K: Today, we’re going to be talking about culture shock and medical trauma, hence the title “culture shock and medical trauma.” And we’re starting off a little bit differently because I don’t want anyone who would be triggered by either of those topics to listen to the episode and… be hurt by it or upset by it. But I also don’t want to presume that anyone would be triggered by it? I’m in like a weird space when it comes to content notes and the podcast because I feel like we’ve covered hairier stuff without a content not…

C: And I think that’s why we’ve decided to call them contents notes rather than trigger warnings or anything – is just to make people aware of what the topic is, and they can choose to listen or not. They might say, “wow. That sounds like the world’s most boring topic, and ordinarily Chad and Kisstopher have such fantastically interesting topics.”

K: (laughs)

C: “So I’m gonna skip this one”

K: Because we do.

C: Because we do.

K: We do.

C: Yes.

K: We’re in the top 50 of all podcasts about Japan. Beating out some heavy hitters.

C: Yes. So, that’s what I’m saying.

K: Yeah.

C: Is that’s why we call it

K: We’re acclaimed.

C: Content note. Yes.

K: We’re an acclaimed podcast and thank you to every single Musick Note across the 30 countries that listen to us that give us our time. Y’all know I’m always thanking you, but it’s real talk, man. Real talk. Because we’ve done this without any advertising. Neither one of us is famous, and I feel like

C: Yet.

K: Yeah.

C: (laughs)

K: And if you listen to the take two, you know Chad’s gonna be a famous author. And if you follow us on Twitter, y’all know I shamelessly promote the heck out of his book. Like, I don’t care. Chad’s like – you can tell the difference between a Kisstopher tweet and a Chad tweet. Chad’s like – Chad’s like, “if you’re sick of hearing about it” and I’m like, “proud wife. Go smash a like button for it. Go get your free ARC. Hurry up. Everybody pay attention, this book is amazing.”

C: Yeah. Too late for free now. Tsk.

K: Yeah.

C: Although, if you are blind and would like a free audio book, just let us know.

K: Yeah because they are available through the American Braille Association for free, which we love and support.

C: Yeah.

K: So, anywho – sorry if you missed out on the free ARC. But if you follow us on Twitter, maybe you made the conscious choice to buy. And then thank you.

C: Some people have. Some people got the free ARC, read it, and then said, “I’ve preordered because I wanna have a copy.”

K: Yeah. Which we really appreciate. But that’s not our topic for today. It is a topic for the take two. So… as y’all know – or maybe y’all don’t know because I don’t wanna assume y’all follow us on Twitter. Because I know everybody has their different mediums. And our two mediums are Twitter and podcasting. And Chad has the third medium of being an esteemed author.

C: (laughs) Yes. An author of

K: Which I say with a really straight face. I wasn’t cracking wise.

C: You did. An author of some esteem. Just as you are a woman of a certain age.

K: You’re of esteem and acclaim.

C: Okay. But you were saying medical trauma.

K: Yes.

C: Let’s traumatize some folks.

K: So, if you follow us on Twitter, you know that I’ve been having one hell of a pancreatitis attack. And lupus attack for several months. And… when my pancreas attack goes on for months and months… I have to go to the hospital and – so, normally, I would’ve been hospitalized for a pancreatitis attack this severe because I need to have pancreatic enzymes delivered through I.V. and fluid and nutrients delivered through I.V. because I’m supposed to be – nothing by mouth.

C: Yeah.

K: So, nothing is supposed to be entering my digestive system to give my pancreas a rest. Because the only way the pancreas can rest is if the digestive system rests. So, that requires me to go to the hospital for a week.

C: Yeah. For intravenous nutrition and such.

K: Yeah. And it also requires that I have an MRI. And it also – sometimes – requires that I have endoscopic surgery. And… that’s when they stick a – and also requires that I have an endoscopy and then endoscopic surgery. So, there’s like 5 or 6 procedures that, if I were in the United States, would have already been done. But maybe not because of… the pandemic. So, I’m in a state of… medical trauma because I’m super sick, and I don’t have access to my medical needs. From my perspective because people won’t stop going to restaurants.

C: Yeah.

