Dear Regular Readers,
Welcome to this week’s edition of our newsletter and as always I hope there is something in it that is of interest to you.
I finished off the week before last at the point at which I had had my upper GI endoscopy and I was sitting and waiting to see the doctor, somewhat fearing the worst but at the same time hoping for the best. My appointment to see the doctor was not scheduled until 11:30, so I had about a 30 minute wait ahead of me which was fine as I felt the need to relax a little and gather my thoughts. The anesthesia I had been given was now beginning to wear off and I was starting to feel some discomfort in my throat and the left side of my nose. My throat was incredibly dry and I had the feeling that I had something stuck at the back of it; during my 30 minute wait if I coughed once I must have coughed 50 times, even the copious amounts of water I was putting into my system was not having the desired effect.
Finally, I was forced to leave the hospital to go and try to seek out a convenience store to buy some throat candy which if you live in Japan you will know that there is literally a 7/11 or a Family Mart on every street corner. Within a minute or so of leaving the hospital I found myself stood in a fairly long line of people in a Family Mart with a packet of Halls cough candies in my hand waiting to pay for them, all the time trying to control the urge (rather unsuccessfully I might add) not to announce to those standing with me in the line that I had an irritation in my throat. As we all know, trying to control the urge to cough is like crossing your legs to try to lessen the need to empty your bladder, it might work for a short time, but it’s not going to prevent leakage if you cannot find a toilet.
Under normal circumstances, coughing does not bother people as long as you put your hand over your mouth or cough away from them, but with Covid and all its various mutants still with us it’s a bit different, coughing, especially the uncontrollable kind, can reduce a very long queue of people to a short one very quickly which is what happened in this case. Finally, it was my turn to open my wallet and part with my money and as soon as it was handed over and it hit the till I picked up my purchase and receipt, opened my packet of potential cough stoppers in double quick time and popped one into my mouth. No sooner had the magic piece of candy hit my tongue and the roof of my mouth I was cured of my coughing.
I then made my way back to the hospital and repositioned myself in a chair outside the doctor’s surgery. I wasn’t long seated before my name was called out and up and in to see the doctor I went. The results of my endoscopy were up on the doctor’s computer screen as I entered. The doctor invited me to sit down and whilst showing me the images of my esophagus, my stomach and the first bit of my small intestine he told me that the endoscopy did not show any signs of acid reflux nor any other problem which came as a big relief; I enquired as to why he thought I had one or two of the typical acid reflux symptoms but didn’t have acid reflux, but he said he was unsure and suggested that I stop worrying about my health and get on with living my life. Worrying about my health is really not something I want to preoccupy my time with and I really do just want to follow the doctor’s advice and get back on with living my life, but it’s really not that easy to do especially when one is suffering with an unidentified health problem that greatly affects the quality of one’s life.
Armed with the knowledge that my esophagus was clear and I had no signs of any acid reflux, I decided to go back to see the ENT doctor that had originally diagnosed me with acid reflux and had prescribed me PPI’s (Proton Pump Inhibitors), Doctor Kitagawa. On the day I went back to hospital, I was told that Dr Kitagawa was not on duty due to some emergency situation and that a doctor by the name of Kurushima was the only ENT doctor available to see. At first I thought it may be better to make an appointment for a later date to see Dr Kitagawa, but as I was in search of immediate relief because I was (and still am) dealing with a very uncomfortable problem I decided to sit and wait to see Dr Kurushima. After about a 30 minute wait I was called into Dr Kurushima’s surgery and as soon as I was through the door I was greeted with possibly the best English of any Japanese doctor that I have seen in the total history of visiting hospitals in Japan. I can function in Japanese reasonably well in most situations, but for what I believe are obvious reasons, when it comes to hospitals and doctors, I always hope and pray, before any hospital visit, that I will meet an English speaking doctor and on this particular occasion the praying appeared to have worked.
To begin, I went through the usual process of walking the doctor through my symptoms whilst he referred to all my case notes on his computer screen. He asked a few questions about the medications I had been taking and whether or not I had noticed any improvements in my health and then proceeded to check my nasal passages and throat; he told me that my nasal passages were swollen, particularly the right one and he mentioned that my problem appeared to be Rhinitis and he also said that the mucus build up I suffer with may be connected to a deviated septum causing the sinuses to malfunction. He based his diagnosis on Dr Hasegawa’s notes in which he (Dr Hasegawa) had noted that my right nasal passage was smaller than my left nasal passage and he (Dr Kurushima) then put the image of the CT scan that I had had back in December on to his computer screen to show me and explain further. I was told that a deviated septum happens when the thin wall (nasal septum) between one’s nasal passages is displaced to one side. Apparently, many people have a deviated or off-center nasal septum which makes one nasal passage smaller. In severe cases a deviated septum can block one side of one’s nose and reduce airflow which makes breathing very difficult.
In addition, Dr Kurushima noted that on the CT scan there was no evidence of any sinus related issues; however, when I explained that at the time of having the CT scan I actually was not showing any symptoms of blocked sinuses, and that Dr Hasegawa suggested having a CT scan as a matter of course, he then said that blocked sinuses could not be ruled out altogether. He mentioned that a further CT scan may be required at a later date if the medication he was going to give me didn’t improve my symptoms. He recommended that I take some meds for Rhinitis; he also gave me an anti-histamine pump inhaler to try to clear the feeling of my blocked nose, as well as some type of expectorant meds to try to help with easing the congestion I was feeling from having to deal with thick mucus running permanently down the back of my throat and some meds for gargling to try to reduce the dryness of my throat. I once again had a bag full of medication, some of which I was already very familiar with, to take away with me which I was hoping I would not be given, but I had to trust that if it was going to help me get rid of the symptoms I had then it was worth a go.
As I have said all the way through my journey thus far, I do not at all like taking medication of any sort (who the heck does?), but I’m willing to try anything to get my life back onto a normal path, even if it’s the same medication that I have previously been prescribed that didn’t seem to do anything for me the first time around. However, I was now under a different doctor that I could actually communicate smoothly with in my native language which in itself is massive, so perhaps a change is indeed as good as a rest.
I shall leave my writings there for now and try my level best to conclude them this time around next week. Until then, keep well and enjoy the weekend break.