Omimai - December 2nd

A few days ago, Otousan fainted on the train and took a sick day. The next day, he went to work but wasn't feeling too good, and came home around 10am and headed for bed. Yukiko was also home, and about half an hour later, she heard a thud coming from the other room. At first, she thought he just dropped something, but after a minute she didn't hear any more noise, and went to investigate. She found her dad lying on the floor, conscious and claiming he was alright, but unable to muster the strength to stand up. Yukiko knew he wasn't alright, and called an ambulance.

At the hospital, they discovered that he had some sort of laceration in his stomach, and the loss of blood was causing him to have low blood pressure, which accounted for the fainting. They used a stomach camera for non-invasive surgery to close the wound, but when he first swallowed the camera, he coughed up a significant amount of blood. At this point, Yukiko had sent a message to Yusuke, but wasn't too clear on the specifics, so for a while he thought that his father was spraying blood from his mouth like a garden hose (thankfully, this wasn't the case). They sealed the wound but his blood pressure was still pretty low, and due to the staples he wouldn't be able to eat or drink for several days, so he would have to stay at the hospital for at least a week.

I got home that night and Okaasan told me what had happened that morning. My response was "why didn't you tell me earlier!?" Despite the fact that there wasn't much I could have done, I felt a bit guilty for not being home and therefore being unable to offer some kind of assistance. It's not like any of this is my fault, I would have been more than willing to help if I knew what had happened. Okaasan told me that things were looking good, and we'd have plenty of chances to visit, so don't worry.

So today, Yusuke, Yumi and Haruto came to Tokyo so we could all go to visit Otousan in the hospital. I had gone to a clinic last year to see a doctor about a sore throat, but this would be my first time in a real hospital. Children aren't allowed in the patient area, so Haruto had to stay back near the elevators with a chaperone. We stopped at the nurse station to don surgical masks and wash our hands with some alcohol-based hand cleanser. We went to find Otousan's room, and found that he'd been moved to a larger room with other stable patients. Upon entering the room, we removed the facemasks and went to Otousan's bed. He looked ghastly pale, but seemed otherwise ok. We talked for a while and gave him the books and clothes we had brought for him, before taking our turn watching after Haruto, who had been playing with the payphone the whole time.

I have to say, the hospital seemed a bit more... homely than the ones I'd been to in the states. On one hand, it is a warmer atmosphere, but on the other, doesn't feel as sterile. I'm not sure which one I prefer, but the nurse uniforms here are definitely much cuter!