K: And won’t stop going to parties. Because if you look at the countries that did lockdowns, they’re having no new cases. They’re having empty hospital beds. And Japan is having the opposite of that – nowhere near as bad as a lot of countries – but bad enough in Nagoya that all of the Covid beds are full. And a side-effect of me having hereditary coproporphyria and lupus is that every time I go to the hospital, whatever illness the hospital is having difficulty with, I catch.

C: Yes. Especially if it’s a skin infection because the – the porphyria means you are particular vulnerable to skin issues.

K: Or an inflammation thing.

C: Yes.

K: Because lupus means I’m prone to inflame.

C: Yes.

K: So… I think something a lot of people don’t know about hospitals is that every hospital has something that they’re fighting that’s widespread throughout the hospital. Things like MRSA, things like the Flu, things like Covid. They’re having issues in hospitals with Covid spreading to other floors. So, anytime there’s a highly communicable disease in a hospital, it spreads throughout the hospital system. And… the hospital system doesn’t talk about it. I don’t know why they don’t talk about it, but people who are frequently hospitalized are aware of it because… I don’t – I shouldn’t say – I should say I’m aware of it because, when I’m hospitalized, my doctors warn me about what else I’m going to get.

C: Mhm.

K: Like, “you’re here. By the way, we’re having a problem with this. And so, you’re probably going to get it. So, we’re going to start you on this to prevent it from happening” and usually it’s additional antibiotics, and antibiotics are tricky for me because they trigger my hereditary coproporphyria. And… so, when I go to the hospital, I also get massive doses of pain medication, and I’m basically put in a semi-comatose state for a week.

C: Yes.

K: For me, that’s comforting. For Chad, that’s traumatizing.

C: Yes. It is. Because they won’t commit to it. They won’t be like, “this is a medical coma.” They’ll be like, “no, no. She’ll be awake in a few hours. And if she starts screaming in pain again, you know, maybe we’ll give her some more pain medicine. It depends on what nurse is on the floor and what they feel comfortable with.” So, I felt like there was no constancy. It wasn’t… like, an insurance that they would keep you pain-free or at a pain level 2 or anything. It was just the number of times that you were overridden – the doctor was overridden by the floor nurse – I understand they serve an important purpose, and they can do things like prevent overdoses, but your doctor had written explicit notes of, “I know this a higher than usual dose, but this patient has chronic pain. They need this dose.” Bah bah bah.

K: It usually takes about 3 days for me to override.

C: Yeah.

K: And it’s hard because my veins are weak.

C: Yes.

K: And they roll. So, finding veins that can… take all – everything that’s going into my body intravenously, I usually have to change I.V> sites once a day.

C: Yes.

K: And… I don’t know why they don’t just go to a pick line – which is an I.V. in a main artery – and my doctors explained, “because we don’t to weaken your main artery.”

C: Yeah.

K: “We don’t want to weaken the walls of your main arteries because the problem is we are actually breaking down and collapsing veins. And we don’t want to collapse any of your main arteries.” So, I’m just all kinds of jacked up. And… I’m all up in my feelings. Because everyone’s traveling and nobody cares. I feel like, when I look at the world news about the pandemic – I feel like just crying. Uncontrollably sobbing because I feel like nobody cares if I die. I feel like you and Rasta care if I die.

C: Yeah, we do.

K: But every time, like, I hear one of my clients planning a trip – with the exception of one client who sometimes listens to the podcast, you’ll know who you are, I told you that your monthly trip – and I stand by it – is necessary for you. So, I have one client who’s a single person who takes a monthly trip. And nobody’s going to figure out who you are form me saying this because I have a lot of clients who are single and just one person. But they’re – like, if you’re a single person, and you’re traveling by yourself from point A to point B to sequester somewhere and not go anywhere and do the exact amount of movement that you would – I don’t feel like that’s more travel on the… on the system.

C: Yeah.

K: But people who – and if you’re not traveling to a hotspot

C: Yes.

K: But people who are like… I had a client that was like… “I absolutely have to go to this specific café in Tokyo even though there’s thousands of new cases a day, and I’m not gonna ride on the quarantine bus. And I’m going to come back – I’m going to leave on a Friday, I’m going to come back on a Sunday and then Monday I’m going to teach a full classroom of kids.” And then that school had an outbreak of Covid. That school had to close down. Several of the students contracted Covid. I know several of the students lived with their grandparents who then contracted Covid, and several people were hospitalized because they just had to go to a café in Tokyo. They’re no longer my client.

