#that afternoon; sore throat. wait no. not a sore throat at all my tonsil is just swollen. painlessly. ?????

[thekingofchungus]

caught some kind of illness. currently calling it “what the fuck”.

[quarantinememoirs]

0.0 The Move

I moved to London on 1st of March 2020. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon when I took a coach from Bristol to Victoria station. Poorly packed, dehydrated after a month of good-byes and panicked that my friend I was meant to stay with would not sober up and return in time I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the journey with National Express.

It was a sweet and sour evening. Sweet because I got reunited with my dear dear (and now sober) wife Jojo. Sour because I was tired, and my throat was sore. Two days later it was clear; tonsillitis. I had it so many times in my life I knew for sure. Something was missing though... What? The antibiotics I left in Bristol.

Next morning. No GP registration in London. The closest walk-in clinic? Middlesex hospital. Where is it? A 15 minute walk, a bus drive longer than that, and another 15 minute walk from Jojo’s. What then? A lot of buildings. A hospital smell. Confusion. A lovely nurse. Another corridor. An information desk. No walk-in clinic... ER then. Another corridor. Tears, sobbing and cry. An automatic door. A queue. A form to fill. A queue again. A half-an-hour wait. Not too bad, I thought.  Another nurse. Temperature checked. “Sit down and wait”, she said. Waited then. Waited, and waited. And then.. Sound of my name!

I walked with a doctor to an examination room. He sat me down and asked what was the problem. He nodded and listened. Checked my temperature and pressure again… Well, he tried, the thingy on my finger struggled. “Too cold; your hands...” he said and wiggled my fingers. Crappy blood circulation, nothing new.. He examined my throat. Apologised every time he touched my jumper, my hair or anything really. He did not make it weird at all. Then he looked into my throat. Then he looked at me; “can we take a picture? I will delete it after, but sometimes it is nice to discuss with a patient.” Weird, but ok. A minute later I was looking at my gross throat and my gross white tongue. Tonsillitis at its best. The doctor seemed confused… He sat down by his computer and googled: “t-o-n-s-i-l-l-i-s-i-s”. We sat next to each other, stared at the screen and compared viral and bacterial tonsillitis to the pic of my disgusting throat. “See bacterial tonsillitis, that looks just like my mouth!” I pointed out to an image struggling to talk through my sore, sore throat. “Mmmm yes..” he agreed.  Eventually we got there. I got my antibiotics. “No drinking while you take them! Take them for 7 or 10 days” he advised. Ok then, I shall call mum and ask her when I get home…

Jojo lived in a warehouse with some of the nicest people I ever met. I felt home with them after a heartbeat. Living with Jo was like a happy marriage; we had breakfast together, she went to work, I house hunted, we made dinner, watched a movie, went to sleep. Repeat. I almost did not want to find my own place…

Eventually I found my own warehouse to live in. Hackney Wick and another three of some of the nicest people I ever met. It felt right, like I found a home. I moved in on a Sunday the 15th of March after a  twisted boozy weekend in Bristol. Another poor packing job… My books, paints and plants still there. Never missed them more...

[moustacheimpossible-blog]

The Hunter

CHAPTER 4 - NIGHTMARE

"I just wanna sleep..." She mumbled while trying to open her eyes. She was still exhausted from her quarrel with Luther last night, and she needed to rest for another hour.

"Come on, it's almost noon and you're still in  bed Frankie!"

She let out a groan as she turned herself on her stomach. She grimaced when she swallowed her saliva down her throat.

"Oh no..."

She exclaimed, giving up, knowing well that Luther wouldn't allow her to sleep like this during the whole day.

"Oh no, what?" Asked Luther, obviously not happy with the fact that she had stayed in bed during the whole morning.

"My throat hurts... I think I have a sore throat..." She turned herself on her back and finally open her eyes, realizing that the weather was indeed pleasant and warmer than last night.

"Well if you have a sore throat, you won't be able to go to that Electric Music festival."

She couldn't help rolling her eyes when Luther said Electric, instead of Electronic.

"It's Electronic, not Electric... Whatever, it's not as if you'd have let me go..." She tried to swallow once again, but it still hurt her as if she had gulped needles down her throat.

"Come on, get up and I'll prepare you some hot water with honey, it should help you. You'll be back on your feet in no time, it's not a little sore throat that will stop you..."

She sat up in her bed and watched him exiting her room. Every time she got sick, it was starting with a sore throat and would turn into a nasty tonsillitis.  She knew she should have consulted a doctor about her recurrent tonsillitis happening at least five times a year, which was becoming really annoying.

She pushed away the warm blanket from her body and realized that the air in the house was colder than it should've been. She shivered and hesitated to leave her bed, knowing well what was going on.

