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September 29, 2006
Update on Dad's Condition
First, let me say thanks to all of you who have been wishing my father well. And a special thanks to Pammie for leaving those beautiful Chrysanthemum plants for my parents to have!!
Dad's doing extremely well. I went to see him again last night and he was even stronger today than yesterday. He says he slept very well last night and is even sleeping the same hours as before the surgery (9pm-6:30am). Unfortunately, my sister didn't end up spending the night with him because they didn't have an extra cot for her, but I suppose it wasn't really necessary since he's doing so well. Besides, he's got one of those buttons to control his pain meds.
They got him out of bed and made him walk 3 or 4 times. The first time, my brother held on to his arm just to make sure he wouldn't fall down. The second and third time, he was walking all on his own power with the nurse following behind with his IV stand. He says he walked all the way down and around the hallway!
He's been exercising his lungs by using a spirometer--a device which you put to your mouth, take a deep breath in and it shows you how many cc's of air you're taking in. The more the better. He has to take at least 4 deep breaths on the hour every hour--it's the most important thing he can do. It will make his lungs stronger, help his left lung fill the space that's left from the part they took out, and will help him avoid getting pneumonia.
I'm going to see him again tonight after work and I suspect that as well as he's doing, he'll be out of the hospital in no time. Maybe as early as Saturday? We'll see! YAY DAD!!!
Posted by Amy at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2006
Doctor Doctor!
Today was pretty nerve-racking. Dad had to have his first operation. He was diagnosed with a 3.5 centimeter-sized tumor in his lower left lung. Turns out it was cancer. There were a few concerns like whether it was touching the aorta and whether the cancer had spread or not. They did a battery of tests on him and found that he was only in stage I which is good--they caught it early. They're testing his lymph nodes that surround the area of the part of the lung they removed to see if the cancer had spread. We won't know that for several days. But the fact that Dad's always been physically strong and healthy just adds to his ability to recover. He's nearly 71 years old and has never been in the hospital, except for working.
I was able to go in to see him before the operation. He was very calm and relaxed, not nervous or anything. Except that he was, as he ALWAYS is, worried about us being worried about him. He didn't want me to watch when they put an IV line into his arm. It didn't bother me, but he was worried that it would. I asked him, "So how do you feel being on the other side of the bed?" hehe. It was a little odd seeing him in a paper gown and surgical cap with several sensor lines connected to him. I suppose he wasn't nervous though because he knew exactly what to expect as far as the procedure and all.
They took him in at 11am and told us that it would probably be about 4 1/2 to 5 hours before he'd be out of surgery. So Mom, me, my brother and sister went to Chinese for lunch. After that, I dropped them off and went downtown to take care of changing my name on my passport and also to pick up some flowers for Dad. When I came back, it wasn't too much longer till Dad was done with surgery. They called us in about 3pm and said he was done. But it would be another couple hours till they'd take him up to his room and until we could see him.
When we finally went up, he was completely lucid and coherent. Almost as if he hadn't had surgery. The only thing was that his upper lip was swollen and his speech was a bit slurred because of the tracheal tube they had to put down his throat during surgery. He didn't even seem too tired. I was amazed. It's really hard to see someone you love as much as a parent having to go through something like that. But Dad was his same old strong self! In fact, as amazed as I was at his condition immediately after surgery, I half-expected him to be that way just because that's the way I'm used to seeing him. And it makes me even more glad that he was so strong because it was incredibly difficult when I heard about my grandmother falling and hurting herself. So I'm very very relieved.
Don and I are going to visit him tomorrow after work and he's supposed to be up and around by then. They want to keep him for 3-5 days, and I don't expect him to have to stay longer. But I expect he'll be even more like himself.
Posted by Amy at 08:56 PM | Comments (2)
September 21, 2006
Our Trip to Hawaii/Japan
Ok, well I was going to upload some pictures, but they're all on Don's site anyway (email me for the passwords), so I just decided to put up two...one from Hawaii and one from Japan. Besides, you loyal readers have waited long enough to hear of our adventures. So, to reward that patience, here are all my blog reports (pretty much) as they were written at the time they happened.
Sept. 1
"Near Fiasco"
What an adventure; what a day! And we hadn't even boarded the plane yet!
