Tomogashima island

After being postponed once, Aya and I enjoyed a trip to Tomogashima Island.

The first attempt was unsuccessful due to bad weather, although it was clear with no clouds in the sky. The condition of the sea seems a little different from the usual idea. We were told that the boat to the island was not available at the pier where it took three hours to get there from home.

Next week, we tried again and made it to the remote island where we could experience legendary ruins of the Japanese army during World War II. We spent more than two hours walking around the island and were impressed to see the state of war that was beyond our imagination.

P.S.

I got an extremely rare monster of Pokemon Go on the island while waiting for the boat to Kata Pier in Wakayama Prefecture.

Moving to a new address

My father and mother were discharged from the hospital in Kobe where my brother works (Upper pictures). Then, they were admitted to a senior citizen's home in Saito (lower pictures), where we live.

At first, they were a little confused by the change of environment, but they are getting used to it little by little. I'm not sure if this will be their final home, but I really hope it will be a comfortable life for them.

Although the nursing home is close to our home, we are only allowed to visit once a week for now. Masks and face shields are a must, even though the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided. Hopefully, the restrictions will be eased soon!

A trip to Kyushu

 Aya and I had a great time on a two-day trip to Kyushu. The first day we rented a car at Fukuoka airport and drove to Yufuinn no Mori. The attractive town was small but crowded with tourists, more than half of whom were non-Japanese, such as Chinese or Koreans. 

We went back to Hakata and enjoyed the atmosphere walking along the river. Next day, we had a breathtaking view form Fukuoka tower and had a great lunch at 瓢箪寿司. After shoping, we went back home by bullet train.

As usual, Aya decided on what to do during the trip accoring videos uploaded by Togimochi, who is Aya's favourite YouTuber. My only request was to climb to the top of the Fukuoka Tower.

Anyway, thank you, Aya, for taking me to this amazing world, even though I had to pay for everything except the hotel fee.

Junko's birthday and silver wedding anniversary.

We had lunch at Toyotei in Kyoto for Junko's birthday on September 13. After enjoying a wonderful meal and chatting, we went to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kyoto to buy a birthday cake, but we couldn't find a good one. So we went to Qu'il fait bon in Kiya-machi and bought a fruit cake that we all enjoyed at home.

September 25th is our 25th wedding anniversary, which is called the silver wedding anniversary in Japan. She kept a bottle of champagne in the fridge and I found it when I got home. We toasted together with our cute pet dog, ShuShu-kun. What a coincidence! The newspaper quiz that day was about the silver wedding anniversary.

   

I look forward to throwing a nice party for our 50th or golden wedding anniversary with our three children, their spouses, grandchildren, and ShuShu-kun.

Mom's 2nd hospitalization

It was early in the morning on the day a big typhoon was approaching the Kansai area when I received an emergency call from my father. It seems that my mother had stayed in the kitchen since last night.

Mom said on the phone in a sleepy voice that she was fine. She did not seem to be paralyzed, but she might have broken her femur in a fall. I told Dad to call an ambulance.

Fortunately, her condition turned out to be unremarkable, but she was admitted to Hikone Munisipul Hospital because of her back pain and her caregiver, my father, who is 89 years old.

Aya and I visited her the next day or the day after the typhoon passed. She seemed to be in good health. She seemed to have taken more sleeping pills than usual in the kitchen and was unable to move to the bedroom.

Anyway, it was a relief that she was okay. However, this event means that it will be much more difficult for my parents to live independently. It is time for me and my brother to think about the next step.

Three legendary books

Fortunately, I was given a legendary textbook called "臨床心音図学" by a senior member of the medical college. This was prompted by an e-mail from Dr. Tsuguya Sakamoto, which I forwarded to my former boss, who sent the mail to the senior member.

This is the book I have been looking for for many decades. I would have paid a considerable amount of money for the legendary textbook if it had been sold on the Internet, as it has been out of print for almost half a century. This time I was able to get it for free. I am very grateful.

I have now collected all three legendary books on phonocardiography. When I told Dr. Sakamoto that I had succeeded in collecting his three books, he told me some interesting stories, such as that he did not receive any personal royalties from the three books.

Of course, I know that it is not enough to have them; I have to read the masterpieces and learn from them. But I am quite content to see them on the bookshelf in my hospital room.

A debut on television

The other day I got a call from a TV station in Tokyo. The staff said that they had e-mailed me but had not received a response from me.

In short, it seems that the TV station wants to use heart sounds in a show for a national TV program. They found my educational website, 心音塾, while searching the Internet.

I was very honored. I created files of three types of heart sounds with phonocardiogram and electrocardiogram (you can see here) and sent them to the TV station.