"Oh shit must be from last night..." She shook her head and decided to return under the cover, where she rapidly shut her eyes and went back to sleep even if Luther had asked her to get up. She didn't feel good and would stay in bed for sure, she didn't care about Luther and his hot water mixed with honey. She was hoping it was just a mere fever, not the kind of fever where a cold bath would be required to lower down the temperature of her body.

Even though Luther wanted her up and ready for the afternoon, he decided to let her sleep. While she was asleep, she wasn't causing him any troubles. He didn't really know what to do with her at this point, he didn't have children of his own, and Frankie was having a hell of a temper which was something Luther hadn't been ready to deal with. He couldn't blame her though, she was as stubborn as Ethan and quite of a strong nature. She was doing whatever she wanted and whenever she wanted, and he was aware that Frankie disliked being protected of that sort. She wanted her freedom back, but Luther had promised Ethan to care for Frankie until they would catch Lane. That's why Ethan was out on a mission, his team was on its way searching for Lane in Europe. Lane had attacked Frankie, and that's something Ethan hadn't accepted at all!

It was almost 4 PM when Luther heard Frankie screaming on the tops of her lungs upstairs. He rushed himself to her bedroom to check her, he thought for sure that something bad had happened to her until he entered her bedroom and observed that she was in tears.

"He's here!! He's here!!" She was sobbing loudly, and Luther didn't understand what she was talking about, he even turned on the light to have a better look at her bedroom, he even opened the closet, but to no avail, there was nobody in her bedroom aside from him and her.

"Who's here Frankie??" His brown eyes widened at her, waiting for an explanation.

"He was here, in my dream..." She clarified to Luther while drying her tears.

"Was it Lane again? Another nightmare about Lane?" She nodded her head and Luther loudly sighed through his nostrils. He placed his huge hands on his hips before getting closer to Frankie.

"That's just a bad nightmare, Frankie, it's ok now I'm here!" He bent down to the young woman and without warning him, Frankie wrapped her arms around Luther, in the need of being consoled. When she leaned her head against his shoulder, Luther felt the warm touch of her forehead against his dark skin since he was wearing a tank top.

"Geez, did you sleep under the cover??" He pushed her away from him and brought his hand to her forehead to check if she was feverish.

"You're boiling hot!!" He looked at her as if he was waiting for her to say something, but she was obviously shaken by her nightmare and wasn't really yet fully awake.

"Hold on!" Luther stood back to his full height and retrieved a digital thermometer. He came back to Frankie and asked her to open her mouth.

"Keep it under your tongue, I'm pretty sure you caught something. You were drenched last night when you arrived..." While Frankie kept the tip of the thermometer under her tongue, Luther noticed that the back of her grey t-shirt had a spot of sweat. He once again touched her flushed skin on her face and he knew that she was sick. He could see it in her pale blue eyes. The digital thermometer finally beeped, displaying the body temperature of Frankie on the small digital screen. Luther removed it from her mouth and looked down at the number with a perplexed look.

"101 Farheneit! I don't like it at all. I will give you some Ibuprofen and you'll get more rest but without the cover this time. Your temperature has to lower down Frankie." Of course, she didn't listen to Luther, he caught her going back to sleep and pulling the blanket over her frailed silhouette.

"I knew you wouldn't listen to me!" He removed the blanket from her and Frankie obviously cried to get her blanket back.

"But I'm so cold!!! Give me back the blanket, I will just cover my legs, please!"

Even though she was hard to resist when begging him like this, Luther didn't accept to give her back the blanket. He knew that her temperature wouldn't lower down if she kept herself hiding under that cover and that would only aggravate her situation.

"I'm coming back with the Ibuprofen and a glass of water!" He went back to the bathroom and grabbed the bottle of Ibuprofen pills for Frankie with a glass of water. At least she didn't refuse the pills and swallowed them, grimacing in pain.

"You'll feel better in a few hours. Now get back to sleep, I'll cook dinner, and if you hungry later, I'll prepare you a chicken broth ok?" She nodded at him, quickly shutting her eyes after he departed her bedroom.

Luther returned downstairs to prepare the dinner, at least for him, he knew Frankie would probably end up sleeping for the rest of the evening, and that was quite good with him. At least he knew that she was upstairs in her bedroom and that she wouldn't really think of going out this weekend with that sickness.

A few hours later, Luther ended up checking on Frankie and he wasn't surprised to find out that she had dressed in a sweater and a pair of joggers. He slowly approached her, not wanting to awake her and gently touched her forehead. It did seem that her body temperature had lowered down since the afternoon. She was deeply sleeping and Luther couldn't help enjoying this moment, he couldn't recall the last time Frankie had been this quiet since her arrival at his place.

