Happy birthday!

Dear Letha,

Happy birthday!  How have you been since you sent me an email last spring?

I think I wrote to you last April.  Here is my update.

With my doctor's advice, I quit working in May of this year.  I have been relaxing at home since then.  I started taking Online English lessons at RareJob last August.  RareJob is a Japanese company which has a variety of Filipino tutors who have excellent command in English and full of hospitality to Japanese students.  I take one lesson every day, and I enjoy the lessons.

I am fine now.  But I have some problems with my nerves which is just a small matter.  My doctor says my parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves don't work well.  In fact, my body cannot tell how exhausted I am.  I always feel tense and cannot relax.  I keep on working for hours without taking a short break.  I have been to a small clinic nearby for these 5 years, and my doctor prescribes Chinese herbal medicine every month, and I feel relaxed with the medicine. 

I may have written this to you before, my husband retired from his work on March 2012.  He retired at the age of 60.  He stayed home for 6 months doing almost nothing, and I got tired of being asked to do everything such as make coffee, prepare meals three times a day every day.  So to avoid him, I started working in July 2012.  I worked 4 hours, five times a week, as a caregiver trainee at an elderly home in my neighborhood.

I really enjoyed it, but I thought the job was too strenuous for me.  As my doctor knew about my conditions, autonomic dysfunction, I told him about my job in the elderly home.  He said he doesn't recommend me to keep working in the elderly home.

My husband stayed home for a while, but he got bored finally.  So he started working as a part time employee in November 2012.   He still continues working as a teacher in a local junior high school.

One day in the middle of May, I felt an intense and sudden pain on my right abdomen.  I thought I could not perform the chair-to-bed transfer as a caregiver at that time, so I explained to my colleagues about my condition, and asked them to do it on that day.  They accepted my request, and I didn't do it.  I felt sorry for them, but I was honest because if I did it under such pain, I may fail to do it properly and an accident might happen.

The next day, I was scheduled to work from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the elderly home, which meant I had free time in the morning.  I rushed to a big hospital at 8:00 a.m., which is 40 minutes by bike. 

The hospital opened at 9:00 a.m. and I was called in to a physician's room at first, and I spoke to him about my condition.  He asked his nurses to check my body temperature (38 degrees), measure my blood pressure (150/78), and take some of my blood.

After some minutes, the physician called me in to his room.  He also asked a surgeon to come in.  Both doctors discussed for a while, and then I was asked to be CT scanned, and had my echo done.

Surprisingly I was diagnosed with ileocecal diverticulitis.  I was immediately asked to be confined for a week.  It was my first experience to be hospitalized and I was really shocked.

I came there by bike, and I parked my bike at a shopping center next to the hospital, and I was scheduled to work in that afternoon, and I had do some errands at home, how could I possibly be hospitalized so suddenly?

On the other hand, the doctors and nurses were so surprised at my actions, how could I get there by bike under intense pain, and some fever, etc.  "And you are still trying to work in the afternoon?
Are you crazy or workaholic?  Are your nerves working alright?  Generally, we take some rest under such conditions."

As a result, I made a call at the elderly home, and I took a day off.  In fact, I couldn't come back to my place until 4:00 p.m. because I had some nutrition by IV.  

I strongly requested that I should go back to my place on that day, and the surgeon eventually allowed it.  But he advised me that I must not have a meal for a while, and go back to the hospital the next day.  With a promise, he allowed me to go back that day.

When I returned home at 4:00 p.m. by bike, I was scared and packed my daily necessities.  I didn't like to stay at the hospital for a long time.  When my husband returned at 7:00 p.m., I told him all about it in the hospital.

He shouted "Why were you concern so much about your work, and came back from the hospital by bike.  You were supposed to be confined at the hospital now.  You must go there tomorrow morning.  I'll have a day off tomorrow, so that I can take you to the hospital." 

I said, "No, you will have your classes tomorrow, so you must attend your classes."

