The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

Dear diary, sorry for the lack of entries over the last few weeks. The reason, apart from the background drone of idleness, is that not much has happened really.

My horizons are much restricted by feebleness and quasi blindness. I am still weak after my spell of poor health in Japan. I go for a “long” walk everyday and can now walk the length of the Panhandle without stopping for rests. https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7767135,-122.4353989,3372m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQyOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

My vision is blurred by cataracts, which I think I will only get fixed once I get back to Okinawa in August. Waiting lists here on MediCal are long and I would anticipate at least a 6 month delay before surgery. Unfortunately this makes driving a bit “hit and miss.” Especially in the city where cars fly out at you from all directions. I use Waymo, which is fantastic.

I take a Waymo down to the Apple Store on Chesnut to get a new phone.

Brother Alan notices that the Imari plates used at recent meal are of similar design to a bowl that kicked around the house when we were young. I send the photos to Tomomi who replies that it is a remarkable piece of early porcelain, either Imari or Kakiemon . Whichever, it dates from the late 1600s.

Important job is to get my Green Card renewal procedure underway. This is done on the web of course but I also have to send documentation, including a money order for $600, to the Department of Homeland Security. It all seems to be going smoothly but the ETA for the new card is September. I will have to plan travel carefully.

James takes Eileen and I for a tour of the Botanical Gardens in The Golden Gate Park. Beautiful place!

Friend from SLAC days, Greg Loew, contacts me. He wants help publicising his book, “Memories from Paris to Stanford” I have been lucky to rub shoulders with exceptional people; Greg is one of them. Buy his book.

I sit in the sun in a bistro on Washington Square in Little Italy. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Washington+Square/@37.8007752,-122.4128267,1685m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x808580f1a98e88a1:0x24c815888a8a9ff0!8m2!3d37.8007752!4d-122.4102464!16zL20vMDVibjly?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQyOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

I read the first pages of Greg’s book drinking excellent coffee with a hot; egg bacon, ham, cheese, salad croissant.

I spend hours watching birds at the feeders I have installed just outside my window. Actually I could do this all day quite happily.

Nothing terribly exciting, just the train-train quotidien. Where better to have a train-train than San Francisco?

I stumble towards the U.S. Immigration Officer. Will they send me to jail in Nicaragua?

“Hey Sir, your Green Card is going to expire soon”

” I don’t think so, it’s good until May 2026.”

“Nope, sorry but it’s May 2025. You better get to work on that. “

Wow! Thanks for letting me know.”

No problem Sir, welcome home.”

All that anxiety for nothing. The Immigration people were as friendly and helpful as can be. I blame the tabloid media.

I wake very early and hike up to the Pork Store on Haight. I make it in one go without sitting down for a rest.

I cross the road to Gus’ wonderful local grocery store.

I immediately fill the bird feeder and my friends flock to welcome me back.

I am just back from the Pork Store on my second morning.

I will have to stop going to The Pork Store for breakfast. Too much food. I feel like going straight back to bed.

I head the mighty Tanto North towards the breeding grounds of the elusive Yanbaru Kuina.

I stop on the way to visit Miwako san. She is a wonderful and talented person. She helped a lot with graphics work in the early days of OIST.

Once I have tied up Tanto to the hitching rail in Yanbaru, Ichiro san and Tomomi put on an incredible meal!

We go out after the meal to find roosting rails. No luck. Next morning at dawn we are after them again. Not much luck, a few scampering across the road but nothing photographable. We see other stuff and it is always good to be out in the very early morning.

I must go back to California. Trump’s crackdown on immigration worries me. They do not like it if you stay out of the States for extended periods on a Green Card.

We go out to get acclimatized to American food.

Not a great stay really. I came to have cataract surgery, which was cancelled owing to worse medical problems. I spent nearly all my time in bed. I lost 15 kilos. I lost mind-boggling sums of money from my pension fund.

However, the friendship and kindness of many people in my time of need was uplifting.

Hooray, I finally get outside. We go birdwatching around the legendary taro fields of Kin.