He returned downstairs and went outside to roll down the garbage cart at the end of his driveway since it was garbage day tomorrow. His brown eyes spotted a black Range Rover parked down the street and for some reason he felt suspicious about this vehicle. Especially since there was someone inside of it with all the lights off. He could clearly see the man sitting in the SUV.

"Who the hell is that?" Luther decided to inspect the vehicle, but as he approached closer toward the vehicle, the Range Rover departed in a hurry its location. Luther clenched his teeth and tried to run after the vehicle but to no avail, he wasn't in shape anymore and the mere fact that he tried to run almost made him sick. He succeeded in catching the license plate's numbers on the black SUV though. He came back inside his house, all shaken up by the encounter with this black vehicle, wondering if Andrew, one of his friend could help with running down a license plate number. He had a feeling this SUV was parked with the only intention of spying on him and Frankie...

He contacted Andrew, and the man informed him he'd come back with the info during the afternoon on the next day, which satisfied Luther. That night Luther ended up sleeping in the living room, afraid that someone would try to break into his house and kidnap Frankie. He didn't sleep that much though, he would open his eyes every hour, making sure Frankie was ok and safe in her bed. He even went outside several times during the night to see if the black SUV was still there, but he didn't see it again. He hoped that it would stay that way.

The next morning, Luther could feel the tiredness invading him, he even made a long nap in the living room with Frankie who had also fallen asleep due to her sickness while watching a movie during the morning, they both woke up when Luther's smartphone rang. Lost and confused, Luther grabbed the smartphone and spoke to the man at the other end of the line.

"Hi Luther, it's Andrew... I raw down the plate and it belongs to a man named Ethan Hunt, Caucasian Male born in 1964. Anyway, I got his picture, would you like me to send it to you?" Luther was speechless over the phone, knowing well that the man he had seen in the vehicle wasn't Ethan at all.

"No Andrew, that will be fine, nothing to worry about I guess." He ended his call with Andrew and returned his gaze on Frankie who was looking at him.

"Who was it?" Demanded Frankie while rubbing her eyes. He shook his head not really wanting to tell her that a man had spied on them last night.

"Nothing Frankie... How are you feeling anyway?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Tired and still got that sore throat. I didn't sleep well last night, I ended up dreaming about Lane again, but this time he had sent someone else after me."

Even though Luther didn't really care for his dreams, he became intrigued by Frankie's last dream...

"Probably that fever of yours. Sometimes a fever gives us weird dreams... Now come here, how about a chicken broth, would you like this?"

She nodded her head and followed Luther to the kitchen to eat with him some of that chicken broth...

[latetothegreysparty]

Favorite Patient

Hey folks. I’m rather tired and a bit sluggish tonight, so getting this written took a lot more effort than normal. I’m not sure it’s any good. Nonetheless, it had been a little while since I’d posted anything, so I really wanted to try to get something written today. This one is in response to an anon prompt about Amelia needing a tonsillectomy. It’s set during a time when Owen and Amelia are married.

Favorite Patient

“You have a sore throat again!” Meredith exclaimed, her voice sounding rather accusatory. Amelia had been battling with strep throat and various other throat ailments for the last year or so. It seemed like she got some sort of throat infection every two or three months. The last time, her doctor had told her that she should get a tonsillectomy, but she had refused. She had tried to hide her current infection from Meredith, knowing that Meredith would insist she get the tonsillectomy if she found out. She’d been successful so far, but it seemed like her luck had run out.

“No, I don’t,” Amelia dismissed, turning and attempting to leave the kitchen, but Meredith’s hand on her wrist stopped her.

“Oh no, you're not getting out of this,” Meredith scolded, tugging Amelia back to stand in front of her. “Hop up on the counter so I can take a look at your throat.”

“No, Meredith,” Amelia said, deciding that it would be best not to provide any particular reason and instead just give a general refusal.

Meredith squared her shoulders, getting ready to lay down the law with Amelia just as she so often had to with her children. “Amelia, climb up on that counter, open your mouth, and stick out your tongue right now, or I’ll tell Bailey how behind you are on your paperwork, and then you won’t be allowed to perform any surgeries until you catch up.”

Amelia lowered her chin and glared at Meredith, but begrudgingly climbed onto the counter and opened her mouth. Meredith shone the flashlight on her phone into the back of Amelia’s throat and sighed. “Amelia, you know this is strep,” she said, exasperated. “Why you’ve been ignoring it is beyond me. Do you think rheumatic fever seems like a gigantic barrel of fun? Are you so passionate about proving your confidence in Maggie’s cardiosurgery abilities that you feel the need to give yourself aortic regurgitation just so Maggie can fix it?” Amelia said nothing, instead choosing to continue to glare at Meredith. She did not find Meredith’s lecture to be the least bit amusing.