So the next day, I went to hospital by bike.  Then I met the surgeon again.  He said "Are you now  ready to be hospitalized?" 

I said "I came here by bike but I packed everything in my bag and left the bag in the entrance of my house so that my husband can bring it here later, just in case." 

I was hospitalized and was NPO (nothing per orem) for a week.  It was the worst thing in the hospital.  The doctors and nurses and other staff members were nice to me, and I really appreciated their work.

My husband is a typical, traditional Japanese husband, and he asked me to stay home instead of going out to work.  Nowadays, I try to clean our house and prepare supper.  I am glad that my husband works at school in the daytime. 

I take online English lessons in Rarejob everyday.  One lesson is 25-minutes.  This is good because I have an opportunity to speak to someone in the daytime.  I have some friends to talk to.  But if I go to see them, I have to go to Himeji Station at first, which takes about 15 minutes.  The bus is available only every hour, so it takes a lot of time going, chatting, and coming back. It would be good for sometimes, but I don't want to do it very often.  I prefer to stay at home and relax. 

Well, I guess I wrote about what's happening in my life recently.  I hope you'll have a wonderful birthday celebration with your family.

Love,  

Oct. 21, 2013

When I was working as a clerk in a company, I stayed in the office most of the time.  I was always busy preparing different documents which made my eyes really tired. Beacuse of that, I decided to try something different on weekends.  I began watching wildbirds and this kept me relaxed and made my eyes feel better too.

I rode my bike and visited a park nearby to get relaxed.  I felt comfortable surrounded by trees.  The green color eased my eyes.  It was wonderful because I was able to forget about my work and feel mother nature.  

While I was staying in the park,  I found different kinds of birds.  I observed them and I was eager to find their names.  I wondered that some of them might be migratory birds, so I am curious where they could be coming from, and where are they going next.


And what kind of food do they eat?  Do they eat nuts, small insects or worms?  Are they hervious or carnivious?  Do they move in a group or alone?  That was the way I began this hobby.

Winter is the best season to watch wild birds as we can find many types during the season.  It's cold early in the morning, but we can find more birds in the daybreak because they start moving from place to place to searching for something to eat at that time.

Sometimes I'm freezing when I wake up at around 7:00 a.m., so I warm myself by drinking hot coffee in the morning.  The day break is 6:30 a.m. at this time of the year, November.  I think it's a bit early early for me to go for walk before 7 o'clock. 

In fact, I walk about 30 minutes at around 10 a.m. these days, and find 5 or 6 kinds of birds at best.  But yesterday, I had some other errands outside beore 8:00 a.m.  I was lucky because of being able to find as many as 10 types at that time.  Maybe it's better to try to start walking around 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.  It will make me feel lucky to find more birds.

I also would like to find their scientific names in my birds' book later.------------------------------------------------------

I walked to a pond in my neiborhood this morning.

I came back home at 10:10 a.m. to be ready for our lesson starting at 10:30 a.m.

I still had some minutes, I wrote a short strory what I saw this morning.

I saw three male ducks named Kogamo, Anas crecca,  in the pond.

I found five of them when I walked there last Saturday. 

I wondered where the other two went.

lesson feedback
use italics for scientific name
(Anas crecca)
open and close parentheses
parenthesis --> singular
parenthesis --> plural
10 or more ---> numerics
less than 10 --> spell out
10 people are here. ---> Ten people are here
binoculars

Questions from an English Vocabulary Book

For our lesson, I have some questions from an English book "1100 words you need to know," so please help me.