But… I think people are not understanding… how upset and painful it is for me that I’m in excruciating pain, I can’t get the – the pain management that I need because the pain management that I need has to be – the doses are so high, and the medication that they use is so specific. I’m not talking about like morphine and Demerol and talking about getting high – but to knock me, it’s a sedative to keep me semi-comatose so that I can ride through the pain because the pain is that bad. It’s just – ugh. I’m just pissed and hurt. I’m just pissed and hurt. Like… why don’t people care? And I just feel like going up to everybody and saying like, “why don’t you care?” I have lost… and regained – I’m so happy – my therapy book turned completely over.

C: Mhm.

K: Because I couldn’t tolerate – like… people that I was seriously like, on my own time… talking to them and saying, “hey. Free session, I just need to talk to you about this. You are putting my life at risk. Can you please stop? You’re putting my son’s life at risk. You know us. This is real. This is not some abstract thought exercise. These are two people that your behavior will kill.” And… one of them owned an establishment, and I’m like, “the government will pay you to close. So, close.” They were like, “okay.” They closed, they took the government check, and then did private parties of 15 or more people at a time.

C: Yeah. Things that would spread it. It’s like that movie from a few years ago – which was a remake of a Twilight Zone episode from much longer ago – about “you push the button and then you get a million dollars and somebody you don’t know dies.”

K: Yeah.

C: Like, everybody is just hammering that button, but they’re not getting a million dollars, they’re getting a night out at Applebee’s.

K: Yes. And… I think that… looking at the numbers around the world… like just – I don’t know what it’s gonna take. I look at countries like Australia, and they’re going in and out and in and out of quarantine, but at leas they quarantine. They’re doing better than Japan. And then I look at other countries that aren’t doing as well.

C: Yeah.

K: And I just feel like – it’s… just weak government. Just weak government. And this fantasy that the summer Olympics are happening – are you fucking kidding me?

C: Yes.

K: July 23^rd is when y’all think this is gonna be better?

C: Despite the announcement that “we think we’re gonna start vaccines on April 1^st and only for medical workers, and then at some point int eh distant future for non-medical workers.”

K: So, y’all know that we know the mayor of Nagoya and… we find – so, I think it’s unfair how we judge him because he was hammered. Every time we’ve seen him, he’s been hammered.

C: Yeah.

K: But it’s been at a social event that I think he doesn’t want to be at.

C: Yeah.

K: And he has like – and he’s seriously into sake. And there’s like… sake is rice wine; which I don’t know why they call it wine because it’s more like a hard liquor.

C: It is a hard liquor, yes.

K: So, don’t let the smooth taste fool you. It ain’t wine.

C: And there are words for rice wine in Japanese that are not sake. So…

K: Yeah. So, I don’t know why sake gets translated to rice wine when whiskey doesn’t get translated to rice wine.

C: When the word for alcohol is “osake” which is just the honorific form of “sake.” So, sake literally means booze.

K: Yeah.

C: But…

K: So, they’re a connoisseur of sake and like they get traditional sake drinking instruments, and so everybody’s getting hammered because it turns into a sake tasting party.

C: Yeah.

K: And there’s some really high quality, good sake out there.

C: I think we’ve still got a bottle in the cupboard from years ago when we were at one of those things.

K: Yeah, and we definitely have the traditional

C: Wooden box for it.

K: Yeah. So… the mayor came out and said, “at best case scenario, it’s going to be a year before everybody in Nagoya is vaccinated.”

C: Yeah.

K: And… the mayor of Aichi said – the governor of Aichi said, “we’re under a state of emergency.” And they’ve extended the state – they extended the state of emergency. It was just supposed to end, and it didn’t. Because it’s not getting better.

C: Yes.

K: And it’s because the state of emergency is close bars and restaurants at 8pm. Weak sauce. Weak sauce.

C: Okay. The vaccine is not a vampire. It does not have to hide from the sun.

K: And they’re not closing… like… businesses. And not going remote and all of that. Because they don’t trust if they can’t see you. It’s a cultural thing. So, for me, I’m sick. I’m in a tremendous amount of pain. I may need surgery; I don’t find out ‘till next week. I went to the clinic, which is a center not a hospital. I’m having serious déjà vu. I think I might’ve just belabored this point to Chad. Or I might’ve talked about it last week. So, as you can see… the hereditary coproporphyria is doing wonders for my memory.