Meredith rolled her eyes and stepped away from Amelia to reach into a nearby cabinet. “Here, I have some leftover amoxicillin. Take this twice a day for the next ten days.” Meredith could see that Amelia was opening her mouth to protest, so she preemptively put that argument to rest. “If I find out that you’re not taking it, I’ll have Owen give you a gluteal injection of penicillin every four hours.”

Amelia’s mouth fell open. What in the actual hell was Meredith thinking? There was no way she’d really do that. Amelia was about to say that, but Meredith started speaking again before she could. “And yes, I would actually do that,” she said. “You know Owen would be on board. Nothing gets that man riled up quite like concerns about your health and safety. Oh, and he loves your ass,” Meredith added with a smirk and a wink. 

“I’ll take the pills,” Amelia grated out, grabbing them from Meredith before jumping down from the counter and stalking out of the room. When all of this was over, she might actually kill Meredith in her sleep.

-

As Amelia walked through the entrance of Grey-Sloan, she was stopped by Dr. Pederson, the doctor whom she had been seeing for her recurrent throat infections. “Amelia, Meredith told me that you had strep again,” said Dr. Pederson. “We really need to get that tonsillectomy scheduled so we can be done with these infections.”

“She’s not allowed to tell you that!” Amelia said indignantly, ignoring the suggestion her doctor had made about scheduling the tonsillectomy. “That’s a HIPAA violation!”

To her dismay, Dr. Pederson merely laughed. “She’s not your doctor, she’s your sister-in-law. She was telling me information she gathered from working with you and spending time around you. Now back to scheduling that tonsillectomy. I think we should shoot for the next few weeks.”

“Um, I’m really busy,” Amelia stammered, trying to quickly think of a way around this. “I’m busy definitely for the next several months, so I don’t know when I’ll have time to do it. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have more time, though!” she said cheerily, hoping the smile she plastered on her face was somewhat believable.

“What are you too busy to do, Shepherd?” asked Miranda Bailey from behind Amelia. Amelia internally cursed. Trust Bailey to show up at the worst possible moment.

Just as Amelia was about to make up some lie to get Bailey to leave, Dr. Pederson answered. “Apparently she’s too busy to get the tonsillectomy she’s needed for months now to help with the recurrent throat infections she’s been dealing with for a while. In fact, she just got over her latest strep infection.”

“HIPAA!” Amelia yelled indignantly, wincing as the yelling made her sore throat ache more.

Dr. Pederson shrugged without much concern. “She’s your boss; she needed to know.”

Amelia turned away from Dr. Pederson to look at Bailey, but once she saw the expression on Bailey’s face, she was sorry she did. “Is every single doctor in this hospital an overgrown toddler?” an exasperated Bailey asked. “Is it too much to ask for you people to take care of yourselves? This is ridiculous. Shepherd, you’re suspended from surgical privileges until you get the tonsillectomy.”

For what felt like the hundredth time today, Amelia’s mouth fell open in shock. “You can’t-” she began, but Bailey quickly cut her off. 

“I just did,” she responded. “So get that surgery scheduled and deal with your health like a grown woman.” With that, Bailey strode away, leaving a sulking Amelia and a smiling Dr. Pederson in her wake.

“I have an opening tomorrow afternoon,” Dr. Pederson said.

“Fine,” Amelia said, pouting as she left the entryway of the hospital.

-

Amelia laid in her hospital bed, pouting and sulking as she tried to figure out which person in the room would be most likely to be sympathetic to her pleas. It wasn’t Meredith, that was for certain. That left Owen and Dr. Pederson. Owen was probably too busy worrying more than he should to listen to her, so she decided to try Dr. Pederson. “I really don’t think this is necessary,” Amelia said with pleading eyes. “My sore throat stuff hasn’t been too bad recently, honest. Why don’t we just give it some time and see if things calm down?”

“Amelia, you’ve had five throat infections in the last year,” reasoned Dr. Pederson. “I know you’re not excited for this surgery, but it really will help you. The recovery should only be a week or two, and I’m sure Owen will take great care of you.”

“Of course I will,” he said with a smile before bending down to press a soft kiss to Amelia’s forehead. In normal circumstances she would’ve found the gesture endearing, but at the moment it just annoyed her because he was taking Dr. Pederson’s side and he was supposed to be on her side.

Meredith rolled her eyes from the other end of the room. “Seriously, Amelia, enough with the theatrics. Zola had her tonsils out last year and we didn’t get half the amount of whining and arguing from her as we’re getting from you. If a child can do it, you certainly can too. Now stop carrying on so Dr. Pederson can knock you out and put us all out of our misery.”

