Bowling

My little son and I have been really into bowling for a few months.

We started going bowling every weekend in January this year. The reason why we were initially interested in bowling remains unclear, but we keep going to a sport amusement center, Round one, near my residential area. It is convenient. Especially, if you go there early in the morning, such as 8 am, you would enjoy 10 games at a reasonable fee, almost $10. It is also good for my hearth.

We are surely progressing. Today, he was so excited because he had a score of more than 100 for the first time. Compared with grownups, his power is not strong enough to get a strike, but he is good at hooking a ball. What a technique my little son has! The way he uses is called "thumbless."

One of my goals regarding bawling is to make a ball hook beautifully. The thumbless bowling may be the easiest way to hook a ball, but, for me, it was impossible. Actually, I tried but failed. I almost sprained my wrist. I envy him as well as I am proud of him.

I am not sure if we keep on practicing in the future, since a campaign where children do not have to pay is over this April. However, I bet that playing this sport with my son is worth doing; we talk a lot and smile a lot during bowling. I would like to cherish this special moment with my boy as long as I could.

Dad's admission

Two days ago, all of a sudden, my cellphone started ringing in the medical office of the hospital while I was browsing my homepage with my phone. That surprised me because my cell seldom rings at work. It occurred to me that something bad would have happened.

The call was from my mom, saying in an unusual tone, "Dad lost his consciousness in the community center! An ambulance took him to the emergency department of Hikone Municipal Hospital." She seemed to be upset, but I stayed calm since she added that he was awake and organized when she initially saw him.

Anyway, I left my work and headed to the hospital that my dad was transferred to, as soon as possible. The hospital was not close to my hospital and it took 2.5 hours by train to arrive there.

I found my dad in a stable condition, which was almost same as usual. He was advised to be admitted to the hospital, in order to monitor the vital signs including the heart rhythm. My brother, Mom, and I frequently visited him, which pleased Dad a lot. It was lucky that, three days later, he was discharged home without any sequelae.

The exact cause of his faintness remained unclear, but my guess is that it was benign, such as neurally mediated syncope. The fact that antihypertensive drugs were reportedly added to control his blood pressure almost one week before this accident. Furthermore, he tried to keep on singing in a high-pitched voice as long as he could just before the accident developed.

During his hospital stay, my brother, mom, and I spent tons of time together and talked a lot, strengthening our family bond more than ever before.

Snowmen

This weekend, my daughter, my younger son, and I visited my folks. They live 100 km north of our residential area. My concerns were the weather; I have heard that it snowed a lot yesterday.

We arrived at my parents' house at 6 pm, when it was  too dark to play outdoors. My son, however, started creating a snowman because it seldom snows in his area and he has been looking forward to playing with snow.

To my surprise, he made a cute snowman on his own, although it was freezing. Furthermore, he created another snowman next morning before breakfast.

Aside from eating and sleeping, he spent all his time play with snow while we were there. I have never known of his favor to snow, since he always says he does not like cold temperature and wears a lot when going out in winter.

He was really satisfied with the short visit. I also had fun time with him. Speaking of my daughter, she enjoyed listening to K-POP indoors with my mom and dad. Anyway, it was quite a fun weekend for everyone in their own way.

My 50th Birthday

I turned 50 years of age, three days ago. Thanks guys!

My family threw a fun party for me. It started with crackers; each member pulled one party popper. Note that Aya's cracker did not work well, as shown in the left girl on the video (no big deal, though).

I am very happy because I have no complains about my current conditions. My wife, three children, parents as well as my job, health, socioeconomic status --  Everything is perfect. Couldn't be better! I cannot find anything I want to make better.

I've got to recognize again that I have been supported by tons of wonderful people. So, at least from now on, I am going to devote myself to support others back as much as I could.

Anyway, looking back, it is super true that time has wings, as the proverb goes. I do not know how long the rest of my life would be. However, I always have a rose picture in the future. I am looking forward to seeing myself surrounded by cheerful grandchildren and grown-up children another half a century later.

P.S.
When I was searching for English words related to "50th birthday" on the Internet, I happened to come across an interesting phrase, "You are 18,262 days old." I am not sure that the figure is correct when considered leap years.

Physical Examination

Recently, I have been into physical examination, especially cardiac auscultation.

It was last year that I published an e-book entitled "Practical Handbook of Phonocardiography: 50 Case Studies with Embedded Audio and Video." What has made me proud is that the digital book is written in English. I did it for everyone in the world to use my book, since little is available regarding phonocardiography with audio files as well as echo movies. The book is not selling like hotcakes, though.

Luckily, the other day, I had an opportunity to perform a lecture about physical examination of cardiomyopathy in the 15th cardiac physical examination seminar. The meeting is a well known annual conference and I had attended the 2nd or 3rd seminar more than 10 years ago, when I did not image I would be a presenter because the contents I learned at the conference was beyond the reach of my imagination.

I suppose that my presentation was not perfect with some trouble in audio and mouse control. I was, however, really honored to make a presentation in the session. I was still wondering why I was chosen as a speaker for the conference, but my guess is that the select is associated with my e-book about cardiac auscultation.

I am going to keep on learning and enjoying this field. Thank the heart!