I passed the Pre-1st level of the STEP test 2 years ago.  You may have never heard of the test, so let me I would like to explain it to you briefly.  The STEP test is organized held by Japanese government to measure the Japanese people's English level.  If I will have the chance, Next time, I want to try the 1st level of the STEP 1st level by which and I need to enrich my vocabulary.    A month ago, I checked in looked into the Internet some strategies in passing how to pass the 1st level.  Some of those the people who did passed the 1st level said they studied a this book, and luckily I got the chance to purchase in it an online shop named Amazon.  I found it a bit challenging, that's why I chose and bought it in Amazon Online shop.  I found it a little difficult, but let me say that I did can understand about 60 or 70% of it.  I see to it that Every day I can study about two pages every day and to learn more than 5 English terms words from the this book.  The daily stories sound interesting.   

I have been trying to comprehend very hard, but there are some things which are really challenging places I don't understand. 

(A Sensei's corrected sentences)

I passed the Pre-1st level of the STEP test 2 years ago. You may have never heard of the test, so let me explain it to you briefly. The STEP test is organized by Japanese government to measure the people's English level. If I will have the chance, I want to try the 1st level of the STEP test by which I need to enrich my vocabulary. A month ago, I checked in the Internet some strategies in passing the 1st level. Some of those who did the 1st level said that they studied a book, and luckily I got the chance to purchase it in an online shop named Amazon. I found it a bit challenging, but let me say that I did understand about 60 or 70% of it. I see to it that I can study about two pages every day to learn more than 5 English terms from the book. The daily stories sound interesting.‏

‎               

I have been trying to comprehend, but there are some things which are really very challenging.

My question No. 1)
The two words "belligerent" and "pugnacious" are new words for me, and it's confusing.  

belligerent .... seeking war, hostile
(one example)
His belligerent manner caused him to lose one friend after another.

pugnacious .... combative
(one example)
Since everyone can out punch my cousin, he cannot afford to be pugnacious.

The word, "belligerent" maybe a synonym for "pugnacious."  YES.

Another word I know is "short-tempered."   Do you think the person who is short-tempered is the same as "belligerent" or "pugnacious" ?  No, they have different meanings.

My question No. 2)
This is how I understand this situation:  My understanding:  An The 80-year-old manager has been using was aging, so he used his crutches (in another words, his walking stick) in a daily basis.   In this situation from the sentence,  Mullins attacked the manager by grabbing grabbed (or stealed) the crutches by force, and he attacked the manager with the stick, and the manager which caused the latter might to fell down to on the floor and got some injuries injured?  Is my understanding correct?  If not, please describe it with easy English, please?

(A sensei's corrected sentences)
This is how I understand this situation:  An 80-year-old manager has been using his crutches in a daily basis / every day.   In this situation,  Mullins attacked the manager by grabbing the crutches which caused the latter to fell on the floor and got some injuries?  Is my understanding correct?  If not, please describe it with easy English, please?


My question No. 3)
My question is that Mullins is drinking whiskey in the first sentence, but in the last sentence, they say SCOTCH, why?  Can I use beer, wine, or another alcohol here instead of Scotch?
This book was published in Britain, so Mullins might be a British man from Scotland in England?  He might be a Scotch where it is famous for its wiskey, distilled in Scotland.

(A sensei's corrected sentences)
My question is that Mullins is drinking whiskey in the first sentence, but in the last sentence, they say SCOTCH, why?  Can I use beer, wine, or another alcohol here instead of Scotch?
This book was published in Britain, so Mullins might be a British.

Lesson feedback on October 23, 2013
latter - being the second of two persons or things mentioned
former - being the first of two persons or things mentioned

They were marked yellow color, could you please describe them with easier English?

Newly learned words (vocabulary) were typed in italic below.

Lesson 1) Mullins A K.O. Victim
When the bell sounded, K.O. Mullins responded with alacrity (or briskness, lively action).  He sprang from his stool and charged across the ring, showing disdain (or contempt) for the champion's strength.  Although this belligerent (or warlike) attitude impressed the referee, it failed to intimidate (or to overawe) the champ.  That intrepid (or brave) battler laid the hapless (or unfortunate) Mullins low with an adroit feint and an uppercut. 

