farewell, cadavers

As we embark on the path of healing arts, we will one day, inevitably find ourselves contemplating about life and death. We may find ourselves questioning what medicine can offer, doubt our abilities, knowledge, and perhaps our very own existence because of our simple destiny – death. Perhaps it is because you lost your loved one. May be something went wrong with the patient under your care. May be you were dispatched to a site of a natural disaster. May be you yourself is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Whatever the reason may be, death is a mysterious ultimatum we all face both in our professions and in our persona lives, and most likely we will never quite fully understand what it actually means.

I would like to think that we are able to find peace in ourselves and in our healing professions by always honoring life and encountering each body with thoughtfulness and compassion. It’s been hard with our daily grind of the anatomy course to bring such kindness, our caring healing thoughts to our cadavers. Now is the time for us to take a moment and give our compassion and kindness to these people whose bodies we touched, learned, and examined. Trying to understand life, a human body, comes hand-in-hand with trying to decipher death, and it is both humbling and mystical to have come in such close contact with all that we are made of, and what our own deaths might look like.

For this remarkable opportunity, this profound experience, we thank every one of our cadaver patients, our very first patients, for allowing us to explore forms and functions that make up life, and for us to see just how beautiful and extraordinary human lives are. We honor your life.

***written by yours truly for our cadaver memorial service***

Smith College Smiffenpoofs celebrates 75th Anniversary!

Poofs toured Japan in the summer of 2003. It was quite an experience for all of us. Also, my hometown Sendai was recently hit by the earthquake, and some of the footage seen in the video is not longer there. So congratulations to the generations of FABULOUS folks of Smiffenpoofs, and let me just say, my memories with the Poofs have been some of the best in my life.

6 months post disaster

here is a great set set of then-and-now photos from the Atlantic, Japan Earthquake: Six Month Later.

may all souls rest in peace.

Jist of my two visits to Sendai post earthquake

I'll post more narratives later, but for now, you can view my twitter and see photos, comments, etc., from my 2 trips to Japan post earthquake.

**When you get to twitter, scroll to March, April, and June tweets.

Additional Update

update: approximately 7 hours ago, the power returned to my mum's house, while she was bundled up in blankets eating emergency bread in the dark with a flashlight. unfortunately, gas is expected to not return for another 3 to 4 weeks... at least rice cooker is electric, but ability to cook or bathe seem impossible. mum also confirmed the safety of my great aunt (some of you know of her craftiness) in shiroishi! thank goodness. still no word about dad.

i finally got t's brother's cell phone pictures depicting the effect of the earthquake in the central sendai.

right now the biggest uncertainty is with the safety of one of the nuclear reactor in fukushima. they were unable to shut it off after the earthquake, and because the coolant were not being pumped anymore, the temperature within it rose to a point of danger melting the core inside, the steam blowing the panels from the outer structure, so the japan ministry took the extreme measure to pump the sea water into the cooling tank. this seems to have reduced the internal pressure, although because of the salt content of the water, they can't utilize the water level gauge in place and that is causing fear, because if leaks, the salt water will react with the radio active material used in the reaction. so far, 3 people have been exposed to worrisome level of radiation after the panels blew. residents in 20+ km diameter around each reactor had been evacuated.

also interesting yet unbelievable fact - usually, the tectonic shift occurs about 5cm per year. this particular earthquake caused 10m shift, according to preliminary data the ministry gathered. holly shit.

a lot of people continue to be missing, and cutoff from any aid.

as aftershocks continue, tsunami warning is still in place, although not as big of a warning level as it used to be... there are still areas where the defense core cannot enter to recover all the dead bodies because they are on the shore. the officials are warning the citizens especially in the remote areas with old houses to be careful during aftershocks since the previous shakes have most likely weakened the structure. it is expected that the death toll will exceed 1000 soon.

To leave messages to your loved ones via web using landline phone number/災害用ブロードバンド伝言板 (it works from abroad): https://www.web171.jp/top.php

SENDAI IN DEVASTATION

my hometown on the west coast of japan sendai is still devastated from the earthquake & tsunami from yesterday. i still do not know the whereabouts/safety of my father at his new nursing home. phone lines are still not connected. follow the link embedded below for live news feeds from japan. i just read the twitter post that part of the power in sendai is back. if you have any additional information (especially visual) on the status of downtown sendai and shiroishi, please let me know ASAP.

here are some useful information:

ご家族やご親戚との安否を知りたい方はこちら03-5452-8800か050-3369-9680に電話をすればＮＨＫ教育テレビで流してくれます。

Person Finder (消息情報): 2011 日本地震

災害においての情報／various useful information during disaster

telefono de sendai que puedes hablar en ingles y chino 0222652471 0222241919/仙台：english translation available 外国語による電話での情報提供（英語・中国語・ハングル）0222652471 0222241919

here is the updates i've sent out to my friends:

******************************************************
update: finally spoke with t, my best friend from growing up, who is now in chiba. (so those of you who sent messages about her, thank you - she is safe, and all of her family in sendai is ok)

t's baby brother in sendai is updating his blog so i'm tying to access his page right now. apparently, central sendai where my mom lives and where i grew up is ok. glasses are broken everywhere, and lot of poles, signs, statues have fallen, but most of the buildings are in tact.

still no word from my mother... i think her cell phone battery is gone. still no power, no gas, no landline phone in all of sendai. taiko told me that the downtown electric company is offering emergency cell phone charging station so i sent that text to her. i hope that reaches her somehow.

will keep you posted.


On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 12:01 PM, wrote:
there has been continuous aftershocks every 5-10 minutes or so. nagano, and tochigi are hit with M6 grade aftershocks. it looks like the epicenter is moving southward. lots of related disasters like nuclear plant emergencies, oil tank explosions, land slides, and fires. still no word from my mother since she texted me that her cell's battery was dying. it's just before the sun rise in japan. i know you don't speak english, but if you want to follow what's going over there:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tbstv

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-gtv2

california coastline also continues to be under a tsunami watch.


On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 11:07 AM, wrote:
japan continues to shake with aftershock! i can't believe it. japan is devastated. the entire costline on both pacific and japan sea side are on extreme tsunami watch. if anyone has any tips with special trips to japan (i.e. medical aid, etc.) let me know. i need to get over there ASAP.

On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 9:55 AM, wrote:
Hi everybody,

Thanks so much for your texts, email, calls, etc. As of few hours back, I was finally able to get a SMS message from my mother in Sendai saying she is ok, but the house is a mess, and still no confirmation of my father's safety at his new nursing home. Since then, some of the cellular phone lines were cut, so I haven't been able to reach them since.

I'm frazzled but ok. Staying home today with V and trying to see if we can somehow get over there but currently the airports in Japan are not accepting any incoming flights so it is still unclear.

I will keep you updated as I find out more.

Thanks again,
Yumi

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