I woke up about 5:30, a half-hour before the alarm even went off. I had stomach cramps kinda bad so I got up. Diarrhea. Just what I need before a long plane ride. I hoped I wasn't coming down with stomach flu which could stop me from getting on the plane altogether. Fortunately, it wasn't. Probably the hot wings I had last night or the stress of preparing for such an important trip.
Anyway, Don and I are both in the bathroom getting ready. It's 6:55am and Greg's supposed to be here in 5 minutes to take us to the airport when...DING DONG! Oh god, he's here already and we're both still naked! haha! We just looked at each other like, "Oh shit!" Don throws on a pair of shorts and runs to open the door.
We get in the car and pick up Nick and Pam when I realize I don't have my driver's license. Uh oh! But Greg points out that I already have my passport and don't need it. Whew, moment of panic there.
We get to the airport and get to the counter to check in when the ticket agent asks for our tickets and ID. She stops and tells us that the name on my ticket doesn't match the name on my passport...the ticket's issued in my married name and the passport still has my maiden name on it. She says the authorities won't let me travel if they don't match. OMG!! Ok, now's the moment of REAL panic. And another agent (who's extremely bossy) starts asking if Nick and Pam would go as far as traveling without me and Don. We all look at each other with a stunned look on our faces. No, say Nick and Pam! Of course we won't travel without them!
Now, I hadn't changed my passport because I thought I didn't need to. It's still good till 2010. Thankfully, the ticket agent says she'll try to reissue my ticket in my maiden name, but she's not sure the computer will accept it. But she's telling me that the authorities might let me travel to Hawaii, but might not let me in to Japan...that if they catch the discrepancy with my name, they might deport me back to the states. Jeez!
After a few minutes of this, she manages to reissue the ticket in my maiden name and tells me that I shouldn't have a problem as long as I only showed my passport and didn't mention that my name is really Prior. By now, I'm in tears and she's trying to tell me "You're ok, you're ok. Don't worry." I finally settled down and realized that it was better it happened this way than in Japan. If I had my license, she would have let me travel to Hawaii, but they probably wouldn't have let me enter Japan. Whew!!
We had to stop in Minneapolis and there was a security agent randomly searching people. She stopped Pam (who always gets searched no matter where she goes) and it only took a minute, but if she had stopped me, I might have gone ballistic considering what happened to me in Detroit. What a freaking nightmare!
Well, we're on the plane to Honolulu and we have a few more hours to go on this flight. I can't wait to start relaxing on the beach!
Sept. 4
"Leaving Hawaii"
Oh, we spent a beautiful and long weekend in Hawaii. The weather wasn't perfect, but wasn't too bad either. There's a valley in the middle of the island of Oahu where it was raining pretty much every day, but you drive out of it and it's pretty nice. Plus there's rainbows every day.
The beaches were a LOT of fun. We went to one beach where the waves are huge and the break is really dangerous, but you can still swim and play in the waves. It's so fun. Supposedly, that beach is the most dangerous beach in the world because the undertow is really strong.
The water is so many wonderful colors of blue--azure, turquoise, greenish-blue, sky-blue... And when the waves smash against the rocks, the huge splashes are amazing to watch. I got some incredible pictures of it. We also went to Sandy Beach where it's a lot like the first beach. I wasn't brave enough to venture out too far where other people were body surfing and letting the waves bowl them over. Me and
Pam still had a great time in the foamy shore. We were picking up beach glass for Rae who makes beach glass jewelry. She can charge more for glass that comes from exotic beaches plus we were helping to keep the beaches clean. We found some really good pieces including a couple of really unusual pieces--one that was an intense rich blue color and one that was a maraschino red. It's rare to see those colors of beach glass.
Even though Pam and I were still high on the shore, we still got trampled by the waves a few times. It sweeps your feet right out from under you. Meanwhile, the boys were out playing deeper in the water. They got to see a cool and big sea turtle. Oh how I wish I could have seen that thing swimming by! We did see some other cool animals at the aquarium. Really cute sea lions, jelly fish under black light, sharks, etc. I also got a cool picture of a really cool crab on the rock piers in Waikiki. We also glimpsed a mongoose.
We also did some shopping, went to some great restaurants, took walks at night and spent a lot of time at the hotel hot tub. It was the perfect vacation...a second honeymoon!
