the happening...

well it's about time! I'm feeling good, today's the 1st day I've gone back brace-less since the 'incident' and most days I've been too medicated to concentrate enough to write anything for this blog. sitting at the computer and writing was not really possible and most of the time i just use my cellphone (that's why i don't capitalize much) on my train rides but i just couldn't be bothered.
it all began one Thursday, actually, Thursday the 2nd of April. a beautiful spring day, the cherry blossoms were near full bloom and i was planning to do some viewing at a place near my place but wanted to meet my friend S-G and he suggested Yoyogi park (代々木公園). to start things off, mornin and i headed over to the Hatanodai (旗の台) area to a great Indian curry spot called 'Raj.' super taste! we met up with melvis and mr. infidel and after lunch we parted ways and mornin and i headed over to Yoyogi to meet S-G and do some hanami (花見) action. it was good fun, we enjoyed the blossoms, some beer, music and some hacky-sack. there were tons of people for a Thursday afternoon, but we got a good spot and i got a bunch of good pics, check em out:after the park, we hoofed it over to Shibuya and the infamous HUB. a British-ish pub popular for foreigners all over Japan. on the way over, mornin decided she had to go home to prepare for a meeting the next day, so she headed off and the rest of us all posted up near the entrance waiting for a table and enjoying happy hour. we got a table and sat down and S-G and i struck up a conversation with a nice guy whose name i don't remember and had a good time. here's where our story takes a tragic turn... a little background on the layout of the HUB in Shibuya is necessary. 1st, it's small, with narrow paths between the main, center table (where we were seated) and the surrounding tables. 2nd, the tables are tall with tall bar stoolesqe chairs with rungs between the legs to rest your feet seeing as the chairs are tall. follow me? so, as i am apt to do, i decided it was time to order another beer so i stood up headed for the bar. ahhhhggg! as i stood up, my right foot slipped off the rung and got stuck inside the legs of the chair and i took a dive. with the short distance between myself and the chair i crashed into, there was no time to brace myself. i turned my body at least so that i didn't bust my face open on the chair, but i did bust my back and elbow as i crumpled to the floor. my initial reaction was pain. it hurt, but i jumped up, said i was ok and walked up to the bar to get my beer. the pain wasn't unbearable, it hurt, but there's been worse, and i figured that, like most times i hurt myself, i would be feeling fine after 10-15 mins. after sitting back down and even finishing my beer the pain had slowly built up, still, not that bad. i decided to call it a night and bid my buddies adieu, grabbed my bag and headed to Shibuya to catch the train home. on my way to the station the pain in my back grew and grew, mostly focused around my right kidney and spinal area but really the whole of my back. by the time i made it to the station i was in some serious pain. i sent some mails to mornin and she came to meet me at Gotanda (五反田). Gotanda has no escalator or elevator connecting the Yamanote (山手) and Ikegami (池上) platforms (which the should) and by the time i got to my train going home i was having trouble moving anything and even keeping my eyes open. to make this part of a long story shorter, i made it home and i was hungry so i had mornin order me a pizza and i laid down in the bedroom. everything hurt. i couldn't move, and i so didn't want to move. eventually it was decided that i should go to the hospital so an ambulance was called. somewhere during the wait i fell asleep and awoke to about 6 paramedics surrounding me and taking the sliding doors off the bedroom so they could put me on a stretcher and haul my ass out of the apartment down 4 flights of stairs and to the waiting ambulance. those boys earned their money! it wasn't an easy fit going from the living room through the kitchen and out the front door. and the stairs man, the stairs...
once in the ambulance, one of the paramedics got on the horn and called around for an available hospital for me. after several mins i was cleared for takeoff to Tokyu hospital (東急病院) over in Ookayama (大岡山). we arrived and i was taken to the x-ray room to have several x-rays taken. that's all fine and good, every time they moved me for another shot, i felt intense pain, but the worst part was when a nurse came in asked me to give a urine sample... since most of my pain was centered around my kidney, they wanted some pee to see if there was any blood in there. normally i have no problem with giving up some pee, but there, laying on my side, in an x-ray lab, with a nurse and a lab tech, an environment that your mind and every fiber of your being tells you is not a place to take a wazz, we had problems. i tried and tried and tried and after a few dribbles, the nurse gave me the OK.after the x-rays and the pee, i was carted off to a hospital room, my own private room. i was put in there because it seemed that all the free multi-rooms were full. man! if you get the chance, hit up Tokyu hospital in Ookayama and get yourself a private room, they are pretty sweet, bigger than some hotel rooms I've stayed in, bigger than the average apartment in Tokyo. laying in bed, still in tons of pain i needed some meds. as i am semi-allergic to aspirin, the nurse said the best, fastest acting stuff they could give me was 座薬(ざやく)... i didn't know what that meant so i asked mornin what it meant and (i think) after checking her cellphone's dictionary, she came back with 'suppository...' "Noooooo waaaaay!" i said. the nurse said it was best and i was in so much pain that when she rolled me on my side and slipped my pants down, i couldn't fight back at all... i was essentially raped by a nurse... not at all how I'd hoped. the medicine didn't even help... eventually i nodded off forabout 2-3 hours after getting some sleeping pills but woke up at around 4 in the morning. mornin was gone (i learned later that she was at home getting some things) and i was already going stir crazy. i hate hospitals. that's where i see people die. i wanted out. they wouldn't let me leave though and i would have to wait until the afternoon because the doctor would be in surgery most of the day and wouldn't be able to check my test results... again, long to short, i spent the day freaking out, laughing from the pain, taking meds (痛み止め), IV drips (点滴), rolling around in a wheelchair　(車椅子), experiencing horrible pain, taking x-rays (レントゲン), giving urine samples and enjoying some top notch hospital food! finally, i got out in the afternoon sometime around 4. i took the day off of work that day and the next. Sunday was a normal day off and i just spent the whole time 'resting.' i probably moved around a bit more than i should of, but despite the pain, i just couldn't sit still. Monday, i headed back to work, i picked up a 100円 pillow and kept myself highly medicated. it's not real easy teaching when you only hear about 2 of 10 words someone says. i was pretty zoned out. but, oh well made it through. so the results of my x-rays came down to a cracked rib, and a strained back. i think that there was some serious bruising, maybe on my kidney (there was a little blood in my urine, just a bit though) maybe on my spine, and definitely on my lower back and elbow. i probably should have had some more tests done, but while the nurses at the hospital were awesome! my doctor was pretty lame. when he proposed a cardiogram (心電図) i had had it. i felt he wanted to run up the cost and wasn't listening to what i was saying. maybe it was just claustrophobia setting in (i wanted out!) but i thought an MRI was reasonable, but why a cardiogram?
oh well, after almost 2 weeks (actually now that I'm posting it, it's over 2 weeks), I'm rolling without my back brace, I'm down to 1 or 2 pain killers a day and I'm feeling tons better. i don't walk like an 85 year old man anymore. i still have to take it easy, I'm dying to play catch, i even bought mornin a mit! Akahoshi model (赤星モデル). I hope the weather is nice this Sunday, going to my 1st game of the baseball season, Baystars X Tigers in Yokohama, should be beautiful, the tulips should be out and since i have unreserved seats, I'll have plenty of time while waiting in line to play catch!