Unfortunately I catch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantiasis. I guess I got it from strange parasites in the wetlands.

Nagasaki sensei sends me to hospital to see a blood circulation specialist. I explain that I have Elephantiasis but he seems skeptical. I have a big full body blood pressure test and an ultrasound lower leg vein check.

This morning I return to the hospital to learn the outcome of testing. The specialist tells me that there is nothing wrong with me and I should stop whining. This is the kind of doctoring I like. It reminds me of school.

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met Elephantiasis that wasn’t there!
It wasn’t there again today,
I wish, I wish it’d go away!

Very bad news! My friend Nagasaki sensei is leaving Okinawa. He has been an excellent doctor who is always available, gently humorous and very knowledgeable. He has underpinned my happiness as I move into dotage. He is moving to Miyako Jima for his dotage. Thank you Nagasaki sensei.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Miyako-jima/@24.8127951,125.2785339,53086m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x34f450f11854a3ef:0x602e0677feb8a1a6!8m2!3d24.7673666!4d125.3246769!16zL20vMDQyMWow?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMzMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Worse places to go!

This blog has become dull as it is all about ailments. It is however difficult to write about other subjects, boating, birding, clubbing, life in Okinawa for example, because of ailments.

I have been in Okinawa since the end of January and have not left Ginowan. When I am not unconscious, I go from my apartment to the doctor, to the hospital, to the shops and more recently to the gym. That’s about it.

Older chaps will know the importance of having lots of places available to go for a pee. The bladder and prostate are not what they used to be. In this respect Okinawa shines. There are toilets everywhere! Not what used to be called “Public Conveniences” in the UK but in every supermarket, konbini, gas station, most shops, any municipal office, etc etc. There does not seem to be a taboo about just stepping in to use the toire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdMhQm12FZI

Of course all of the toilets are gleaming and users also appear to be super diligent in keeping them clean.

Help is not far away!

I went for the final wind up after hospital stay. I have Cold Type Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia. I will be OK but have to be very careful not to catch flu or covid. The level of red blood cells, the root of the problem, should slowly reestablish. I am nonetheless excessively feeble but again this should improve.

I go to the city gym, free for oldies, that is only 3 minutes drive away. I do exercises to strengthen the so called muscles in my legs. These seem to have gone AWOL.

So hospital is a lot of fun. The Okinawans have a talent for creating an ambiance of competence, efficiency and enjoyment. My stay is a vacation.

I have a lot of checks: blood pressure, temperature, heart beat, four times a day. Multiple specialized blood tests and a memorable bone marrow biopsy, which hurts!

Apart from that I doze until the next meal.

The food is so good. It is plain, presentation is utilitarian but is is so healthy, so delicious. You may remember that I ate nothing for 10 days during the throes of Covid – no appetite. Confronted by hospital meals my appetite springs, tiger like, back to life.

So you get the idea. Yum!

I think I mentioned before that, because I am over 70, the maximum I can be charged for all hospitalization, treatment, medication, even if I stay a month, is 15,000 yen – approx $100!

” We have private rooms, Neil san but they are very expensive – 5,000 yen a day! ( about $ 30.)

” Oh, I think I will have one of those please.”

So I spend a blissful week, horribly curtailed by the consultant haematologist who announces out of the blue, ” We have finished all our tests. You can go home tomorrow.”

Long term prisoners who are released frequently panic at the prospect of coping for themselves after a highly organized and protective regime. I feel the same.

My fellow internees rattle their tin cups against the bars and shout encouragement as I step over the exit gate into the uncertainty of freedom. How will I manage?

Thanks so much to all the people at Chubu Tokushukai Hopital – stars all. If you have some spare time in Okinawa, book in here.

I am sick – very sick. Headache, razor throat, fever, cough, shortness of breath, extreme feebleness. etc.

I make it to the clinic. As I approach the sliding glass doors, the nurses spring up, wave and dance around like happy puppies! “Ohayugozaimasu Neil san!” they chortle.

The doors slide open and I croak”Ohayugozaimasu mina san.”

All change!