Lesson 2) Mullins Throws Down the Gauntlet (or to challenge someone)
The pugnacious (or quarrelsome) K.O. Mullins demanded a rematch.  He took a full-page newspaper advertisement to promulgate (or to make known officially) his challenge.   When the champ's manager saw the brash (or impudent) announcement, he accosted (to approach and speak to) Mullins, who was surrounded by a throng (or crowd) of newsmen.  The manager openly scoffed (or to sneer) at Mullins and belittled (or to make seem less important) his fighting ability.  Mullins then lost his temper and fearlessly punched the manager, knocking him off of his crutches. 

Lesson 3) Mullins Forced to Eat Humble Pie (or to admit your error and apologize)
The irate (or angry, incensed) 80-year-old manager pressed charges against K.O. Mullins, suing him for assault.  As tangible (or having actual form) evidence of the attack, he pointed to a deep laceration (or jagged wound) over his eyebrow that had required ten stitches.  When the case was brought before the court, the judge castigated (or to correct by punishing) Mullins for the sordid  (or dirty, base) incident.  In addition to a costly financial settlement, Mullins was required to make a public apology to the octogenarian (or person in his or her eighties).

Lesson 4) The decline of Mullins
Mullins sought solace (or easing of grief) in whiskey.  Once a highly respected aspirant (or candidate for high position) for the lightweight crown, he now found himself associating with the dregs (or most worthless part) of Skid Row (or disreputable part of town, inhabited by derelicts and people).  He would work himself into an alcoholic frenzy (or wild fit) in which he would trumpet scurrilous (or coarse) attacks on the champ, the old manager, and the judge.  One avid (or eager) fight fan attributed Mullins' absence from the ring to sickness, saying that he was "recovering from a bad case of SCOTCH."


----   We talked below on our lesson on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013  -----------

You asked me some questions before our lesson yesterday.  Let me try to explain them to you here.

You asked me why I did walking under walked in the rain yesterday.  Well, I was diagnosed of having as hyperlipemia/hyperlipidemia (you may have known this as I checked your profile before, it said that you have majored in nursing in a the university.  It means "excessive amounts of fat and fatty substances in the blood."   Yes, I used to be heavier, 64 kgs at the maximum and obesity obese level was one (1) last May.  My height is 156 centimeters and  I was advised by my doctor to reduce weight by avoiding fatty food, and do some exercises like walking by my doctor. so that I can attain my ideal weight which is 53 kgs.  He said I don't have to do some strenuous sports like challenge volleyball or basketball because those sports require much energy.  He suggested me that I walk 5,000 to 10,000 steps a day.  I always use put a pedometer to track my number of steps.  in my trouser's pocket, and count it how much I walk in daily basis.  Yesterday, I had only 5,600 steps which means I walked about 2.7 kilometers.  But I walked 10,000 steps each for these three days.  I am an enthusiast for watching wild birds.  And winter is the best season for watching birds.  So I am getting exciting these days.  I found some Kogamo, a kind of ducks a pond in my neiborhood some days ago, and I am looking forward to checking them these days.  I was not happy because I couldn't find any of them yesterday.

(A sensei's corrected sentences)
You asked me why I did walking under the rain yesterday.  Well, I was diagnosed of having hyperlipemia/hyperlipidemia (you may have known this as I checked your profile before, it said that you have majored in nursing in a university.  It means "excessive amount of fat and fatty substances in the blood."  I used to be 64 kgs and my obesity level was one (1) last May.  My height is 156 centimeters and I was advised by my doctor to reduce weight by avoiding fatty food, and do some exercises like walking so that I can attain my ideal weight which is 53 kgs.  He said I don't have to do some strenuous sports like volleyball or basketball because those require much energy.  He suggested me that I walk about 5,000 to 10,000 steps a day.  I always use a pedometer to track my number of steps.  Yesterday, I had only 5,600 steps which means I walked about 2.7 kilometers.
Lesson feedback on October 24, 2013
hiperlipemia [hay-per-li-PEEM-ya]
hyplerlipidemia
pidometer [pi-DO-mi-ter]
strenuous [STREN-yoo-wos]
strenuous - tiring or exhausting


My question No. 4)
P.25
Treated with disdain by his stepfather, Artie grew closer to his natural father.

