STILL in hospital..

 Okaasan is still in a hospital, and not her care home.

Tomorrow Monday? Maybe?

The hospital called to say she'd been moved to a bigger room. But that was it. No news from the doctor about her condition - whether the scratched internal injury has healed ok, or whether they have any other ideas about the source of the blood.

And Dear Son doesn't press anybody to find out more. He just waits to be told by the hospital.

As I've said before, if this was MY parent and I was the main decision-taker - I'd be a lot of more pro-active on it all and demand some information and make a decision. But he doesn't. Whether because he is Japanese. Or just himself. He just doesn't.

I know the doctor is probably under a lot of pressure now - because of Covid - he can't consult with families in the regular ways, and everything has to be done as a phone call. But, I'd be that troublesome family member who hassles the doctor to find out the information I need.

Sigh. Just wait.....I hope she gets moved back to her familiar world in the coming few days.

And...

Hokkaido is now officially the worst place for Covid new infections in Japan! We've beaten Tokyo two days in a row now with our new case numbers. I've heard from a friend that there are so many people getting tested now in Sapporo city, it takes a week for the results to come back. Her daughter travelled to another city to get tested.

At this rate, Tokyo will be able to claim that Sapporo shouldn't host the Olympic Marathon because it's too dangerous for the athletes, never mind the issue of heat...

The whole Olympic thing is a dark subject here. Really can't believe it'll all be doves of peace and world happiness in July. Osaka numbers are coming down, but still the hospitals are struggling. State of Emergency there might be extended into June.

Most Olympics, in recent years anyway, have approached with a certain level of negativity in the local population, be it for fears about costs, or traffic or terrorism. And then the event kicks off and people get swept up in the excitement of the sporting stories and Tv entertainment.

Tokyo 2020/2021 will be starting from a VERY low level of support locally. It's sad for the athletes at what should be a time of excitement and hope.

 Beautiful Hokkaido countryside!

And...as I was taking this photograph, Dear Son's phone in the car was ringing...and it was the care home...

Okaasan had coughed up blood after lunch.

The care home doctor had examined her. But wasn't sure. And wanted a Doc at a bigger hospital to check. So they'd called an ambulance and hoped she was on her way to a hospital in the south of the city.

U-turn and back to the city we'd left 90 mins before on a day out to see flowers and countryside. Back across the mountains, past our picnic lunch spot we'd left 30 mins earlier...

Back to the city. No call yet from the care home/social worker/hospital.

We called the care home hospital...and found that Okaasan was STILL in the ambulance sitting outside! The ambulance was calling round all the city hospitals, but they were all refusing to take a patient from a care home which has Covid cases!! Even a 91 year old who had coughed up blood.

We went home to wait further news. Okaasan was ok enough to be taken back into the care home and put to bed in her room.

I did some gardening. He watched TV.

Then...again. The care home Doc had called round the city hospitals - and found one willing to take in Okaasan, so another ambulance was called and this time she was on her way to a big facility way in the north of the city.

Back into the car. More driving. 45 mins later we are at the ER of the hospital.

Allowed to MEET Okaasan! In the ER room. Haven't seen her for 3 months. I guess the staff thought it would reassure an old lady with dementia and no conversation, to see a family member.

She was sleepy and sweet. Tiny on the big hospital cot.

They did a stomach camera...Dear Son filled out documents, we got a bag of her clothes. Sent away again. Back in the car across the city. Knackered.

On the way home came the Doctor's call: nothing apparently wrong with her stomach. BUT....in using the stomach camera they had scratched the lining of the stomach wall a bit...so now there WAS bleeding from there. Best to keep her in for a few days so they could check it was healing.

Was the after lunch blood from her nose? Just a nosebleed?

All of THIS for just a nose bleed? Surely the care home staff/doctor can recognize a nose bleed?

All a mystery. We hope to get her back to the care home within a few days. Because hospital won't be good for her. Unfamiliar people and routines. Staff don't have time for her. Poor Okaasan...it must be confusing. But why? Sudden bleeding doesn't sound good.