The only thing I was worried about was being able to cash my traveler's checks which were signed using my married name. And since the only ID I had was my passport... Turns out I almost couldn't cash them, but not because of my ID. Happens that most of the foreign currency exchange vendors don't take traveler's checks. But the first place we tried did and the guy was VERY nice about accepting my passport ID, even with my checks signed under my married name. I was so relieved!
I was also nervous about being able to get into Japan because of what happened at Detroit Metro airport. Don tried to check us all in online, but because of my ticket being re-issued, my ticket had become dis-associated from the other three. So we just had to do it at the airport. Actually, it turned out to be a piece of cake.
So now, we're on the plane to Tokyo with 3 more hours to go and this is the first chance I've had to write about Hawaii. I'll try to write more often while we're in Japan, but it may be hard. We have stuff planned every day. Training starts the day after we land. I'm really sad to leave Waikiki and Don says that if they didn't let me board the plane to Japan, it wouldn't be a horrible thing being stuck in Hawaii.
But then, I'm also very excited to get to Tokyo.
Sept. 6
"Arrival in Tokyo"
So far, I'm not too badly jet-lagged. We arrived yesterday at around 6pm (Tokyo time). Our flight was pretty light--mostly Japanese returning home and there were a lot of empty seats.
We got a courier service to take our bags to where each of us is staying. We have to take a 2 hour train ride and it's a pain with all the baggage. Only thing is that they won't deliver them till the next morning. We also rented a couple of phones to keep in touch with Nick and Pam who are staying with John-o. Good thing Pam convinced me to pack a change of clothes for me and Don in our carry-ons.
We had to wait till almost noon for our bags, so Don and I went to a Denny's down the street for breakfast. We were a little nervous about having to order without Nick as a translator and it turns out the most valuable phrase I learned from my Japanese audiobook was "I don't speak Japanese." I knew that being Asian, the Japanese would always look at me and assume that of the four of us, I'd be the one to speak Japanese. Except that I can't. Nick can.
Anyway, after breakfast, we called Nick and found out that the guy who we were buying swords from wanted to deliver them a few days early. So we had to rush to meet them at the dojo. I managed (with help from Nick) to get me and Don to the train station and on the right train. Though it was a little tricky trying to figure out how to buy the subway ticket. I had no idea how much they would cost and the machines everyone uses were in Japanese. I got help from the guy behind the counter and Don managed to find the English button on the machines.
We finally met up with Nick and the sword guy had 13 swords waiting for us, all of which Nick liked. Yay! After that, we went to the embassy dojo to train with Sato-Sensei, Nick and John-o's teacher. What an honor to meet him, let alone train with him! Pam and I were lucky enough to get a semi-private lesson with him. I'm told very few people can say they've actually trained with him, especially at his age. And not only can I say it, I have photographic evidence! Cool!
After training, we went to a very nice restaurant where you sit in the floor. The food was somewhat expensive, but very good. We ordered many things a la carte including sashimi (raw fish with no rice), and Don actually tried it and liked it! Good thing, cause we'll be eating a lot of sushi for the next several days. It was a lovely dinner with many lovely people and I had to write all this down before everything becomes a blur. More to come! Stay tuned.
Sept. 7
"Too Many Mind"
I'll keep this short since I'm tired, wanna go to bed and am running out of paper to write on.
Today, we spent going to see some cultural stuff--a nice temple that was quiet and serene. Got some great pics there. Then we went to a Japanese sword museum where they have many antique swords and blades that are at least 800 years ol. Very cool, but no photos allowed.
After we picked up the swords we bought that were delivered to one dojo, we had to take the train to the next dojo to do some iaido. Turned out to be a fiasco and a horrible disaster. Pam and I were planning on having at least a 30 second crash course on how to use a real sword, but we didn't get it. I didn't even have a chance to look at my sword till the end of class. I bombed on ALL my forms which we had to perform individually on a stage in front of everyone.
There was an 84-year old sensei who, as I was performing a form I'd only learned the week we left for Hawaii, drew his sword at me (to feign being my attacker). I freaked out so much that I completely blanked on what I was supposed to do! I had to look to Nick, my swords teacher, to talk me through the entire thing. I was SOOOOOO embarrassed! I thought I was going to burst into tears right during class, but managed to hold it back until after. Pam looked SOOOOO good even though she dropped her sword. She seemed to remember all the moves. Funny thing is that she was thinking SHE was the one who bombed completely and thought _I_ looked good! haha!! Needless to say, I felt much better after I got some sake into me. First time drinking it and I liked it. Hopefully, tomorrow will be much smoother!
Sept. 9
"Laundry Day"
Finally, a day with not so much "fire up our dupa cheeks," as Pammie would say. Plus I have more paper and more time to write.
Yesterday, we spent visiting a couple of shrines where I think I got a couple of really great pictures. We had lunch with Nick & John's friend George and his son Sebastian. We went to this crazy sushi place where the sushi chefs are in the center of the restaurant surrounded by a counter. They put the sushi on appetizer plates that move around the counter on a conveyer belt. When you want something, you just grab it and the waiters know how much to charge by the color of the plates. OMG, it's so fun! I was mesmerized by the moving sushi! haha!
We also did some great shopping! John-o took us to this amazing shop where you can buy really nice Japanese art prints really cheap! I bought 4 prints for only about $45. I also got a couple of cool souvenirs at the temple--a replica samurai helmet and miniature katana (about the size of a letter opener).
Then we did more iaido training and the difference between this class and the first was NIGHT AND DAY!! Pam and I had a 1000% improvement because Suino Sensei took 10 minutes before class to show us how to use our new swords. So when we went through our forms, it was so much better. I did screw one up completely, but only because it was the form I'd learned just the week we left, so I hadn't had any practice at it yet. So I wasn't very upset at messing that one up. Iwasa Sensei (who taught the first class) had a shocked look on his face when he saw the improvement--literally overnight! HA! Yay!
And, of course, Don's highlight of the day was eating Chinese food for dinner.
Today, we got up early at 7am (not hard since Don's snoring kept me up all night) and we trained in Jujutsu with John for 2 hours. It seemed like he was picking on me in particular, but I couldn't be mad at him for picking on me because he was showing me so many awesome techniques and fixing everything I was doing wrong! Things are actually beginning to make sense to me. Even though there were other people in class, I felt like I got a private lesson.
Then John took us to an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Indian restaurant. He has great taste in food!
And now, Don and I are muddling through trying to do laundry at a Japanese laundromat. Only 6 washers and 4 dryers and all in Japanese. Took us a while to figure out which coins the machines would take. Plus I managed to ask someone who speaks a little English how much money to put into the dryers and how long it would take. Time is of the essence again...we have to meet people for dinner at 6pm and it's now 4:45. And we still have to take showers, get dressed and jump on the train. Tick tock!!!
Sept. 11
"No More Fire in the Dupa Cheeks"
The last two days have been more pleasant in that we haven't been running around with the fire in the dupa cheeks.
The other day, after doing laundry, we went to dinner at a VERY nice Yakitori restaurant where they serve chicken skewers. It was up on a high floor overlooking Tokyo. You could see Godzilla off in the distance! haha! After dinner, we had drinks upstairs in a nice piano bar.
Yesterday, we got up to train in Aikido with Tsutsui Sensei at the dojo where the swords were first delivered. Funny, when I watch Don do Aiki, it looks so easy, but let me assure you, it is HARD WORK! It was really fun to learn, even though I'd never done any aiki before and everyone there was SOOOO nice and very helpful. Especially this one particular guy who was leading our group. I never got his name,
but he was a good teacher and a very nice guy, especially for a little beginner like me.
After that, we had lunch at a little hole in the wall diner that served ramen soup and pot stickers. They were SOOOOO yummy!!! They also had some awesome fried rice. I know Don was REALLY happy about that. After that, we went back to John's for a nap. Don got to use his computer (which he hasn't been able to do since Hawaii) and I got to take a cool shower to escape the humidity and heat we've been suffering this whole time, at least for 10 minutes.
Later, we met George again...he deals in authentic Japanese screen art worth many thousands of dollars. But I'm not allowed to show you any pictures through this blog or I'd have to be shot. And after the private art showing, we went back to George's house for...hold on to your socks...DOMINO'S PIZZA! hahaha! It was really good too! A nice change from all that sushi and a little taste of home.
Today was even better--Don and I slept in till 10am! Ahhh! Then we met the gang to go to a bookstore and lunch. We met Nick's friends from Canada, Victoria and Paul who train with Legacy Sensei in Ontario. We went from cafe to cafe till we finally met up with John and got to a wifi cafe for Don. He uploaded pictures to the web for our friends to see us training.