Please explain the phrase "grew closer."

Answer)  Treated badly by his stepfather, Artie started to have a good relationship with his natural father.
 --------------------------------------

Here is another story from the same English textbook.

My question No. 5)
The sentence below probably meant a proctor noticed they were doing cheating, but he or she ignored the fact.

P. 27
CHEATING
During my first weeks at the new school I observed that cheating was rampant (or going unchecked, widespread).  I had always considered it rather inane (or foolish) to cheat on a test because of my code of ethics (code of principles), and because so much was at stake.  Apparently the other students didn't concur (or agree).  In fact, even the presence of a proctor (or professor to attend on examinations) did not intimidate (or to overawe) them.  Far from being a clandestine (or secret or undercover) activity, the cheating was open and obvious.

Oct. 16, 2013

For our lesson on October 18, 2013
Please visit my new blog which has different designs for each entry.   I divided my long sentences into shorter ones with many entris.   Please click here.

For our lesson on October 17, 2013
My recent concern from Japanese news as a caregiver trainee

I heard news about there was fire in a clinic in Fukuoka on October 11, 2013.  Ten people, all of them over 70 years old died.  The former clinic president and his wife lived in the 3rd floor of the clinic died in the fire.

The clinic is small sized, and the doctors can perform simple operations in the facility.  And patients are supposed to go back within 48 hours. 

However, their family members cannot take care of their aging parents.  These days, elderly homes are full to accept elderly people because of beds' shortages, and so on.  Families wonder what should do.  They were glad that the clinic kindly accepted their parents for longer period.

But due to the lack of facility's capabilities (a lack of splinkler) consequently led to the fire.   They also had a problem, which was, shortage of staff members made a delay fire was happening.

My opinion are as follows:
Good point:  The clinic owner and its staff members contributed to the people of their area who had been having hard times finding the place where their elder parents to take care in a daily bases.

Bad point:  The clinic was not built for longer stay patients.  They shouldn't have accepted those who should stay longer.  Otherwise they should remodel the facility so that they can satisfy to meet the demand of Japanese construct regulation.  Shortage of the staff member was also the problem.

-------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I have been worrying about the heavy earthquake hit some area in the Phillipines yesterday.

At the beginning of today's lesson, I would like you to watch a video on youtube this morning.

I told you yesterday we were planning to hold a festival.  I didn't go because of a heavy rain from a strong typhoon.

The video was taken some years ago, and it is about the festival called Nada Fighting festival.   Please click below.  The length is one minute and a half.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oCp5s2Vv0g

In the video, men in our town carry portable Shinto shrines, and collide them.  

I have just heard news this morning telling 80,000 people visited the festival even in the heavy rain.

----------------------------


Regarding my continued sentences, I would like to add the followings:

1. (added sentences below)
2. In early April, the new team leader asked me to take care of help as many as 6 people bathing within 90 minutes.  He said that I should do the task every once in two day, for example, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
3. The elderlies are ranging from the youngest in their 70s, and the oldest late in their 90s.  We must help them take baths individually so that their naked cannot be seen to another elderlies.
4. I thought the work I was assigned was too much for me who is in late 40s.  It required much physical energy, so I handed in my retirement request document to the elderly home president on April 30.  It was all of sudden, so she was very surprised as I have never compained about the hard work.  But she accepted it.  
5. W-san, who is the same age as myself, also worked hard and often got tired and became sick.    One of two times in a month she had a day off due to poor health, and went to a hospital to have intravenous drip.
6. I liked the job there, but one day in the middle of May, I felt a keen pain in my right side abdomen.  
7. I went to work that day, but with my keen abdomen pain, performing bed-to-chair transfer would be difficult, so I told about my physical condition to my colleages, and I was excused from performing the transfer.   I felt sorry for my colleagues.
8. (to be continued)

For 8:30 a.m., 14th October lesson.

