Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed having a fun time on Christmas!

The food my wife made was amazing and chatting together was really fantastic.
Thanks everyone. Our family tie is forever.

Diving in Okinawa

I visited Okinawa to attend the 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine. On the first day, My colleague, Dr. Kawamata, and I made speeches about our research; one was the effect of small heart size on diagnostic value of exercise scintigraphy and the other, the association of subendocardial ischemia and myocardial fibrosis in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We were satisfied with our presentations in English.

Next day, two of us and Dr. Sakai (or ChiEko) enjoyed scuba diving in Chatan. This was my first diving in almost 2 decades; I got a diving license in the late 1990s. I did not feel any fear before the scuba diving, although I have forgotten almost all the knowledge about scuba diving.

To tell the truth, the diving was not something like a dream since I had difficulties controlling my position ー I unintentionally repeated ups and downs in the sea. It took 45 minutes to have the first diving, which I felt longer that it was. On the second diving, I found myself got used to diving a little and I really had a fun time.

I am not sure if I will be able to scuba dive again in the future, but, if I have a chance, I won't hesitate to give it a try.

P.S.

I was in the center in Video. Our instructor told us that the green solid coral is well known for the shape similar to Okinawa island.

I cannnnot dicide.

This month, tons of impressive things happened around me, so I cannot pick up one event for this post.

One thing I want to tell "me" who would read this post in the future is that time flies like an arrow and that one month passes away with wonderful events at home and at work, with my family and parents. What an amazing life!

I know that everything comes to an end, but I will do my best for my patients, hospital, cardiology, medicine, and my family and parents, as long as I could.

FJCC

I am honored to become a Fellow of the Japanese College of Cardiology (FJCC).

I have been a member of the Japanese College of Cardiology for more than two decades. I have to admit that the scientific meeting has not recently thrived probably because the meeting does not give any license to physicians, such as a special cardiologist licensed by the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS).

Nevertheless, lots of cardiologists have been attracted by JCC, which is one of my favorites in the filed of cardiology. This may be that Dr. Tsuguya Sakamoto founded this meeting as an academic session to discuss heart sounds.

It is true that auscultation has declined and imaging modalities, e.g., echocardiography and computed tomography, have being played pivotal roles in daily practice. Physical examination, however, should not be neglected even in the era of advanced imaging technology.

I WILL do my best to support the scientific society since I am a FJCC.

Way to go, ME!

My app, "Pocket Heart Sound", was finally released. It took three days, with tons of struggles, for my app to be approved for the App Store after I completed the app. Apps for Android was way much easier to release than apps for iOS.

To be honest, it is likely that I was happier when I received the acceptance letter from Apple than when my medical articles were accepted for publication in major journals.

You may say that the thing is whether the app would get popular, but I would say , "I don't care."
It does matter that I have an ability to create apps on my own.

Teaching math to Aya

These days, my routine is to teach mathematics to Aya after work.

I used to enjoy dinner that my wife serves to me with alcohol, such as beer and wine. However, recently my daughter comes to me when I get back home, asking me to teach math. It would take more than an hour and it is not an easy task, but worthwhile because I can see her smile when she solves problems. No wonder kids' smile makes parents feel happy.

She is a third grade at middle school and I am good at math, so I am able to help her understand her math homework. However, more difficult questions, such as differential and integral, are out of my hands; I am not confident to teach math to my elder son, who is 18 years old.

Anyway, my dream was to became a mathematician when I was young. I have been fascinated by math because the world of math is really beautiful. Everything is rational and only one answer is correct.

I want her to love math, but she seems to think that she would quit learning math at high school. Anyway, I respect her patience and perseverance since she never complains and whines.

Osaka earthquake

My boss, Dr. Kamitani, and I were in the doctor's room in the morning this Monday, when a sharp shake developed out of the blue sky.

I immediately recognized that it was an earthquake, a big one, since I had some experiences of terrible earthquakes, such as the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake in 2011 or the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. I was really scared, but luckily, the shake stopped in dozens of seconds.

I called or emailed to my wife, my parents, and my brother, none of whom are injured. What a relief. The Hospital I work for has not affected except for a clack on the wall in the internal department, as shown in the middle picture. On the day, I could not come back home because most public transportation become out of service, but it was not a big deal.

A week has passed since the disaster. Osaka monorail seems to resume tomorrow (too late to wait, though). Minor earthquakes infrequently occur.

A new week starts. May peace prevail in Osaka from next week.

A hectic but fun day

Today was Sunday, and I spent a lot of time with my family, especially with my little son, Koba.

I am 100% sure I don't have to say anything about how fantastic the day was, as you can see.
Nothing special happened, but it was one of the happiest moment I have ever had.

I really appreciate to everyone.

An aluminum ball

My younger son suddenly told me that he wanted to make an aluminum ball while I was eating dinner at late night. It seemed like that he happened to see a video on YouTube where a guy created a beautiful ball made of aluminum foil.

It was almost about time for him to go to bed, so I promised to make the metallic ball together next day's night. Before that, he said that he would prepare materials and tools for the creation; some aluminum foil rolls, a hummer, sand papers, and liquid polisher.

The process was shown below, from the left to the right.

It took seven hours over a period of 2 days. Although I sometimes helped him with the work, my little son did almost all the processes on his own. What surprised me is the he was really patient. What a wonderful concentration! He never ceases to amaze me when creating something.

I hope he chooses a job in the future, in which his amazing creativity could work well. I will spare no effort to make his dreams come true whatever job he gets after he grows up.

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.