Archive Notes: This is an English translation and rewritten version of a blog post originally published in Japanese on September 30, 2019. [Japanese version]
I visited the hospital again this afternoon. My mother’s younger sister came along with me today, so I was able to stay in the hospital room longer than usual.
While I was there, I kept a close eye on the ventilator monitor. Just two days ago, on Saturday, the word “Assist” would pop up every few breaths. But today? Not a single “Assist” appeared. It stayed on “Spontaneous” the entire time.
I couldn’t ask the medical staff about how they had adjusted the settings since this morning, but it seems like her spontaneous breathing—which is essential for removing the ventilator sometime this week—is slowly coming back.
That said, her overall condition remains unchanged. She is still unconscious, just lying there quietly. But right now, even that feels like a small blessing. If she regains consciousness, we might have to consider physical restraints to keep her safe, which would be heart-wrenching.
This morning, when I visited my father, he finally found the missing bank cash card!
The reason it was missing for so long turned out to be surprisingly simple: neither my parents nor my daughter realized that the bank’s name had changed years ago.
Back in 2002—17 years ago—Sanwa Bank changed its name to UFJ Bank. When I asked them where the card was, my daughter and my father searched the house specifically looking for a card that said “UFJ Bank.”
When we re-checked the exact same spot, we found a Sanwa Bank card. I matched the account number with the current passbook, and sure enough, it was the exact same account!
It’s an account under my father’s name where his pension gets deposited, and my mother used to manage the household budget by withdrawing funds from it. Naturally, going to the bank to make those withdrawals was always my job. In hindsight, I should have searched for it myself from the very beginning.
When my 28-year-old daughter couldn’t find it, I just assumed it wasn’t there. Then my 89-year-old father searched the same spot and confidently said, “I looked everywhere, it’s not here!” I completely took his word for it.
Anyway, I am so relieved that the main cash card was finally found. Just having that missing was making my mood sink a few inches lower every day.
Tomorrow October begins. Time to replace the ritual salt (morijio) around the house again! The first day of every month is always a busy one.
And of all times, a bookkeeping guidance session with a tax accountant got scheduled right now. It’s been two whole months since the introductory lecture at the end of July. I honestly thought there wouldn’t be any more one-on-one visits!
Part of me thought, “Well, if there’s no session, my schedule is pretty tight right now anyway, so that works out fine.” But now that it’s scheduled, I really have to restart my slacking bookkeeping work!
Of course, since it’s a free consultation, I could cancel anytime. But I’m the type of person who only gets things done when the fire is lit under my seat, so maybe this is exactly the push I need right now. The first session is set for October 9th, and it looks like it’ll be a bi-weekly routine. Oh boy… can I really pull all of this off?!