      I would like to express my thankfulness to M sensei for her great help edit my poor English to  
       a decent English for this entry.   

Please view the 1 minute example video on how to move an elderly person from the bed to the chair by YouTube.   The process  

            As you can see in the video, the caregiver places her right arm between the neck and the shoulder while the left arm is below the shoulder on the waistline. That is how we transfer an elderly from the bed to the wheelchair.

             One time at the elderly home, one of my colleagues, W-san, was too hasty in doing the procedure so it was unsuccessful. She placed both her arms on E-san's waist and it was unstable so she slipped and fell by accident. E-san also fell and hit her forehead on the drawer beside her.  W-san was terrified and called me, "Please come!  I made a terrible mistake." I called a nurse immediately. She came and checked for injuries from head to toe.

           E-san, the elderly lady, was bleeding on the forehead that the nurse needed to use a gauze to stop it.  She kept on changing the soaked gauze for some time, but the bleeding didn't stop. The nurse then called her supervisor and after a few minutes, they decided to call an ambulance.

            Five minutes later, the ambulance arrived with three emergency medical team  (EMT) members. They carefully positioned E-san on the stretcher.  W-san, the caregiver trainee, and one office manager left for the hospital together with E-san on the ambulance.

          W-san was back from the hospital hours later   and apologized to E-san's family as well as to the staff in the elderly home.  E-san was hospitalized for 2 weeks.

          She wrote an incident report about the accident. The managers asked her to review and revise the document several times before submitting it to the city office. We also had a unit meeting wherein we talked about why the accident happened and how to avoid such in the future.

Here is another story.

              At the end of February, two caregiver trainees in our unit quit their job. As a result the remaining caregiver trainees worked 24 hours per shift. The 2 caregiver trainees who left their work were hard workers, so I was afraid that we would have to work harder from March onwards. 

             One of the two caregivers who left, was a team leader who worked as a caregiver for 20 years. As a beginner then, I had admired her great work and dedication as a caregiver.  In fact, I always sought her advice on how to do things in the workplace. There were times when I would be the only caregiver trainee in the unit  thus I would have to take care as many as 10 elderlies all at the same time.  Attending to two or three elderlies all at the same time in their toilet needs would just be impossible without compromising effective and quality health care. So, before she left, I asked her how we could possibly handle things being short-staffed. 

          To my surprise, she gave an answer that changed my impression of her she said, “There are three toilets in our unit so you can use all of them at the same time.  You can help them simultaneously by starting with one, and starting the second while the first is seated on the toilet, and so on. As soon as you are done with maybe the third, it would be timely then to go back to the first, then to second and so on. “

            I said, "I don't like to act that way!   Please imagine what can happen next.  While I am attending to someone, others might call me for emergency. Unable to go instantly because of a patient I may be attending to at the moment, the calling patient might stumble or fall to the floor while trying to help herself alone instead. This can lead to serious consequences – even death which I would be fully responsible of and answerable for. I can’t take things for granted.

      Such was an expected situation and yes, I encountered it many times. I didn’t handle it though, as suggested by the leader then. Rather, I explained to the patients that we were short-staffed and advised them to do their thing with their diapers on for their safety’s sake.

       Here is another story.

              The male trainee, who became our new team leader had been over worked and stumbled in his home toilet at around 2:00 a.m.   He was lucky because he lived with his parents and one of them found him unconscious in the toilet bleeding from his head at around 5:00 a.m. At 8:30 a.m., his parent took him to the hospital, which opens at 9:00a.m.  They wanted to be treated ahead of all other patients as emergency. He was CT-scanned his, and fortunately no serious problem was found except a wound that was had seven stitches.   Our nurses advised him to take 4 or 5 days off due to the injury.