Trip to Akita

My colleague and I attended an annual conference of heart failure held in Akita, northern part of Japan.

This was my second visit to Akita prefecture; first one was when I was a collage student and traveled the whole of northern Japan, including Hokkaido, with my 250 cc motorbike.

The conference was for three days. We had a plan to drive using a rent-a-car in the second day. Our plans were almost cancelled at the very beginning, when I found myself not carrying my driver licence with me at the rental car shop.

My colleague had a licence to drive but he said he had not driven for more than 30 minutes since he got the licence 10 years ago. I recommended we give up the trip. He, though, insisted he could drive all the way on his own. I could not help but to follow him.

I am not sure that he did have good skills to drive a car, but we were actually satisfied with the sightseeing in October in Akita. What's more, no accident occurred - we are still alive. What a relief it was to take a bath in Namahage Onsen in Oga peninsula

I would never forget the wonderful trip as well as his maiden drive. Thanks!

Aya's 14th Birthday

My daughter, Aya, turned 14 today. Congratulations.

She and I went shopping together to get her birthday presents. What I knew today is she is really into South Korea wave, so called "Hanryu." I am not sure why it's called Hanryu, not Kanryu, although it does not matter to us at all.

She was so excited while shopping with me. She is in the midst of being a teenager, where, in general, they want to be independent from their parents and want to go out with their friends. Today, she is different, just like an elementary school girl. We enjoyed hanging around and shopping with hands holding. 

It seems like she is a big fan of a pop group, TWICE. The unit is composed of seven young, beautiful ladies. More important, three of all are Korean, three are Japanese, and the last one is Taiwanese. What a wonderful combination. The majority of Japanese people do not agree there is a good relationship between South Korea and Japan.

This is, however, unlikely to be the case among teenagers including my daughter. I really hope they foster good relations to our neighboring countries, since we have a lot in common.

Anyway, happy birthday, my dear daughter. Maintain an attitude of enjoying all of you.

The 65th JCC

The 65th Scientific Session of Japanese College of Cardiology was held in my town, Osaka, Japan. I am honored to make a lecture, which title was "Basic heart sounds."

This annual session is one of the biggest meetings for cardiologist in Japan. More importantly, this conference was established to originally discuss heart sounds. In this context, the session I attended was a main stream of the scientific conference. The other three speakers in the session are well known in this filed.

I arrived at the conference room 30 minutes before the meeting started. I was overwhelmed to see lots of audience waiting in the conference room, although other rooms seemed almost empty.

One of my concerns is whether the sound files of my data work well; my presentation was full of various heart sounds. Luckily, I did a good job without any trouble during my presentation. What made me feel happy was that some doctors came to me and praised my lecture after the presentation.

A few days later, one doctor, who have good knowledge about auscultation, told me that my lecture was the most amazing in the session. I know she might have flattered me, but I was really satisfied.

I have to say I have one regret. I asked my colleague to take pictures of me during the lecture, since this experience would not occur to me again. However, he had forgotten!  I have no idea about the reason he failed, but I hope he was too be impressed by my lecture to take a shot.

As you can guess, I might be kind of an optimist.

Fence tree trimming

Our house has lots of trees and plants. Especially, my favorite is the south side, where there is a fence made of European white privet.

They gradually grow up despite little fertilizer and pesticide. The problem is it is not easy for me to keep them in a good shape. I want it to be boxed shaped all the year around.

The other day, my wife and I asked experts for tree trimming, gardeners, to cut them. What surprised us was the cost they told us. It seems like it would cost us some three hundred dollars. We have no choice but to give up their help. I decided to do it on my own, as usual.

I did it using a folded stepladder as well as a tree trimming device, which I bought several years ago but have not used it for years for fear of being injured. This time, I trimmed European white privet with big caution. It took me only one or two hours. Luckily, the temperature was not so high for Autumn in Japan that I did not soak in sweat.

I am happy to see the trimmed trees, but I have not been satisfied with my skills yet. I know what more important to make the fence cooler is not to trim them more tightly but to trim them more frequently.

I am wondering what the experts would say if they saw it. Don't you think my work is more worth the 300 bucks?

The Best Award

Let me inform you of my happiness. I received the most prestigious award of my company. I work in a public hospital run by a large medical insurance company. The award I received is the president's best award.

The award is composed of a small object made of glass, as shown in the right picture, and some amount of money. I was going to buy Nintendo Switch, which is a newly released game machine, with the prize, but I could not because it was not enough to get the toy. However, it DID NOT disappoint me at all. What matters to me is the reasons that I received the award. According the selection committee, there were four factors for choosing me.

First, I established the department of cardiac rehabilitation in the hospital. Second, I succeeded in starting the department of general internal medicine. Third, I created educational systems, such as Matsushita Heart School and Matsushita ER Lunch Conference. Last, I have helped a lot of medical staff research and write articles.

Especially, the last two reasons among the four factors made me satisfied so much. I really thank the committee for letting me know what I have been doing in the hospital. I have never thought of that. And, I have to recognize that I owe these feats I have accomplished to many supporters.

I would never have done this without them. It is also worth noting that my family has been playing a pivotal role in this context. Thanks!