I was looking forward to the broadcast on the day of the event, but unfortunately the files I created were hardly used, although they gave me a credit on an unrelated page, as shown in the red circle of the right figure. Of course, there was no gratuity.

137th Kinki Meeting of the JCS

I attended this local meeting where three wonderful things unexpectedly happened.

First, at the registration site, I met Prof. Hosono, a director of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Nara Medical University. We had a small talk, including my son, Yuto, who has been working with Dr. Hosono as a CE since last spring. The next day, my son talked to Dr. Hosono at a barbecue party and told me that the surgeon said, "Dr. Kawasaki, me, is a very famous and excellent cardiologist. I know it was a kind of compliment, but it made me and my son feel happy.

Second, a resident of our hospital gave a presentation on a case of 2:1 PAT in which the jugular findings were useful in the diagnosis. After his nice presentation, the chairman, Prof. Nakagawa, a director of the Department of Cardiology at Shig Medical Collage, asked the presenter who noticed this rare but informative physical finding, Dr. Hayashi (the presenter) or Dr. Kawasaki, me, although the chairman did not know if I was in the room. I was so surprised and honored by his comment. Dr. Hayashi won the award for the best presentation.

Finally, Mr. Sugimoto, an employee of a pharmaceutical company, informed me that the keynote lecture would be given by Honorary Prof. Sato, who will be the President of the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Heart Failure Society in 2024. I did not know him until a month ago, when he invited me to give a web lecture on heart failure. After he finished his wonderful lecture, I approached him without any confidence that he would recognize me. However, he came down from the stage himself and came over to shake my hand with a big smile, saying "Hi, Dr. Kawasaki. Thank you for listening to my talk." I was so happy that he remembered me. His hands were big, thick, and warm.

What a day. I will never forget this day.

Wish simple JVP on guidelines

It was my horner to give a web lecture on the physical examination in the management of heart failure. Jugular venous pressure was an important part of the course. 

The chairperson is Dr. Sato, a heart failure expert and opinion leader in Japan. He will be president of the Japanese Heart Failure Society this fall. After my presentation, he asked me to have another lecture at the conference.

I developed a web application called "Simple JVP" and showed it during my spearch. I believe that this web application can pave the way for the nationwide use of jugular venous findings in the management of heart failure patients.

I would like to continue to play my role until this simple method of jugular venous assessment is described in guidelines and used in daily practice around the world.

Koreas

Aya and I had a short trip to Seoul in South Korea from March 4 to 6, 2024.

According to her advice, we enjoyed Korean food, such as boiled chicken and カルグクス. Basically, the places we visited were decided by Aya, who got information from Japanese YouTuber, カオルちゃん.

I only had one request to visit the border between South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), which was accepted by her.

We were really impressed to see the reality of North Korea through binoculars from the observation point on the hill in South Korea. Some villagers were walking between the fields. Everything there was monotonous.

Seoul was a well-developed city, but was not as clean as I expected. To us, the capital looked a little bit dusty. I would say that I am not a big fan of Korean food, unchanged from my impression from my first trip to South Korea almost 30 years ago. It is true, however, that visiting foreign countries is the best way to realize the wonderfulness of our home country, Japan.

A new member: Chouchou

A month ago, we fell in love at first sight with a cute dog and decided to adopt him the same day. On our way home, my wife suggested that we call him Chouchou because he was so fluffy, like a hair ornament. I later found out that the word "Chouchou" means "your favorite" in French. No wonder everyone agreed with her suggestion.

We thought he would come to our house soon, but he could not because the next day he was found to have a cold. He recovered a few days later, but then it was discovered that he had skin lesions due to fungus.

It has been more than four weeks since we paid money for him. We had no choice but to wait for the vet's approval. It was a relief for us that he was doing well, and we went to the pet store many times to hug him, even though we had to wear disposable gloves.

Finally, he is coming here the next day. Aya and I are leaving for Seoul, South Korea early tomorrow morning to do some sightseeing, but it would be okay because we are used to waiting for him. We are looking forward to hanging out in Seoul and meeting him afterwards.

Happy New Year 2024

We left home early in the morning on January 1, 2024 and went to my parents' home in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture. It had been almost a year since we had visited them together, and the first time since Mom's stroke.

We did nothing special for a new year's day. We just chatted and ate, which was a really fun time. Later, Dad and Mon told me on the phone that they really appreciated our short visit.

This kind of short stay used to be our routine, at least once a month, but it is becoming less common as they (not only my parents, but also my children) get older. I know that life is like that, but I hope that we can have a moment like this as often as possible.

PS. On the way to Hikone, I got a Gyarados, a doragon-type monster in Pokemon Go on the first day of the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac.