Hisashiburi

After a very early morning start, to ensure that the combination of shinkansen and taxis could get me there in time for my appointment, I visited St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo today.

I was last there six years or so ago, for a relatively brief stay while one of their specialist surgeons performed a difficult operation on me, very successfully, as it turned out.

Recently some tests indicated that I should undergo another sort of surgery for an entirely different issue that was discovered during an endoscopy. The surgeon at the local general hospital where the test was done declined to do the recommended surgery, despite averring that it is relatively easy to do with the latest techniques in laparoscopy. Because of various risk factors including age and prior ailments, he recommended a larger hospital with a really well-equipped ICU and such facilities for post-operative care, just in case.

The two most obvious candidates in my general area are university hospitals, but both are located in relatively inconvenient places transportation-wise. I tried a Red Cross Hospital in nearby Fukaya where I had been treated for something else, but they told me that although they had acceptable facilities, their staffing was too low to guarantee good care if something really untoward happened in the operation or its immediate aftermath. They recommended university hospitals, too.

I decided to give St. Luke’s a try first, instead. They had already had me as a surgery patient, albeit quite awhile ago, they have some of the best facilities and staff in the country, and although Tokyo is farther than the two recommended hospitals, it’s considerably more convenient: 40 minutes on the shinkansen and a short taxi ride vs. multiple train/bus transfers or a couple of hours’ drive by car for the others.

Having made an appointment by phone, and emailed them a photo of the envelope containing the referral from the local general hospital surgeon, I showed up this morning with various documents in hand, for a consultation.

The consultation turned into numerous tests including a CT scan with dye, an EKG, a couple of X-rays, blood test, etc.

With the results in hand, after consulting other specialists, the morning’s surgeon held another consultation, with the good news that the blood work showed no cancer markers and somewhat less good news that another endoscopy was called for before the laparoscopy is done. So I’ll be returning to St. Luke’s at least twice more this month, and presumably once again for the main operation, probably next month.

Despite the day having been rather tiring, it was a real “long time, no see” event to return to that hospital, and a strange feeling to be doing it upright. I spent a couple of weeks there last time, but I was always on a gurney or in a wheelchair, unable to see much while being shunted between my room and various testing venues.

And there is a lot worth seeing, actually. The hospital is in some ways more reminiscent of an upscale hotel, adorned with some very attractive art and having some very pleasant touches intended to enhance the patients’ overall well-being.

I didn’t have time to peruse the small art gallery they maintain, but I was able to listen to part of a lunch-time concert given in the chapel, while I was getting some sort of test done nearby. A couple of the violinists appeared to be staff members, white coats and all.

I was reminded anew of why I had fond memories of the staff, too.

I don’t know whether it’s due to hiring policies, or to training, or to a nurturing environment, but the doctors, nurses, technicians, assistants, clerical staff, and just about everybody I came into contact with were friendly, helpful, patient, and cheerful, while still doing their jobs very efficiently.

I had been very favorably impressed by them when I spent a couple of weeks there six years ago, and I was very pleasantly reminded again today.

It had been a long time, and despite the realities of a battery of tests and discussions about harrowing operations in the future, I was actually happy to be back for another visit.