Then we got a real treat...we got to train with Nobetsu Sensei, a great Goju Ryu Karate sensei. He's very highly respected and has trained many many Japanese champions, kids as well as adults. He was very charming and I think he was pretty fond of me. haha! Cute! Then we ate dinner at a sushi place just next door to the dojo. Funny, he wears the same cargo vest with netted backing that Scottsan wears...wonder if that's a coincidence or if Scottsan got the idea from him?
So tomorrow should be even less stressful since we don't have much planned and don't have to train--that means no heavy packs on our backs to have to carry around all day and no fire in the dupa cheeks.
Sept. 15
"Going Home"
Tuesday was a bit miserable. The heat wave broke and it rained for a couple of days straight. It was cold and drizzly and I didn't have my sweater or jacket because (even though I asked), I was told I wouldn't need it. I had a skirt and a sleeveless shirt with sandals. I got SOAKING wet. At least I had an umbrella to keep my head and shoulders dry but the water ran down my arm and splashed up on my legs with every step. UGH! I felt like a drowned rat in ice water.
We went out that day to go visit the big Buddha, Daibutsu. It took us a very long time to find it, about an hour walking in the cold drizzle. And this was after Nick (aka Sensei Pants) told us it would only be 2 stops on the train and a 10-minute walk. That became the running joke of this trip. Everyting was within 2 stops and a 10-minute walk. Oh, my achin' ass!! (And feet.)
Needless to say, I turned into Mrs. Crabby Pants. I was SO cranky at being cold and wet all day. All I needed was to get out of the rain, dry off and warm up. We finally found a pizzeria where the pizza wasn't great and was small--Japanese portions. But I was very happy to be out of the rain and drinking warm tea.
Wednesday wasn't much better. It was still rainy and cold, but at least I had my raincoat and was wearing pants, so I was quite a bit drier. We went shopping at the Oriental Bazaar to get a bunch of gifts for people, then met up with Nick's friend Lance at a cafe where we paid $8 for an orange juice and $10 for a cup of coffee. Sheesh!
Then we went to a sword store that had some really nice, but expensive weapons. Then Lance tried to lead us to another dojo to do some Jiken Ryu with Yahaga Sensei, another sword martial art. We had to walk in the rain a lot again cause Lance couldn't find the damned place. Ugh, I'm a drowned rat again!
But when we finally got there, it was cool, but very different from Iaido. I kept thinking that it looked like what they did in The Last Samurai. We got there late and I ended up putting on Don's hakama (pants) and Don put on mine. They're so unisex that it's hard to tell, except that mine are very short on Don. HAHA! Oh well. The class went very long and we didn't get back till 11:30 and we still had to pack for the courier service to pick up our bags to take them to the airport.
And this time we'd really need it. Altogether, we had 5 suitcases filled with our stuff as well as gifts and 2 large boxes full of swords. Not to mention our carry-ons.
Yesterday, we waited till almost noon for the couriers to pick up our bags. We went to a couple more sword shops looking for a sword for Greg. The first one sucked. Don said we have a better collection of weapons in our basement than this one did in their showroom. It was true. The second shop was nice. they had a really beautiful one that Nick picked out for Greg. Plus Don and I bought new tsubas (hand guards) for our swords. Mine has two really cool phoenix birds on it.
We also got to watch the All-Japan Policeman's Judo competition. It was cool to watch them all throw down. We also visited Nick's old dojo where he used to train when he lived here for 4 years. Huge place! They have a large archery range and a giant room with 4 competition-sized mats for judo.
And last night was our final dinner with John and his friends Roxy and Dave (and their daughter Grace).
I'm very tired and it was a great experience but I'm glad to be going home. Actually, I think my feet are happier than me. We're taking off as I write this. I'll see you all in a while!
Posted by Amy at 03:00 PM | Comments (1)
September 18, 2006
Japan Trip Highlights to Come...
All,
Don and I just returned from our 2-week-long trip on Friday. We've been recuperating from our jet lag this past weekend and I've just returned to work. Then tonight I start back at martial arts training (at home, that is).
I kept journal notes while we were on vacation and I'll post them soon. Please be patient. We did so many things and I tried to write about as much as possible. So it may be slow-coming but I'll try to start tomorrow. In the meantime, you can read about Don's impressions of Japan. And here are a few pictures from our training sessions. The password is "konichiwa".
Amy
Posted by Amy at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)