Amelia crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her bottom lip out. “It’s easy for you to be all nonchalant about it when you’re not the one whose throat is about to be cut apart. Until you voluntarily get your neck maimed, I don’t want to hear about how easy this is.”

Meredith sighed in frustration, but decided not to engage in the argument with Amelia. As she glanced down at her bag that was sitting on the floor, she noticed a bit of brown fur sticking out of the top. “Oh, Amelia, I almost forgot,” she said as she pulled an item out of the bag. “Zola wanted me to give this to you. This is Chester. He’s the teddy bear Alex gave to her when she got her tonsillectomy. She told me she thought you could use him right now,” Meredith said, handing the bear to Amelia.

Amelia snatched the teddy bear from Meredith’s hands and snuggled him to her chest. “See, Zola has sympathy for my plight. I knew there was a reason I’ve always liked her more than I like her mother.”

Meredith turned to face Dr. Pederson. “Can you please just knock her out so we don’t have to deal with this anymore?”

Dr. Pederson chuckled. “We probably should start the anesthetics so we can get this surgery going on time, Amelia,” she said, offering Amelia a kind smile. Amelia swallowed and nodded, doing her best to mask her anxiety so she wouldn’t get more teasing from Meredith. “Great, let’s get this show on the road, then. Owen, Meredith, could you two please head down to the waiting area?” Meredith left without a word.

“I’ll see you in a little while,” Owen whispered before kissing Amelia’s nose and stroking her hair.

“You better have ice cream for me the next time I see you,” she demanded earnestly, furrowing her eyebrows as she spoke.

Owen chuckled and nodded. “Anything for you, my dear,” he promised. He placed one last kiss on her head before exiting the room.

“Alright, Amelia, ready to go?” asked Dr. Pederson. At Amelia’s small nod, Dr. Pederson placed a mask over her nose and mouth to begin the administration of the anesthetic. Amelia took a deep breath before closing her eyelids, which had begun to feel rather heavy.

-

Amelia sighed as she pulled up the channel guide for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. This was her fourth day in a row of lying in bed all day, and she was going out of her mind with boredom. Dr. Pederson had told her that it was imperative that she be on bed rest for at least a week since adult tonsillectomy patients tended to prolong their recovery times by overexerting themselves. Owen had promised to ensure that Amelia adhered to Dr. Pederson’s orders, so he had taken the week off of work and had spent his days preparing her meals, bringing her medication to her, and taking care of anything she could possibly think of and many things she didn’t even think of. While Amelia found his concern sweet, she was also frustrated because it eliminated every excuse she had to get out of bed other than using the bathroom, and there was only a certain number of times she could believably claim to have to go to the bathroom in one day.

She switched the TV off, giving up her quest to find something entertaining to watch. She slowly pulled back the covers, stood up from the bed, and did her best to stealthily exit the bedroom so that Owen wouldn’t hear her moving about. To her dismay, he happened to be coming down the hallway when she exited the bedroom, so he caught her when she was a mere three steps outside the bedroom. “Amelia, what are you doing out of bed?” he asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

“I was just looking for some ice cream,” she said, widening her eyes and pouting her lips. This had to work. He was never able to resist that face. Surely, he’d cave and let her spend at least a few minutes up and about.

To her surprise and disappointment, he didn’t react at all to the face she was making. She couldn’t recall a time when he didn’t react at all to that face. He must’ve really meant business about this whole bedrest thing. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice what he was doing until he had already swept her up into his arms bridal style and begun to carry her back into the bedroom. “Owen!” she whined, shifting slightly in his arms as she tried to figure out a way to escape without causing him to drop her. She was fairly certain he wouldn’t be pleased if she did that.

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” he responded sternly. “You know you’re supposed to be in bed. Could you try not being a difficult patient for once in your life? Let’s get you back in bed so you can rest and be on the way to a speedy recovery.” He set her gently back into the bed and then sat down next to her on the edge of the bed.

She wasn’t done pleading her case. “I don’t need to rest,” she whined. “I’ve been resting all day every day for the past four days. What I need is something to do so I don’t go crazy.”

Owen chuckled. “Too late, you were crazy long before your surgery,” he teased. She glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest to register her annoyance at his teasing. He didn’t respond. Instead, he gently grasped her right shoulder and rolled her so she was lying face down. 

“What are you doing?” she asked, confusion evident in her voice as she looked back at him over her shoulder.

“Shhh,” he replied. “Just be quiet and relax,” he whispered. He placed his hands on her back and began to gently knead the muscles of her back and shoulders, just how he knew she liked.

“No,” she moaned in protest, although she didn’t move away from his touch. “I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work.”

“I’m not trying to do anything,” he argued, continuing to massage her back. “I’m just giving you a back rub.”

“You’re trying to put me to sleep, but it’s not going to work because I’m not tired,” she said defiantly, though her words lost much of their power given that they were starting to slur together as she began to drift off.

“Whatever you say, love,” he whispered, continuing to work the tension from her shoulders. She tried to respond, but no intelligible words came out. Instead, she gave a sleepy little groan before succumbing to her drowsy state and drifting off. Owen smiled as he stilled his hands on her back and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her head. She was probably the most stubborn patient he’d ever dealt with, but she was hands down his favorite patient, too.

[taiyaki-travels-blog]

Tokyo day 1:

Today we had brekky at 8:30am and were in taxis on our way to JR Nikko station by 9:30am. We took local trains to get to Tokyo and we switched trains twice along the way, stopping for a quick bite to eat for lunch at Akebane station.

This morning I woke up with a sore throat and it only got worse as the day went on… 風邪をひいてしまいました。I, thankfully, was allocated a single room for tonight’s stay in Ours Inn in Oimachi, meaning that I could have an early night and rest up in preparation for the days ahead.

After checking into our hotels we quickly rushed out to Harajuku for the afternoon, followed by a dinner in Shibuya. I didn’t buy much today, but I was able to show one of my friends around Harajuku and Takeshita Dori and she seemed to have a great time, despite the rain! Along the way, I stopped in at a drug store to try and find something for my sore throat, I was so amazed at the amount of drinks, lozenges, lollies, medicines, and all sorts that were available for a cold and a sore throat. Japan is really ahead of Australia in terms of modern medicine, even Leigh Sensei was put onto some strong antibiotics to kick his cold and they worked practically overnight! No more “let the cold run its course”, it is fixable here in Japan! On a rainy day in Japan, all of the stores provide umbrella rests and umbrella bags for customers in order to keep store clean, this is something that Australia DEFINITELY needs to take on board!

I left dinner early in order to return to the hotel and take my concoction of new cold remedies, hopefully I will wake up tomorrow with less symptoms!

Tokyo day 2:

Today was the day that everyone left for the Ogasawara Archipelago. I chose to stay in Tokyo for those 5 days so I could catch up with my old friends, it was a tough decision to make, especially since the archipelago seemed so beautiful!

I had terrible cold symptoms today and I felt really drained, but I pushed through and trekked on. I left everyone at Shinagawa station and headed off to my Air B&B in Nakano. I was greeted by the dad of the house who had prepared a lovely lunch for me! He spoke in really broken English until he realised that I could understand Japanese, then he completely switched to Japanese. It is always really funny being in a foreign country and having locals figure out how to best talk to you. In a café today I walked up to the cashier and he said “ちょっと待って下さい” and then sent out an English speaking staff member, how then realised I spoke Japanese and served me as per usual. They are very welcoming here in Japan and really try to fill everyone’s needs, but often assume all non-Japanese people do not speak a word of Japanese.

I went back to Shibuya for the afternoon and got a present for my mum and my grandmother, along with some little things for myself. I got myself a pre-made donburi from the supermarket (only $3!) and went home for a night in.

Tokyo day 3:

Day three, and still no signs of slowing down. Today I arranged to meet up with an old friend and go to Ueno Zoo and Shinjuku. The zoo was beautiful and only 600yen to enter! (Meanwhile at $50+ entries in Aus…) My friend and I stopped for lunch and had 回転寿司 which was easily the best sushi I have had in my entire life! We then went to Shinjuku to get some baseball merch for my dad as a gift, and to book off for some cheap, and easy to read, Japanese books. Book off is a second hand book/dvd/game/etc. store which is normally at least 2 floors high and as wide as a maccas. This company also owns many other second hand chain stores such as mode off (for clothing) and hard off (for furniture etc.). These stores make finding cheap and functional items at super low prices, for three new books I only paid 400yen ($4!). I wish Australia was this into reusing/selling items, maybe then we wouldn’t produce so much waste…

We then headed for coffee, and my friend took me on a tour of his university to meet his friends and to have dinner altogether. We went to an 居酒屋for drinks and dinner. Just another lovely day full of memories, friends, and activities. Time for bed!

Tokyo day 4:

Turns out it isn’t just a cold, it is TONSILLITIS!!!! So I went and got some medicine and headed off for a day visiting my old host school from two years ago! The class I was in at that time are now in year 12 and about to graduate. It was so weird to see all of my classmates and friends all grown up and ready for university.

I helps teach some English classes and had a big class party with lots of sweets at lunch. It was such an amazing and nostalgic feeling to be back at Chiyoda, even if they have renovated most areas and even build a whole new building ready for an international school! I also found out that from next year there won’t be any more middle school attachment, and they are making it co-ed! Everyone has such mixed feelings about letting boys into the school, but they need growth so しょうがない.

After a sad goodbye to everyone at the school I headed off to ice skate with my best friend Momo. We hadn’t seen each other in two years, but it only felt like yesterday that we were together. After ice skating we had an udon dinner and wandered for hours as we chatted and reminisced.

I’m now home are ready for a loooooong sleep. I even cancelled my plans for tomorrow in order to rest up and attempt to cure this tonsillitis. Goodnight!

Tokyo day 5:

Today was uneventful, except for the evening.

I spent most of the day lying in bed, resting up to fight the tonsillitis, only making one trip out of the house to get some throat medicine. In the evening I met up with my friend from western Tokyo and we went shopping, took purikura, and had dinner in Shinjuku. Purikura is a photo booth machine that all girls (and boys) use here in Japan. They are normally in game arcades and are a must for any outing. It was wonderful to see my friend all grown up and ready for university, but it was also sad to say goodbye at the end. Bittersweet…

Tokyo day 6:

Today I woke up with a much better throat than the day before. This medicine is working a treat! Today I went back and visited my host family from 2 years ago that welcomed me into their family for 8 months. It was so amazing to see everyone again and they even got a new dog! (Now they have three in one apartment!) It is such a lively household full of laughter and love and it was amazing to go back. When visiting someone’s house in Japan, culturally, taking some sort of おみやげ with you is appropriate. That being said, when I was in Australia I got a personalised Vegemite jar for them as a gift ready to take with me.

Papa drove us all (us all being me, host sister, and host grandma) to Yokohama where we had a delicious lunch in China town, followed my some shopping in the local area. It was a very causal, yet exciting day and once again, saying goodbye was so so hard. It felt like it was just another day with the family, as if I was going to go back home with them and go to school the next day just like two years ago. Time moves so quickly…

Tokyo Day 7:

Today I left my Air B&B, packed up my things, and headed to meet back up with the group. I was actually starting to get a little bit lonely staying by myself for 5 days, so I was really quite excited to see everyone again and start having roommates! I really did love being in a Japanese style home for the past few days though. Living in a narrow townhouse, on a narrow road, in a crowded neighbourhood is the normal lifestyle for most Japanese people that live in the cities. This is quite different to the spacious front and back yards of Australian houses, you would be lucky to even have a pot plant here in Tokyo!

I spent the day at a café waiting around and reading a book before the group arrived back at the hotel from Ogasawara. We then headed out for dinner at an 居酒屋 and headed out for some shopping in Shibuya. The shops here are always open until at least 8pm and normally 10pm every night.

When we got back, I headed down to the 温泉 and relaxed after a long night. Now I am so ready for bed!

Tokyo day 8:

Today was a jam packed day! Most of the day was spent at the magical Disneyland, filled with laughter, food, and friends. After Disneyland, me and some other group members headed out for サイゼリヤ and shopping in Ikebukuro. We saw the famous Pokemon centre, at heaps of food, and got some cute stationary.

Not much to say today, just tired after a long day.

Tokyo day 9:

Today was our trip to 三鷹の森ジブリ美術館. I had been to this museum before, but there are new short films shown all the time that can only be seen there, so I was still excited to go back there! We walked through 井の頭公園 on our way to Ghibli and the 紅葉 was extremely beautiful as the trees here in the Autumn change into really bright reds.

After our afternoon at Ghibli we headed our separate ways to get out own dinners. Me and some group members went to 吉野家 where we got so much food for under $5 each! It is extremely easy to get not only healthy, but substantial sized meals in a hurry here in Japan.

Off to bed now!

Tokyo day 10:

Today was the last full day in Tokyo, and it was also a public holiday! I went and met up with my best friend and we spent the day in Kamakura. This was my first time going to Kamakura, and even a morning of 大雨 did not ruin the experience. Kamakura has a lot of Chinese food, is famous for its しらす, and has lots and lots of mochi. There are also many temples and shrines located in Kamakura and it seems like a very heavily Buddhist influenced city. There are large statues of Buddhas located around the city and no matter where you go, there is either a temple or a shrine within walking distance.

After a day of experiencing Kamakura, of course my friend and I had to take プリクラ. Saying goodbye again to one of my best friends was so insanely hard, but it was a little easier that last time we parted as I am hoping to come back next year.

At night I did some last minute clothes shopping with a group member and then headed off for a night of washing, packing, and sleeping.

Overall, Tokyo is a very very busy city, full of life and adventure. Not the best place if you want to experience the culture of Japan, but definitely full of stuff to experience, see, and do. This city will always have a special place in my heart as I have spent nearly a whole year of my life there, and this is definitely not goodbye, more like see ya later!

