When I last blogged Kuniko had taken a day off on Friday to make sure she was completely over the flu. I left for work as normal, and she was dozing away in bed. Turns out she only took a little time off and felt well enough to go in to work around 10 am. Unfortunately, she suddenly got the chills again, and felt feverish. She immediately went to a doctor, who gave her some medicine and sent her home to rest. She wasn’t satisfied with his diagnosis, however, and we made plans to take her to a kidney specialist, because of the intense pain in that area.
So Saturday morning I drove her to the doctor, who told her that there was absolutely no way that she would be able to get on the plane the next day and go to New Zealand as scheduled. I think he knew that putting Kuniko in the hospital would be the only way to keep her from going on the trip. She is determined to do whatever it takes to support and help her students, even if her body isn’t up to the task.
So the doctor ordered her to check into the hospital for several days (at least) to get antibiotics in her, and she had to call her school and tell them that she was officially out of action. After getting her to the hospital I was dispatched to her school to deliver some important materials and apologize for all the trouble we were causing. It turns out that Hakogi sensei will take Kuniko’s place on the trip, so I think that was a relief for everyone.
On the way back I stopped at the house to load up on supplies. By the time I got back to the hospital Kuniko was already assigned a room and she was tucked into bed with an IV dripping antibiotics. It was her first time in a hospital, so I did my best to cheer her up. Mainly she was concerned about her students and their trip, and she felt like she let everyone down.
I spent the rest of the day with her at the hospital, and then finally went home in the evening. The hospital is about a 20 minute walk from our place, so it is easy enough to go visit. The nurses seemed cool and said that we could ignore the visiting hours signs and that I could come and go as I pleased without having to check in.
So today I went back to the hospital with more supplies for Kuniko, and she seemed to be doing better. She was still worried about her students and their trip, but I guess she finally heard that everything was fine from her school, so that was a big relief. Her fever was back down to a low enough level that they allowed her to take a shower, and that really helped her to feel better as well.
We haven’t heard when she’ll be able to come home, but I think she is still pretty weak, so even if she comes home I think she’ll need some rest time around here. Hopefully she’ll be able to come back soon, because I think she’d be a lot more comfortable here than there. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that she’ll be free to go tomorrow!
