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.