C: Yes. Your brain fog has set in fully.

K: Yes.

C: You need like a London fog trench coat because it’s just… foggy.

K: Yeah because it’s bad when my memory’s worse than yours.

C: It is because my memory is… fun.

K: No. Not at all. Anyone with autism knows your memory’s not at all fine. You’re autistic with epilepsy.

C: I said “fun” in a sarcastic way.

K: Oh, fun.

C: Yeah.

K: Okay. So, yeah. Because… you have seizures, don’t know about, and then tell me the seizure I just watched you have didn’t happen. And I’m like, “okay. If that’s what you need to get through your day.” Because like the other – last week, I told you, “babe you’ve been having a lot of seizures” and you were like, “really? No, I haven’t.” And I was like, “I’ve been watching you have a lot of seizures.” And you were like, “but I’m doing my CBD.”

C: Yeah. But like, so you say.

K: Yeah.

C: Just like several months ago, I woke up with both shoulders dislocated. I think I just slept on them funny.

K: Yeah, and I was like, “babe. You’re having seizures.” And then I had to yell at you to go to the doctor. Like, to get Chad to go to the doctor, I have to seriously yell at him and say, “Chad. You’re going to the doctor this week.”

C: Because I have a lot of vicarious medical trauma.

K: It’s not vicarious. Vicarious sounds fun. You had

C: Vicarious doesn’t sound fun to me. I have not been hospitalized – like stay overnight hospitalized. I’ve gone to the emergency room quite a number of times for asthma and various things. More so when I was a child. But my mom was hospitalized for months and then died. You were hospitalized for months and then, thankfully, did not die. Like… I’ve visited a lot of people in hospitals, and a lot of them have died. So, I have trauma with that.

K: Yeah. And my medical trauma is I’ve had over 20 surgeries.

C: That’s a lot.

K: And… so… I had my first… surgery – I think I was 14.

C: Mhm.

K: And then I had about one surgery a year. And then I had a couple years that I had several surgeries. And then I had a year where, like, I was having a surgery – I had two years where I was having a surgery every three months. Like, as soon as I healed from one surgery, I would have another surgery.

C: Yeah.

K: As soon as my body was strong enough. So… I don’t want surgery unless they can do the endoscopic surgery. And then that doesn’t bother me. But I’m not being cut open again. So… I think I’ve said this before on the podcast, but I have a scar that runs from my sternum all the way down to my pelvic mound. And then… I also have a scare that runs form hip to hip which is multiple scars. And then I have a scar that runs the length from my… hip to mid-thigh.

C: Yeah, I think you’ve got… maybe 5 or 6 feet of scars.

K: Yeah. So… it’s like, I like my belly scare. We call it my zipper.

C: Yeah.

K: Which is several scars. So, all of my surgical scars are several scars. They just go back in on those scars.

C: Well, and it’s the zipper because when they stapled you close, every point where the staple pierced your skin made a new scar.

K: Yeah, so it looks – it literally looks like a zipper.

C: Yeah.

K: And my fantasy is that I can unzip it and just… stake out all of the pain.

C: Yeah.

K: So, all of my insides have been outside of my body with the exception of my heart and lungs. But like, my stomach has been removed out of my body, all of my intestine has been removed out of my body, and I no longer have my ovaries or… uterus. Because those are gone, but my bladder’s also been outside of my body. Which I think is weird. Because most people’s insides don’t go outside their body.

C: This is true. Yeah. When they do, it’s generally a medical emergency.

K: Yeah. So, the culture shock comes in in that… so, I was talking to my doctor. And I asked my doctor – I said, “I need to have” my doctor and I were talking about my scan. And my doctor and I were fighting because he kept saying, “hospital. You need to go to a hospital.” And I’m like, “I don’t want to go to the hospital because I’m afraid of getting Covid.” And he said the hospital doesn’t have anybody with Covid. And the pain got so bad, I’m like “fine, send me wherever the fuck you want to send me.”

C: Yeah.

