So I go for surgery on my busted meniscus. I check into Urasoe University Hospital on Thursday afternoon and I am installed in a room. ” Private room, very expensive.”
How much?”
“7,000 yen.” – $70 Hmmm think I will give it a go.
The overwhelming atmosphere during medical treatment in Okinawa is – let’s have fun. All the medical staff from surgeons to the guy who brings the meals are grinning, mischievous and want everyone to have a good time.
They shave my leg.
Lots of tomfoolery
Evening meal
There is a typhoon outside and I listen to the thunder and smell the lightning. I had no time to take Dileas out of the water but did swim out with a second anchor just prior to going to hospital. I worry, notwithstanding. I read”Voyage to Loo Choo” by Captain Basil Hall R.N., a Scot who came to Okinawa in 1816. You can read it here:http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=AMtjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA212&lpg=PA212&dq=voyage+loo+choo+hill&source=bl&ots=CA_NLVa39s&sig=5UHxGtrUX8Gji13cH-2cW6r7GbU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tpncU8XBBMvo8AXVoIKoBA&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=voyage%20loo%20choo%20hill&f=false
The Okinawans have not changed.
Next morning is surgery time.
My surgical outfit
The anaesthetics team
They write on the leg that has to be treated – just in case.
I had asked my brother Ian if there were any questions I should ask. “Ask the surgeon if he has done the operation before and if he has alcohol or drug dependency.”
I do so and the surgeon, Shima sensei, politely explains that he drinks alcohol 3 times a week and does not take drugs. I say, “No, no, British joke.”
He cracks up and runs around the operating theatre explaining to everyone that I had asked if he was an alcoholic but it was a British joke! Everyone hoots and screams. We have to have a 2 minute pause to allow the medical staff to regain their composure.
Are you an alcoholic?
The last thing I remember is the Beatles song ” I’m Looking Through You” playing over the sound system.
Golden Slumbers
Asleep at the wheel
Anyway I wake up to a great welcome from the anaesthetics folk who also give me the lump of meniscus that had been sliced off.
Ohayo Gozaimasu!
Reputedly very good as fishing bait.
I go back to my room and sleep through the rest of the day. Communication with nurses is done through phones.
Hai!!
bleakfast!
This morning I am taken off for physiotherapy.
Sayaka san!
So thanks everyone at the Urasoe Hospital for giving me such a good time.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
Congratulations. I am glad to see that you had such a great time and got free fish bait at the same time.
Thanks Micheal, I’m in Tokyo!
What a Great hospital. I guess they wear masks all the time so you can’t see how much they are laughing, or maybe retching In a facial expression sort of way.
Impressed that you managed to get on a plane to Tokyo so soon after the op. Loads of substances ingested to cope? What I want to know, though, is have you managed to catch anything with that bait and how did Dileas get on in your absence?
Yes it was pretty precipitous. The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the wedding table.
However there was no alternative and Tokyo is always fun. Dileas safe in Dead Man’s Gulch.
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