 

My condition

1. 10:00 a.m.-, Wednesday, 9th, October, 2013
2. .
3. Dearest Rare Job teacher,
4. .
5. I am having hard days to do my self introduction and expain my physical condition to Rare Job teachers.   So I would like to practice below for our lesson today.
6. In the beginning of our lesson, I would like to read this article (sentence No. 12 to 25) to you. 
7. Then I would like you to make corrections for my grammatical mistakes and words choices.
8. Thank you!
9. .
10. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. I am a housewife aged 47 who enrolled in Rarejob on August 28, 2013.  I have been enjoying online English lessons since then.
13. I married at 40, and we don't have children.
14. I have worked as a clerk in different import and export businesses in Tokyo for 20 years.  I prepared various business documents in English. 
15. One of my experiences is to work , I worked for a Canadian company.  I worked in their Japan office as a correspondent.  I think that was the best work experience I had in all my working years.  I enjoyed working there best for all of my working experiences. 
16. I moved here in Hyogo Prefecture because I married my husband who is a native to of  Hyogo.
17. As I live in the a countryside now, it seems to be very difficult to find a job related to my experiences.
18. In These years, many people are getting older in Japan, and there are many job openings for caregivers in elderly homes all around Japan.
19. In fact, Actually I noticed there are many jobs openings just around in my neighborhood.
20. So, I decided to study as become a caregiver trainee, and I finished it three months' lessons  three months in 2011.
21. At the end of the year end, I got took my the licence as a caregiver trainee.  And currently, I now hold a caregiver trainee license. 
22. From 2012, I started working as a caregiver trainee in an elderly home in my neighborhood in July 2012.
23. I worked only 4 hours for five days a week.
24. I enjoyed working there, however, my physical condition gradually declined went wrong from the hard work.   Last May, I felt a keen and sudden pain on in the my right side of my abdomen so suddenly, and.  I thought I could not perform the chair-to-bed transfer as a caregiver at that time, so I did not do it.   (I added the sentence--->)  I felt sorry to my colleagues.
25. So the next morning, I rushed to the a hospital, and was diagnosed with as ileocecal diverticulitis.  They took my body temperature and it was 38 degrees, measured my blood pressure and it was 150/78, took some of my blood, CT scanned, had my echo done.  I was immediately hospitalized for a week.  It was my first experience to be hospitalized and I was really shocked.  But the worst part was, I was told not to eat for 5 days by from my surgeon.  I felt was always so hungry because I took nutrition only by drop infusion.s for 24 hours during the period.
26. Here is another story.
27. As I am getting older, I experience have pre-menopausal symptoms.  I have been going through the changes for the last five years.
28. I feel irritated about everything, so I go have been to a small clinic nearby run by a doctor who practices and prescribes physician whose specialty is Chinese herbal medicine for these years.
29. He prescribes some herbal medicine to me, and I take them two times a day.  After 30 minutes or so, I feel relaxed and feel better. 
30. When I went to the clinic some months ago, I told my doctor about my work at the elderly home.
31. Since he knew my physical condition, he recommend that I do not do that kind of work.  It requires too much physical activity compared with my condition.  He says I need a good rest whenever I can.
32. Since As he knew has a knowledge of my physical condition for these years, he suggested to me that he doesn't recommend that I do not do that kind of work.  It requires too much physical activity ability compared with my condition.  He says I need a good rest whenever I can. take a good rest whenever I meet him.
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34. Lesson feedback on Thursday, 10th, October, 2013
35. synthetic     
36. Synthetic products are made from chemicals or artificial substances rather than from natural ones.
37. Japanese medical circumstances  ------------------------------------------------------
38. hospital .... medical doctors and nurses / some beds for patients.
39. clinic ........ a medical doctor (medical doctors) and nurses / no beds for patients.
40. physician .... a doctor of medicine, general practitioner
41. surgeon ....... a doctor who is specially trained to perform surgery.
42. alternative practitioners .... I think them are the ones what we call such as healers or massage technicians.  In many cases, they require a lot of money for their treatments.
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44. In Japan, medical doctors are entitled to prescribe Chinese herbal medicines as well as synthetic medicines to their patients.
45. To my knowledge, medical doctors are not required necessary to study Chinese herbal medicines. to get their medical licence.   
46. We can search some medical doctors who has the special knowlege about of Chinese herbal medicines.   They could be one or two in your city, which you can search by Internet nowadays.  in the neighborhood by Internet nowadays.
47. The following is my prescription. 

