Day 14 in Hospital

May 27th


05:00
I didn’t expect
This much of brightness at
This early time of morning,
Good Morning, the brand new Sun!


Last night, nobody came to wake me up.
It was a precious night.
These days, the oxygen level in blood decreases
While sleeping sometimes to 72.
Threshold of stormy night.


At the threshold,
They wake me up
And put me on oxygen
I’m not suffering.
Only the oxygen level tells the suffering I’m not aware of.


Last night, I was allowed to have peaceful rest,
Except for one roll over to change positions.
I’m getting good at sleeping.
Yay!


Porridge for breakfast
Miso soup with Daikon Radish
Egg and green peas
Cabbage
Morinaga milk


Music from community morning exercise,
Subway Trains running busy,
Traffic lights changing,
Radio Calisthenics Exercise No.1 was
My forte


Brush teeth
Take meds
Attending physician shows up
Hands and arms rehabilitation
MSW came to discuss nursing facilities.
And that was my morning.


Lunch Hour
My Sister Kimi and My friend J came
With a chocolate crescent roll.
It’s my favorite.


Naoko stopped by a little later
With forms for me to sign
Another farewell to say
At the end of May
Good bye ACCJ, my last work.


Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilator
Dr. Sunagawa
Gave me just the right instruction.
I tried it on with pressure level 10 for an hour,
Smooth breathing out and in
Allowed me to expect more time to live.


Rehabilitation of legs.
Ikegami Sensei
Her knees and my knees met
My thighbone directly stacked on my leg bone, making it one long leg bone.
And I could stand up.
I COULD stand up, with sweat and tears.


MSW Ono san came again.
She really cares
I can feel.
My illness allows me to feel the heart of people.


Mari came
With her home-made croquette and cucumber pickles.
Thank you Mari all the time.


Dinner Time.
Karaage chicken
J bought and
Negi Miso
Sis Kimi made
Transformed the tasteless hospital food into everyday family dinner.


After dinner
Alone with J
With hands of Quan Ying
Received massage of
Bones
Muscles
And …Heart.

Poem by Maria Franki

Edited and translated by J. Ujiie
©2011