaling supplies, Kindle, and tatting.  I still have been optimistic that I'm going to be up for activities... At least these past two days I've used them...  After tomorrow we will see what kind of shape I'm going to be in!

This was what I looked like before saying good-bye to Tetsu at my hospital room.

And this is the view from my hospital bed.  Gyaa!  Nothing green at all!!!  You can tell this is a major hospital though.

But across the hall in the community day room, we can see the helicopter pad and incoming Doctor Helis.  It is actually rather busy.

My cat sitter made me a kitty mascot to keep me company in my hospital room and he will be watching over me for the next few weeks.

Yesterday was Tetsu's 70th birthday, and I missed it again (I've so often been in the States during the summer that I've almost always missed it.)   I seem to only have a recent photo of him working in the yard (as usual).

But here is a smiley one of him Leiya took while Luka was here.

I guess that's about it.  Hopefully I'll be posting again in a few days.

Preparations

It is getting so hot here in Japan but when I read the news it seems that almost everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere is experience soaring temperatures.  For some reason I find the heat (and in our case, humidity) of summer scarier than the cold of winter, and I'm concerned about how the cats and John are going to cope with it.  And Tetsu!  Especially because I will be in the hospital for two weeks starting next week, I keep nagging Tetsu to be careful, to come in from his garden work even when I'm not there to badger him, etc.  Every summer for years I would go to the States for a month and let Tetsu and the animals handle life on their own, but those were the days when Tetsu was still working in an air conditioned office and the animals were a lot younger...  Summer woes!

Last week I finally met with the orthopedist who will perform hip surgery on me this month.  It was a full day of testing...  Blood test, urine test and electrocardiograph in one part of the hospital.  X-rays and CT scan in another part of the hospital.  Getting blood taken for possible use during surgery and then talking to the doctor about surgery details (gulp!) and then doing the paperwork for hospital admission.  For all that work and all the people involved this day, we paid only about $100 because of health insurance which covers 70% of the cost.

Everything in the hospital was very personalized and though all the technicians seemed very young, I guess that is the way it is going to appear to me from here on in.  The university hospital is technologically advanced with special sealed operating rooms.  (I haven't seen it yet but that's what I've been told).  I have opted for a shared room so there is no cost for hospitalization though a single room only ran about $100 a day.  I vaccilated about whether I should rent a storage/refrigerator/TV bedside table for about $3 a day because I didn't use it at all when I was in the hospital for a week last year but maybe TV will be a distraction this time around.  As for surgery itself, according to the city hall where we filled in paperwork for additional medical care (because I'm over 65?) out of pocket for hip replacement will be about $500.

There are a lot of pluses to socialized medicine, though granted I had to wait 5 months for one of the operating rooms and my doctor to be available.  

I'm beginning to pack a bag for my stay... new pajamas.  Books to read.  My sketchpad and pens and paints.  This week I am staying close to home (and in the air-conditioning) to avoid any chance of contracting Covid.  (One of my pool friends came down with it last week!!)  I've got enough reading glasses thanks to Tetsu!

  

Patchwork and quilting friends

I have a couple more beautiful quilts to show you today...

This week I got a surprise package in the mail from Mrs. Furui, my long-time patchwork mentor and with whom I've not really done any patchwork since the beginning of Covid.  Our little group of 6 shut down during the pandemic and we haven't gotten back together since...  I had sort of thought that as many good things do, it had faded away because we were all busy with different types of lives...  I see  Mrs. Furui occasionally but it's been a long time since we had an all day quilting fest.

So what was the package that came in the mail?  A quilt!!!  Made with wishes for a speedy surgery recovery by all my quilting friends and a couple more!

What a beautiful reminder of all the love that I have behind me with Bible verses, lines from hymns, cute cat embroidery and little snippets reminding me of quilts we have made together in the past. I hope you can zoom in to see all the details and well wishes both in English and in Japanese.

Eight friends particpated in making this quilt (which probably was mostly put together by Mrs. Furui after collecting finished blocks) and I was surprised to see Keiko Suga's and Marlene's names on the back of the quilt along with the others.  They are both not quilters but Mrs. Furui contacted them and included them in the project!  