“Go away Neil san! Do not come in! Go back to your car!

Nagasaki sensei examines me in the car and tells me I have Covid or Corona virus in Japanese. I get lots of medication.

I spend 10 days unconscious in bed. I eat nothing at all but drink litres of Aquarius, which kind Arisa san drops off in front of my door.

It is not that bad as I have hundreds of audiobooks. I start to listen and imagine that it is my Mummy reading me a story. I suck my thumb. Within minutes, I am unconscious again.

I am really weak. Getting off my bed and hobbling to the toilet is a major effort.

I have to organise a trip to Europe, find accommodation, book ferries, rent a car etc. etc. Deadlines loom. I cannot do it. When I try, I get very anxious and notice that I am trembling. Early onset something .

After 10 days I go back to the clinic. Nagasaki sensei looks at me of 2 minutes.” Neil san, you are very yellow. You must go to hospital immediately!”

30 minutes later I am in a hospital bed!

I still am. 2weeks with remission for good behaviour.

I came to Okinawa believing that I would be able to get my eye fixed quickly. Lurking at the back of my feeble mind was that I was making up the ease of getting cataract surgery in Okinawa. It would in reality be complex and take months.

Notwithstanding, I amble into the  Hayakawa Eye Clinic, which is just up the road – no appointment.

” Gimme cataract surgery!” I suggest Dreedle-like.

A wonderful nurse leads me off immediately and places me in front of a series of eye machines.

5 minutes later I am talking to the the clinic head honcho.

” Yessiree, y’all got cataract big time in right eye. Lookit, because of history of Uveitis there is 5% maybe 10% risk of complication after the surgery. D’y’all wanna go ahead?”

” What was the name of Fridtjof Nansen‘s boat?”

“The Fram of course!”

” So Forward!” I cry.

I am led off for a blood test and an electrocardiogram.

” OK,” says head honcho “Can you come in on 4 March? I can slice up your eye at 09:00”

” The surgery will be expensive.”

” How much?”

“18,000 yen!”

Food background noise.

Wrong of me to doubt the excellence of Japan.

James and I go up to the relatively new Presidio Tunnel Tops Park. https://presidio.gov/explore/attractions/presidio-tunnel-tops

It is a great place with lots of space, incredible views, tons of birds and fantastic food trucks.

James and I go to different food trucks but come back with the same thing – pork belly sandwiches.

Great place to visit as the views over the Bay are stunning and there is a good, er, vibe.

With me shillelagh under me arm
And a twinkle in me eye
I’ll be off to Okinawa in the morning.

Bad and very long trip. When I check in at SFO, Japan Airlines tell me that my connection from Narita to Okinawa has been cancelled but I have been booked onto a flight early next morning. I will have spend a night in Narita.

There is great confusion when I go to catch the flight early next morning as they can find no record of my booking.

JAL do not come out very well as they seem more concerned about working out what went wrong than giving me a ticket. I have been traveling for 2 days and am a little frazzled. The clock is ticking, the flight leaves in 30 minutes. “Please give me a ticket.” I sob. I make the flight with at least 45 seconds to spare. Too much excitement for an elderly chap like me!

I often go for breakfast at the Pork Store on Haight, mainly because it is a great place but also I can , in my blindness, find my way there easily.

I go back to the eye doctor at the Zuckerberg Hospital. My vision is still blurred. The drops don’t seem to make much if any difference. The doctoresse thinks that the problem is cataracts. These need surgery. Only the big chief Ornithologist can approve surgery. I cannot see him until March 17! Even if he says, “Get those doggies rolling!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFGyhSifqzA there is at least a six month waiting list until I could go under the chain saw. Oh dear! Months and months of almost total inactivity due to inability to drive does not sound good.

Yesterday being a day when the vision was pretty good. I drove down to Palo Alto to have lunch with Jonathan and Renee. I made it OK but it is not safe.

Plan B – fly back to Okinawa, see specialist Ornithologist the next day and if he agrees that it is knife time, have the operation quickly. All free. Then I could see again and hit the adventure trail.