                                           Picture No. 1  My prescription for 3 weeks

 

Picture No. 2  Each day I take two packages for two times with water.

(I took this portion (or dosage) at 3:00 p.m. I will take another portion at 9:00 p.m.)

For Chinese herbal medicine, we genenally take between the meals.

For example, if you have lunch at 12:00 a.m. and you have supper at 6:00 p.m.,

it's better to take the Chinese medicine from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., to make the medicine effective and stronger to your body. 

 

 

 Picture No. 3  The powder like medicine is ready to take wherever you are.

(Please compare with the picture No. 7 below.  Thank you!

 

　Picture No. 4  Pharmaceutical company manufacture their medicine the following way. 

Chinese medicines are made from natural stuff, mostly plants (flowers, stems, leaves, roots, and fruits.)  Sometimes they use animal bones such as horns (or bones above head parts) of deer.   

                                        Picture No. 5 They try to do it more powder like.

 　　　　　　　　　　　Picture No. 6   A pharmacist is measuring each indigent by scale.　                                          

                                                Picture No. 7  Boil the herbal medicine

            Some patients still do the boiling procedure every day. 

It takes 30 minutes or one hour before taking it.

                                            Picture No. 8  We take the watery part.
                                                      (We don't eat the herb part.)

1. We can take advantage of our health insurance to pay the prescription.
2. Patients under 65 to pay 30% of the prescription while 70% are paid by health insurance.
3. Patients over  65 to pay 10% of the prescription while 90% are paid by health insurance.
4. Now the Japanese government is considering to change the law --- patients over 65 to pay 20% (10%increase) because of the increase of aged citizens.
5. We can also buy Chinese herbal medicine from some alternative practitioners.  We cannot use our health insurance, so we have to pay much money.  But there are a variety of medicines.  They will choose each small amount of Chinese herbs bit by bit, to exactly fit your condition.
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7. My husband has the same opinion, and I depend on my husband financially these days.  (corrected)
8. I thought I liked the work as a caregiver trainee, but I realized it's not good for me to work in the elderly home.
9. Caregiver trainee job in the elderly home required too much physical work.  They require too much work.  I guess, only younger caregivers or people someone in my generation who used to be athletes can continue working for a longer periods.
10. In my recent These days, I feel am all right in the morning, but I feel very dull and drowsy in the afternoon.
11. I take a nap after lunch, which sometimes takes it gets as long as 2 hours.  Being a housewife, requires me I have many things to do many chores, but hardly finish them the chores, so I feel sad sometimes. 
12. But I figured that my friends who are in the same generation with me also complain about the same things. 
13. So I am not the only one. 
14. I am thinking, maybe I can just choose the work that requires me to visit those individual elderlies who need caregivers' help in their own home.  Maybe I can visit those individual elderlies' houses who need caregivers' help.
15. I imagine that I will may go to one place and work in about one or one and half hours.  Each One in the morning and one in the afternoon, or so.    Total working hours would be just 2 hours or 3 hours  a day.
16. I'd like also like to polish English by using online lessons.   One of my goals is to get a score of 950 or above in TOEIC.