Seeing this really lifts up my heart and makes we want to get back into meeting up with my friends and making things together again with them!  Only three more weeks to go!

Another quilt that I want to show is M-san's.  She discovered a blog? video? with this pretty machine quilting pattern and she wanted to give it a try.  She put this together all by herself and very humbly showed me the finished product saying that she "only copied" what the thread artist had done and she couldn't do it by herself!  Oh my goodness!!!  M-san is a thread artist now and she doesn't even recognize it in herself!  Isn't this beautiful!!!  

"I just did what the quilter was doing.  I can't create something like this myself..."

I think M-san becomes uncomfortable when I praise her too much or when I suggest that she really is an amazing quilter and has such a future of creativity in front of her.  She says that machine quilting makes her nervous and her true love is hand-quilting.  I somewhat understand that as it is always a challenge to see if something is going to work out, but in the end, it always becomes a step in learning so I wish M-san would enjoy the process more.  She is exceptional!

You can see the detail even better from the back.  

M-san offered to give me her beautiful quilt but I said that she needed to keep it for her family and friends to admire, to be able to look back on it as her starting point as a thread artist, and maybe to be able to use it as an example when teaching others someday.  I am very proud of her and she should be too!

So those are two quilts that have meant a lot to me this week.

A beautiful quilt and more sketching

The days are getting hot here in Nikko but we are still in the rainy season so most nights we get strong lightning and thunder storms along with a heavy rain.  Tetsu and I have to keep on top of closing all the windows in the house each afternoon to keep out the rain but then the heat becomes suffocating.  Once the rainy season is over we will just have heat and humidity and I dread that even more.  I am not a fan of Japanese summers!

Yesterday we met up with the Yamadas at our favorite Indian restaurant for lunch and got caught up. They were in New York for a month and so we've missed lunches and playing Canasta with them.  After lunch we went back to the Yamadas house for coffee and banana bread and we did get in a round or two of Canasta!  Basically Japanese are not much for board games or cards but thinking that Marlene, like me, may have enjoyed playing games with her family when she was a child, I approached the Yamadas about some game time.  We now make it a regular habit to play cards or Ticket to Ride (a great boardgame).  Tetsu goes along with it and enjoys it but I think Kohei-san is the biggest fan of all of us when in comes to playing games.  (And he won again yesterday.)

No our husbands are not having a confrontation!  Tetsu and Kohei were both involved with Judo in their high school and college days, and Kohei still works out with a community group.  Many years ago when all our children were little, Tetsu and Kohei led a similar community Judo club for young people and they both still talk Judo-talk which I don't much understand.  Kohei was explaining to us about a Judo throw that he'd done and the two of them decided that a demonstration was called for (but no, the throw did not end up with Tetsu across the room.  They stopped just before that.)

Marlene especially wanted to show me a quilt that her aunt had made for her and that she brought back from New York.  It is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!  We spread it out on Marlene's bed and I admired it and explained the finer points of appreciating all the work that went into it.

Marlene is not a quilter (though she does appreciate the quilts I've made for her in the past) and so I pointed out differences in the pieced blocks and the way the hand quilting was placed.  

Each block had a feather wreath quilted over it which wasn't very obvious from the colorful side.

But from the back, the extent of the hand stitching was obvious.

The label was so pretty too!  What do you think?  Probably it was a cut out from an embroidered pillowcase or something.  What a great idea!

Marlene said her aunt is in her eighties and during Covid she decided to make a quilt for each of her family members.  The quilt is magnificent and Marlene and Kohei have a real heirloom now on their bed!  It was an inspiration for me to see this too and I'm wondering how many quilts I'll be making when I'm in my eighties!

But right now I'm just putzing away with a bit of sewing now and then but nothing spectacular.  

I've made sketching a daily habit though and some things are pretty good and some things best left in closed journal pages.  Joining Skillshare was one of the best decisions I've made recently and I love going from artist's class to artist's class trying and learning different things.  My most recent Skillshare teacher is James Richards.

First I learned how to sketch people quickly.

And then trees... 

Next was a class on cars.

And a class on lampposts and street signs.   And put that all together and we've got a street scene!

Now if I could just do this without any instruction...