japanI write this lying in my own bed, the one that I have had since I was a teenager, in my parents’ house in Illinois. I have been home for a little under a week now and am still adjusting. I had planned to do a great deal many more things than I have so far because of a small problem that I ran into upon my return. Allow me to paint the picture for you:
My total trip was as follows: Osaka to Tokyo via Bullet Train; Tokyo to Beijing, Beijing to LAX, LAX to Chicago (all via airplane). Dragging my luggage around Japan with only trains and over-priced taxis to help was a story unto itself… let’s just say that if you have multiple heavy bags stairs are not your friend. But what I experienced after landing in Chicago was far worse despite not having to shlep anything around anymore.
I felt a bit queasy after stepping off of my final plane. I wasn’t ready to throw up or anything, just a little on the “tender tummy” side. I figured it was the fatigue and stress so I dismissed it, gathered up my luggage and found my brother for my ride home.
On the way my stomach got worse and I felt as if I really needed to vomit. I contained myself until I got home, but then did indeed throw up. I felt a little better and thought it must have been something I ate (even tho my girlfriend ate from the same plate earlier that day). A few hours later I threw up again, this time around 1 am. Then again at 1:30. And again at 2:00 or so.
By this time I figured I must have had a stomach flu or something as I was mostly dry-heaving. But this wasn’t ordinary sickness I was experiencing. Vomiting was a Herculean task despite the extreme nausea. I strained and hacked each time I knelt at the toilet and each time I felt weaker and weaker. By the dawn I lost track of how many times I threw up but the nausea wasn’t subsiding. In fact, it was getting worse.
Whereas before I was dry-heaving, I was now having trouble keeping anything down, including water. I started to get so weak that I could hardly stand up on my own power and my vision was starting to blur. No medicines would stay down, so I finally conceded that hospital care was in order. An ambulance was summoned and I was whisked off to the ER.
Now, it was my decision to not go to emergency earlier, so despite many of my family members blaming themselves it was my fault that I fell into such a state of dire illness. The doctors told me it was a condition known as Ketoacidosis, a curious and very serious condition affecting diabetics and occasional alcoholics. When one is affected the fats in one’s body begin to metabolize causing one’s pH level to drop and more stored glucose to be released from muscles. The short explanation? My blood was turning to acid because of the sugar in my system which was releasing more sugar into my system which caused my blood to become even more acidic.
I was burning from the inside. My body was in a vicious cycle that would have put me in a coma had I waited 12 more hours and killed me had I let it go another day or two. The cause? Unchecked blood glucose levels due to a lack of insulin. I also had no way to check my blood glucose levels because I hadn’t had test strips for almost five months. This led me to realize something. Japan almost killed me.
I saw doctors about my Diabetes while I was in Japan. They took my blood and urine samples, but never showed me any numbers that would co-inside with them. Every month I had to visit the hospital because they would never give me a prescription and pick up my supplies which amounted to two(2) Humalog insulin pens, two (2) Lantus refill cartridges and seventy (70) pen needles.
For those of you without insulin dependant Diabetes let me break that down for you: That’s not enough. It’s not enough medicine because it just barely would last me a month. Here in the states I get five pens at a time. Five. That’s enough for two and a half months, but they call it a monthly prescription. I also get 100 pen needles, which again covers about 35 days worth giving me enough time to refill my prescription before running out. I also get blood glucose test strips out here, something which I only randomly received in the land of the rising sun.
Don’t get me wrong, I asked many times about getting more medicine. I was told “the National Health Insurance won’t cover that”.
“I’ll pay for it. I need it” I would say.
“No, sorry. We can’t do that” They would reply.
So in short I was denied medicine. I had to ration out what I had less I run out. It becomes even harder when you realize that rice is served with every meal and that almost doubles how much medicine I should be taking.
So all throughout October I unwittingly abused my poor body by denying myself insulin and eating cheap foods of mostly rice or McDonalds. My blood sugar was going out of control and ketones (those nasty acid maker things) were building up. I felt fine for the most part, although I was getting very tired very easy. But by some miracle my body was able to fend off the potentially fatal illness until after I arrived back in my hometown where my friends and family could take care of me.
What would have happened to me if I was afflicted in Japan? I shudder to think. I fear I may have actually died. The medical system seemed uncaring and cold, barely concerning itself with whether I was even properly medicated. I had my fair share of bad experiences with hospitals in Japan, some going so far as to tell me to not come anywhere near them simply because I hadn’t ever been to them before (yea, I still can’t figure that one out either), but I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if my life was actually on the line.
Fortunately that wasn’t the case. I spent one night in ICU being closely monitored on an insulin drip and IV feed. By the next day I had no more nausea and could once again see properly. The nurses and doctors were very nice and caring and I was given prescriptions for everything I need. Even better, I was given enough free medicine to last me a very long time… something unheard of where I was just two weeks ago.
But now I am back in full health. I have a new team of doctors treating me for my diabetes, most of which offer their counseling free of charge. Some may see it as a pretty crappy way to come home, having to be rushed to emergency right away and all, but I see it as just how much I need my friends and family… and by extension my country. Japan may have almost killed me, but the good old USA saved my life.
-Maru!
