Today is Wednesday, May 4th, and we are still in Utah -- but we are heading "home" to Japan tomorrow. Looking back at the last entry I wrote I am sorry it's taken me this long to write! Now for a quick update.......
So the day after my last entry I had a broncoscopy at a hospital here in Ogden (the procedure couldn't be done on base so the base doctor there I saw referred me). My father-in-law went with me which was a good thing because I was pretty out of it when the procedure was done (still not sure how I was suppose to do this on my own in Okinawa unless they were going to keep me overnight...) The doctor told my father-in-law that he saw plenty of green goop basically which made for a good sample. Unfortunately -- almost six weeks later -- that sample has not produced anything. While in a follow-up letter the doctor sent afterwards he was leaning toward something called "MAI" -- a much-less infectious cousin of TB apparently--he now believes it is not. Such a disease would take normally 6-8 weeks to grow so it is still growing, but the preliminary diagnosis is that it's not MAI -- or anything for that matter. The doctor had me do some other tests including an esophogram in case there was a gastro-intestinal problem going on that was causing my lungs to get infected, and from that he's decided that there may be. While the esophogram showed I had no reflux I do have a "chronic swallowing problem" that may cause ineffective clearage or something or other which may be causing/contributing to the lung infections. Right now I am doing fine though I still have the cough, so the next step is to see a gastro-interologist (sp?) for a more definitive test. Fortunately, I can do this with Rick, back in Japan....where I am going....tomorrow!!!!
Yes, I am excited to return to Japan, as it's our home right now, and it's where Rick will be returning to in a matter of days. He should return a few days from a nearly 8-month deployment just after we get back. And we can't wait!!! From what I hear on email chatter and the base website, things are pretty well back to normal -- for us, anyway. It sounds like the nuclear power plant situation is not resolved but from what I've read, the danger goes down with time and distance -- two things we have on our side in Misawa. The poor Japanese people are still suffering greatly, as I think there have been delays in trying to get people temporary housing. They are still searching for bodies. They are still short on supplies. And the roads and (until today I think) the trains have been down. So it's not a great situation for those folks. I'm just hoping it's not too late to join in on some of the volunteer efforts conducted by the base the last two months. They were sending busloads of people out daily but I think that's been cut back and now they may have even cut off official support of the efforts. But I know there will be plenty of work to done still so I hope to be able to join in. We have much to be grateful for. And now -- I have my health!
While in the states we were lucky enough to get in visits with family and to be cared for greatly, so we return rested and healthy. Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and phone calls. We'll be back in a year "for good", hopefully, and we'll look forward to connecting with you then. I still maintain however that if you want a fun adventure, then come on over to Japan! We'll try and keep it still for you......................ha!!
Take care and "arigato",
Mary
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