K: And I told him, “I want to go to a scanning center. Can’t you just send me to a scanning center?” And he’s like, “no… You have to go to a hospital.” I’m like, “but I want to go to a scanning center.” And he’s like, “no. You absolutely cannot.” And this is the doctor that refuses to speak to me in Japanese. Only speaks to me in English. We get to the building where I’m supposed to go, and it literally says “scanning center” on the outside of the building.

C: Mhm.

K: Literally. It is literally the place. And he’s like, “you want to go here?” And I’m like, “I don’t want to go to the hospital.” And he kept saying hospital. And in Japanese, it’s “senta.” That’s the Japanese word for it.

C: Yeah. Or “skyan senta.”

K: Or “kuriniku.” And so, he has a “kuriniku” so I know I wasn’t going to the fucking clinic.

C: Yeah.

K: but I wasn’t going to the “byouin” either.

C: Yeah.

K: There were no doctors there. But it was like – it was like checking into a 5-star hotel.

C: (laughs)

K: It was super fancy. And I really enjoyed it. And they had like… weird – so, Japanese muzac is so weird to me. Because it’s completely different than American muzac because it’s usually just ping-pong sounds. Like, “pin, pin, pong pong. Pin pin.” And it’s just like different tones, or it’s Japanese flute which can be really shrill. So, I was happy that this was ping-pong, not Japanese flute.

C: Yeah. The koto has a different register that sounds really shrill.

K: Yeah. And because of my hearing loss, there are certain pitches that it’s just… it’s like stabbing me in the brain.

C: Yeah.

K: So, we went to the center, and it was nice. Social distance, clean, disinfectant. Everything went well. I was feeling good. Not having culture shock. Until it was time for the MRI.

C: Mhm.

K: One, I had to drink the iodine. Which I do not like drinking the iodine. I prefer the iodine be a I.V. – so, in the United States, for the type of MRI I was getting, and the type of insurance I had. And yes, here comes a big whopping slice of my medical privilege. I know I’m medically privileged. If you follow us on Twitter, you know I tweet about being medially privileged. I had amazing insurance. So, when I’d go to the MRI center in the United States, if I had to do iodine, they would put an I.V. in my arm for an MRI. And the first thing they would give me is Valium. To calm me down and smooth my nerves.

C: Yes.

K: And then I would drink the…

C: Barium?

K: Not Barium. The – what was I just talking about?

C: Iodine?

K: Yeah. Then I would drink the iodine. Or have the iodine infused through my veins. And here’s the weird thing about my body. The iodine makes me high as fuck. The iodine, not the Valium. The Valium make me panicked because I have PTSD, so I prefer not having Valium. But I like getting the iodine via I.V. because it does something – it makes me feel super high. Because I’ve had just the iodine without the Valium.

C: Sometimes, when we talk about this, I wonder if being fully hydrated makes you feel super high. Because you’re like, “I had iodine via I.V. and that made me feel super high. I had some nutrition via I.V., and that made me feel super high. I had this via I.V. and that made me feel super high” is like a common theme that I’ve noticed over the years.

K: Yeah. Like, the other day I drank a glass of water, and I’m like, “I feel so high right now.”

C: So, I think you’re just perpetually dehydrated.

K: I drink a ton of water.

C: You do.

K: But there is a certain point of time where I feel high.

C: Yeah.

K: So, I get high off water.

C: You do.

K: That’s why I drink a lot of it. And in my sessions, I drink water because, if I start to feel dehydrated, I feel like I’m going to disintegrate.

C: So – and water is life, so you’re high on life.

K: Yeah…

C: (laughs)

K: I hope y’all are laughing with him because he needs your pity laughs.

C: It’s not pity laughs. Some people will be confused. Other people will remember the “I’m high on life” campaigns and be like, “yeah that was a bad time, and we’re glad that’s over.”

K: Okay. The lymph nodes in my armpits hurt.

C: Oh no.

K: If we’re just saying random shit.

C: We are.

K: Okay. Glad to know it. So, I was inside the MRI machine for – between 30 and 40 minutes. Which caused a lot of culture shock for me because, in the United States, they do open MRI. And they don’t do a plate above me. They just slide a plate underneath my back. So, pancreatitis causes several abdominal pian. And pain in the diaphragm. And they put five pounds of weight on my… stomach and diaphragm. And then they repositioned the plate so that it was on the lower half of my breasts. So, my breasts were being crushed by this heavy weight as well for 40 minutes. And it was really, really upsetting for me.