It was lovely to see her. Now again we can't. Maybe on the day she transfers back to the care home we can meet briefly curbside.

And in other news: Sapporo City has JUST started reservations for Covid vaccines for the Over 75s. News is full of tales about confused seniors trying to use the website, or busy telephone lines. Daily new infection numbers are over 500.

Oh...and the Tokyo Olympics rolls ever closer. Feeling negative about it in Japan. State of Emergency active for Tokyo and with other regions.

Summer 2021....what a strange world.

The GOOD and the BAD...

 Good news !

Okaasan can get her vaccine shots in the hospital that's part of her care home.

Excellent. She get pushed down a few corridors and the elevator - to the hospital, where a doctor who know her can jab her quickly. She'll be back in the day room with the Tv and a cup of tea before she knows it.

Bad news...

Now they have another positive Covid case on the 7th floor of the care home. Okaasan lives on the 10th floor...

Guessing they won't start vaccinating people if they are also watching for COVID symptoms in everyone.

So they whole roll out may get more delayed...

OPh. And Hokkaido has gone back into a State of Emergency. 2 weeks maybe. 

Lots of early closing, universities back on line. Many things cancelled.

One of my jobs cancelled til July. Some private students cancelled.

Quiet time ahead.

Vaccine is acoming...

 

There it is!  The documents telling Okaasan that she can soon make a reservation for her COVID-19 vaccination. Finally.

As you may have read in the media, Japan is crawling along on the vaccine roll out. Only 2% of the population have had a shot, and the vaccines first arrived here in March.

Many reasons: only doctors are allowed to give the shots, Japan runs domestic trials on all imported-vaccines, central government pushes much of the responsibility on local authorities, there was a whole thing about the syringes here not being able to deliver 5...or 6 shots each, and the entire system seemed SO slow off the mark.

Even now, the emphasis seems to be on people having to get thru on busy telephone lines to a local hospital or clinic. Where other countries have used huge venues, such as convention centers or stadiums for mass vaccinations - Japan is hardly doing that.

But. Okaasan is now near the starting point for the system.

Although.

HOW she is going to get it. We don't know. She is living in a care home, which has a hospital attached. We family members are not allowed to meet her at the moment.

Hopefully, she can just get wheeled downstairs to the hospital for 15 mins - and get a shot.

Or, will she have to leave the building and go somewhere in a car or ambulance? Do we arrange that? Does social services?

The care home/social services are equally, ridiculously slow about telling us families what is going to happen. It's just so symbolic of how slow official Japan is in response to things.

They all knew for weeks and weeks that these letters would be sent out. That millions of care home residents will need vaccinating. But no decision was taken about HOW? No information to us families, at all. So, we all get these letters and then we start phoning the home/social worker to ask what we should do?

It's these moments in Japan that just make me want to beat my head on a wall.

Anyway. There is some tiny movement of progress. I so hope it WILL be in the care home's attached hospital, quickly and with staff she vaguely knows.

And in other news.

Mother's Day 2021 came and went. We chose some artificial flowers and included a card with our photographs. I delivered it to the care home doors. Another year we don't get to be with her on that day.

And there are great cherry blossoms all over Sapporo! It's all pink and white. Glorious. But very windy. The infection numbers are surging again. Weeks it was 100-200 new cases a day. Now it's over 500 for this region of Japan. Still far far better than many other countries. But kind of a surprise locally.

(Down south: Osaka and Tokyo are around 1,000 new cases a day).

We had a big spring public holiday time. Most people stayed close to home. Local walks. TV. Reading books. Quiet time.

Oh. And I stopped working for the tour company. Several reasons. My choice. But still, a little sad. If the Pandemic hadn't come along I'd be in my 3rd year of guide work now. I was lucky they gave me social media writing to do. But copywriting for their new online shop really wasn't my thing. And who knows when the guiding will start again. Or, whether I will physically have the energy to do it again?

I notice recently that my energy levels are definitely lower. I need recovery time.

If guide work started again, it would be like starting all over and the necessary mental/physical energy would be enormous. I'm not sure I have it.

So. Time to read. Time to play with cats. Time to ponder garden weeds.