[molovesvintage]

I don’t get sick very often, but when you move to a new place and are still acclimating, or work with kids, or take public transportation, it’s not uncommon to get sick from time to time. Since all of the above currently applies to me, it was perhaps not so surprising that on Sunday night I found myself with a sore throat. “I hope I’m not getting sick!” I thought.

Famous last words.

Monday when I woke, I definitely felt sick. My throat was now REALLY sore, and accompanied by general tiredness and a slight fever. Classic flu symptoms. I stayed home that day.

Tuesday I definitely felt better and went back to work. Throat was still sore, and in the afternoon I was feverish again, but nothing cough drops and cold medicine couldn’t cure. Right???

Wednesday night my throat felt like it was on fire and was so swollen that swallowing had become difficult, and I was still having fevers and chills. I braved the mirror and shined a flashlight at the back of my throat. It was nasty, complete with white patches on my red, angry tonsils. Uh-oh. It looked as though Thursday, my day off, would be spent having a grand adventure: my first hospital visit in Japan.

Lucky for me, there is a hospital in Nagoya, Serei or Holy Spirit Hospital, that employs translators and accepts walk-ins until 11:00 am, so Thursday morning I bundled up and took the half-hour subway ride there. Once inside, even in my sick, fever-induced state, I was ready for the kinds of struggle and confusion that usually occur when you need to get something important done in a place where you don’t speak the language, like visiting the bank or post office – but my entire hospital visit was simple, efficient, and easy, thanks in part to the orderly system of the hospital but mostly thanks to my awesome translator, who barely left my side the entire time I was there. He explained the procedures to me, helped me fill out paperwork, took me from various receptions desks to examination and treatment rooms and finally to the pay counter. He was awesome.

Serei, or Holy Spirit Hospital in Nagoya

I also really liked the doctor, a hardy, wizened woman who was all business. She looked in my throat, and her eyes widened. She said something to the effect of “That’s some nasty shit right there”, but more professionally and Japanese, and, like a seasoned general on a battlefield, swiftly came up with an aggressive plan of attack. She swabbed my throat, a procedure I’ve had before and which I recall as being one of the most painful things ever, but the Japanese doctor did it ever so gently. Not only was she aggressive and through, but she had a good bedside manner too! My favorite kind of doctor. She said she could give me a prescription for an oral antibiotic, but she’d rather administer antibiotics with an IV drip, if I had the time. They would work quicker this way. Whatever you want, doc, I’m in your hands! As she was writing some notes and prescriptions for my red file (the sacred file you must carry during all stages of your visit to Serei Hospital), she casually mentioned that if I’d waited much longer I would have been hospitalized. Great.

I didn’t know that antibiotics could be given with an IV, I’d always just assumed it was something you took in a pill. We just don’t seem to do it this way in the US. I was thrilled to be given this option, if the doctor deemed it best. But I have to admit, as I walked over to the main treatment room with my translator, I started to get a little nervous. I’d never had an IV before, and wasn’t really sure what it would feel like. Also, I have fainted before when getting blood drawn. What if I fainted again??? I guess I’d be laying down so no one would notice.

I was taken into the room and laid down on a hospital bed, where I was prepped and fussed over by a cute nurse with sparkly eyeshadow who kept laughing at me since it was my first time. She swabbed my arm, found a vein, and inserted the needle, apologizing in Japanese as she did so. She took a blood sample first, so the doctor could look at the bacteria levels in my blood and determine the cause of my illness, then hooked me up to the IV drip and let me lay there and nap for 30 minutes. I don’t know why I was so nervous, it wasn’t bad at all. At some point I must have gotten over my fear of needles.

My IV bag

My arm! Getting pumped full o’ drugs

After my IV drip/nap time, my translator returned and took me to pay. Japan is obsessed with automation, so it came as no surprise to me that payment was done via an automated machine. I had no idea how much it would cost, and was amazed that seeing the doctor, getting a throat swab, blood test, and antibiotics via IV only cost ¥4,350 (roughly $38) with my insurance. You can barely just see the doctor for that price in the US, even with insurance! Amazing. And my two prescriptions from the pharmacy were only ¥910 (around $8). I’m sold. Japanese healthcare, I love you.

I went back the next two days for two more rounds of antibiotics on the IV drip, and both times the experience was just as easy as the first, with my same translator leading me, but I never did get the cute laughing nurse again. And while Thursday I still felt like death the whole day, I improved dramatically with each subsequent hospital visit. That doctor really knows her stuff.

Thus, my battle with tonsillitis was won, and just in time too: I move to Kanazawa in less than a week and will begin a new chapter in my adventures in Japan!

Happy Travels,

Mo

Adventure Time: Visiting the Japanese Hospital I don't get sick very often, but when you move to a new place and are still acclimating, or work with kids, or take public transportation, it's not uncommon to get sick from time to time.