C: and it sounds upsetting. I wasn’t there, but it also sounds like part of it is that, in the U.S., there’s so much – I feel like – specialization that the MRI that you get for abdominal troubles is different than the MRI you get for brain troubles or whatever. Because I had quite a few MRIs in the U.S., and they were always the closed kind of MRI.

K: Yeah. And so, I feel like because they weren’t doing head or respiratory

C: Mhm.

K: Well, head – even with the head – I’ve had my head done in an open MRI.

C: I never have. Mine was always closed Mir, including when I had a bike accident here and had another MRI.

K: Because when I had my sinuses done, it was in an open MRI.

C: Yeah. Well, and that’s when they give you not just Valium but cocaine. As a numbing agent, but

K: I know for you, that’s a big deal, but for someone who’s done as drugs as I have, that did not register as me having cocaine.

C: And I’m not saying it should have. For me, it’s a hypocrisy thing. It’s like, you acknowledge that this drug has legitimate medical effects but there are drugs that are safer that you don’t acknowledge. It’s a whole thing.

K: I’m making a “what are you talking about?” face.

C: I’m talking about that cocaine is not a schedule 1 drug because its anesthetic properties are well documented, so it’s legal to purchase and use it for anesthesia. But marijuana, federally, is a schedule 1 drug because they say there’s no medical uses for it even though there are several drugs based on it approved for use.

K: There are medical uses for it. I was

C: That’s what I’m saying.

K: I was given marijuana for nausea.

C: Yeah, you were given marinol.

K: Yeah.

C: The marijuana extract. Because you had no

K: Wait, we should be saying cannabis. Marijuana is racist.

C: Okay. So, cannabis.

K: Thank you.

C: Not the hemp plant. The THC bearing plant. You were given a drug called marinol.

K: Yes.

C: Derived from that because you didn’t have any appetite when you were hospitalized for a couple of months.

K: And nausea.

C: And nausea, right.

K: The nausea is the wors.t So, knock on wood, I’m happy that I’m not having nausea today. But I am having tremendous amount of pain.

C: And CBD oil is… medically approved for lennox gastaut syndrome and a couple of other seizure disorders. So, the whole thing of it is just frustrating for me. The federal thing. Japan’s even worse on it, but Japan is at least consistent. They’re like, “no drugs anywhere are legal.” It’s delaying some vaccine rollout because some… cities are saying, “we need the vaccine tested on our city residents before we know whether it will be as effective as it was on people in Tokyo.”

K: That’s always been Japan.

C: Yes.

K: There’s… xenophobia is intense. It’s like down to neighborhood.

C: Yes.

K: And two, I kind of understand what Japan is saying is that… I think the vaccine’s safe. I’m going to be vaccinated as soon as it’s approved, but people are having allergic reactions to it.

C: Yeah.

K: And people are having adverse reactions. So, it’s not like… you know, get vaccinated. Whatever the allergic reaction is, as long as it’s not anaphylactic shock, is better than Covid. Get vaccinated so that we now have 3 new strains. Let’s not take it to 6.

C: Okay.

K: Let’s not outpace the vaccine. So, that’s another thing that’s pissing me off. But the Japanese government – and a few companies – came out and said that if you don’t’ get vaccinated, you can’t work for them.

C: Yeah.

K: So, I like that Japan can discriminate in that way. So, I’m not getting the medical treatment that I need because people won’t stay home. And they have to go to their local bar. And these aren’t people who live alone. So, it pisses me off. Like, you live with your partner, and they’re not in an abusive relationship. And you get along with your partner. So, you want to go drinking with them. Go to the conbini (clears throat) go to the conbini and get some chu-his.

C: Yeah, or some

K: And do Netflix and chill. What’s wrong with you?

C: Or some one-cup ozeki or whatever.

K: Yeah.

C: For $10 dollars form the convenience store, you can get enough alcohol to just…

K: Get hammered.

C: Yes. For two people.

K: And have one heck of a night, yeah. And you can get all the greasy “I’m drunk” food.

C: Right? So necessary.

K: Right? So, we’re acting like we’re big-time drinkers.

