And waiting...

 Finally got Dear Son to call the hospital and ask.

The nurse said Okaasan is brighter than on Monday and they may try to get her to eat something! Kind of doubt that is possible actually...more than two weeks she didn't swallow...is it possible to start again?

And the doctor has asked us to go in on Monday for a meeting. So there's that.

Meanwhile, a student to whom I was chatting about all of this reminded me: her father-in-law lived for FOUR years on drip feeding, in a bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Fours years! At the beginning he could communicate a bit, but the last 2 years plus, he basically just lay there and family members came and went. The tubes put nutrients into him, and others took waste away.

Oh my God. I don't want that for Okaasan. I don't want it for me, either.

I started hunting around on the Internet about those Swiss clinics that'll assist in end of life - for me, I hasten to say. Not Okaasan. Of course, there is the added HUGE factor that I'll probably be in Japan, and a long way from Switzerland. I'd have to be healthy enough to get on a plane for Europe.

But I notice Oregon in the US has legalized assisted euthanasia for residents. I have a good friend in that state. I wondered if Dear Son would like to take me to Oregon to live and die.

Anyway. All of THAT exploded in my brain when I considered that poor Okaasan could spend years attached to tubes and staring at the celling.

We'll find out more on Monday, I guess.

Meanwhile, Hokkaido's State of Covid Emergency has ended. But the city of Sapporo (where we live) has moved to a slightly lower Alert Stage - which translates and gets abbreviated in Japanese into "Mambo"...making otherwise serious news broadcasts kind of funny.

It means that bars and restaurants can't serve alcohol, and must close by 8 pm...and I expect places like libraries and art galleries will stay closed? The city's COVID beds are at 79% capacity, with daily figures of deaths still mostly in double digits.

It also means that we maybe can't get into the hospital to visit Okaasan much.

AND!

Bear! Maybe It's appeared on your news - we had a bear running round in the northern suburbs of the city yesterday morning! It attacked and injured 4 people, and was eventually shot by hunters.

Even Hokkaido people were stunned. This is right in the city area, within the expressway ringroad and near subways stations, schools etc Usually bears appear in the forested areas and parks on the south and west sides of the city.

This was totally different. A 5-6 year old, male animal about 150 kg galloping along the streets, crashing thru gardens and panicked.

It attacked two elderly people from behind and pushed them to the ground. One of them it shook several times like a rag doll. At the local army base it was hurling itself at the gates, injuring the soldier inside - before breaking thru into the base.

I hate to see a wild animal like that. Panicked and totally out of its element. And then killed. We all wish there was a better way - to tranquilize it and set it free in the mountains. But the experts say it poses a future risk because it's already lost the natural fears of being near humans, and that a half tranquilized bear crashing round an urban area is even more dangerous.

I know. I get it. And what happened yesterday was at very dangerous level.

But. Still.