C: (laughs)

K: We’re just like rolling out to the conbini. We have not had… I don’t believe we’ve had any alcohol during quarantine.

C: I think it’s been 3 or 4 years since you’ve had any alcohol.

K: Really.

C: Yeah. So, we have a bunch in the cupboard, but…

K: So, I own alcohol.

C: But most of it is dusted over. It’s been so long since we’ve had any.

K: Yeah. This is true. Oh. Something I want people to know: crème of mushroom soup, if you cook it and put it in an ingredient, it will curdle.

C: Yeah. That was interesting.

K: So, I made tuna casserole and then left it in the fridge for 2 days and thought that it would be good. And it curdled. And it was so weird – I took a couple bites of it because I couldn’t identify what was off about it.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, this is off, it tastes curdled, but what could possibly curdle in this?

C: I don’t know. I was like, “your taste is so sensitive. You’re so picky.” And then I ate a bite, and I was like “ugh.”

K: “This is bad.”

C: “Wow. No.”

K: I was like, “don’t eat it. It’s rotten.” And so, the one food that gives me, like, a lot of relief is bread.

C: Yes.

K: Like, there’s a particular bread from the bakery that helps with my abdominal pain. But nothing is helping with my lymphatic pain.

C: Mm.

K: And it is just so… intense. Pancreatitis is so, so, painful. Just… I know you guys are probably sick of listening to me whine. And

C: No, they could fast forward.

K: They can fast forward to the end of the episode. Because I’ve been whining the entire episode.

C: I’m just saying they could listen to it on speed or whatever. It’s lasted however long they’ve allowed it to last. So, I don’t think we need to particularly about people being sympathetic and wanting to hear you express how painful it is.

K: Yeah because it’s bad. So, this episode’s going to be a little bit shorter than our usual episodes. We have a lot of stuff to talk about on the take two, and if you follow us on over to Patreon. I don’t really know if I explained why it was traumatizing and why it caused culture shock. I think the closed MRI versus the open MRI.

C: I think so. And the lack of attention to your comfort while they did it. And them insisting you were going to a hospital where you were convinced you were going to get Covid, but then they were sending you to the place you were asking for anyway.

K: Refusing to just speak in Japanese.

C: Yes.

K: Just speak in Japanese.

C: There’s an annual

K: Like because I’m American you have to speak to me in English?

C: They encourage everyone to get an annual medical exam. Most companies will pay for your medical exam. The city sends us things every year of “do you want to get a free cancer screening?” Or sometimes it’s a $5 screening depending on which type. So, there are regular medical centers set up who’s whole thing is… testing, scanning, evaluation. So, this is not new to the pandemic, this is just how Japan’s medical system operates.

K: But on the good side, I don’t have a bladder infection. I just have an inflamed urethra.

C: Yay.

(laughter)

K: My armpit is hurting so bad.

C: Oh, my poor love.

K: I am in so much pain, and I just – at this point, it’s just going to descend into me just not being able to do anything but talk about the physical pain that I’m in. It is so bad.

C: So, we’re going to go. And we’re going to go over to the take two. We might take a break before we record that. Just,

K: Oh, I think we’re going to right into it.

C: Okay.

K: Because you have a lot of stuff to say.

C: I do.

K: Yeah. A lot of stuff’s happened.

C: Yeah.

K: We have a lot going on with the book.

C: So, follow us on over to Patreon.

K: Yeah.

C: Check it out.

K: And forgive us.

C: Yeah.

K: We’re doing this for you. We’re cutting it short for you. Trust me. It just gets whinier and whinier from here. So, yeah, there’ll probably be like 10 or 15 minutes in between where I just whine at Chad about how sick I am.

C: But we’ll be back next week if you decide not to listen to the interesting parts, and you just want to come back for the regular episode.

K: (laughs) Yeah. Next week it won’t be about this. We don’t know what I’ll be about because we’ve decided we’re not gonna predict. We’re just gonna let it be what it is.

C: Yes.

K: Yeah. Organic.

C: Exactly.

K: Flow state.

C: Kale.

K: Thank you for hanging tough if you hung out with us. I feel super cared about. If you didn’t, I feel neglected.

C: But you won’t know it.

K: (laughs) Talk to you next week.

C: Bye.

K: Bye.