I hope you are all doing well.
I'm fine now. Finally.
Actually, I was not feeling well over the New Year holidays.
It's hard to explain, but it felt like most of my digestive system was on strike. I couldn't eat much, and I lost six kilos.
Six kilos sounds like a lot, but I didn't actually become skinny, it just felt right.
Yes, although the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the opportunities to go out and burn calories, my curiosity about food did not decrease, my calorie intake increased, and I continued to gain weight. I'm ashamed to say that in the latter half of last year, I was constantly updating my previous score.
I lost 6kg and it turned out I was back to how I was before COVID.
However, when I explained the details of my weight loss to a personal trainer friend, he calmly told me, "At that rate, half of what you've lost is muscle." Seriously?
That's true. You can't just conveniently cut off the excess fat.
This is not good, your body will become weaker and weaker if you keep doing this.
Perhaps sensing my anxious look, my friend came to my rescue.
"If you'd like, why don't you try being a monitor during the training for new employees at our company?"
Oh, this is a godsend. I'm grateful to be on board.
That's why, starting this month, I will be attending a personal training gym for the first time in my life.
Well, let's see what happens.
By the way, during the three weeks or so when I was losing weight rapidly, I didn't feel hungry at all.
The medicine is working now and I'm slowly getting better, and I'm finally starting to remember, ``Oh, that's right, this is what hunger feels like.''
When I was overweight, the feeling of hunger was an annoying and irritating thing, but now that I've gone through a period when I couldn't eat, I find it a little endearing.
However, during this holiday season, not only did I lose my appetite, but I also spent a fair amount of time shivering from the pain.
When I'm in pain and sleeping on my futon.
At times like that, your thoughts start to go in unexpected directions.
In my work in radio, I get to research the lives of many different people.
For example, a great person who left his mark in history. For example, someone who is not widely known, but is called a hero in a certain circle.
When you look into it, you find that everyone has times when they shine brightly and times when they are in the shadows.
And in the end, everyone's time comes to an end.
Someone writes down the bright spots and dark spots that are part of that person's life, and those left behind use what has been written to interpret that person.
In this way, the evidence of a person's life remains here, separated from life itself. But before long, this separate evidence will also disappear.
That's right, maybe I, who am lying in bed hurting like this, am soon going to be cut off from the world.
I wonder if there's something that will remain for a little while. But I have no control over what evidence will remain.
And that evidence, for better or worse, will eventually fade away. With time, we'll all say goodbye to each other completely.
I wonder when it will be my time to say goodbye. Maybe tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little later.
But it's tough when you're diagnosed with the end coming soon.
Even though it's tough, the end will come at a time that has nothing to do with our convenience. There's nothing we can do about it. It can't be helped, but we can't accept it.
Round and round.
Ah, that's right. It's bad. No matter how I feel, the deadline for writing my manuscript is coming up.
I have to take my medicine, hang on to the keyboard, and write as best I can.
That was the New Year. I was pretty sick.
Then the new year came, and it was my birthday, January 5th, the day I had to go to the hospital for a checkup.
As I lie down, I feel liquid flowing out of every hole in my face and look at my pink internal organs on the gastroscope monitor.
"Don't worry, if you take the medicine properly you'll be fine," said the doctor.
Wow, seriously? That's good.
As I left the examination room, the doctor smiled and said,
"Happy birthday."
A hero!
I was so relieved.
I was back in the world. Oh, I was back. I'm glad.
I should have gone to the hospital before my condition worsened and gotten the medicine sooner. I regret that.
And to everyone in this world, thank you for not cutting me off yet.
Now, my meals are gradually returning to normal, but I still can't drink wine.
That's right, I've been away from my beloved wine for a month.
I wonder if he will keep me company. Will he wait for me? I'm a little worried.
With that in mind, I poured it out for business after the New Year, checking the aroma as I went.
What, what is this!
The scent particles are large. You can't actually see them, but it feels that way.
The aroma of the various fruits contained in the wine, as well as large fragments of non-fruity aromas, fly towards you with great force.
And the particles stick tightly to the back of your nose.
The aroma is much richer than when I just drank it day by day.
I feel like this alone makes me drunk.
I was relieved to know that wine and I are still connected.
I think I'll be able to resume actual tastings around next week once I finish taking my prescribed medication.
Which wine should I try first after my return? Which wine will hold my hand and take me back to that other world?
Just thinking about it makes me a little excited.
As I'm writing this story, I get a call from the radio production office.
"Iwasu-san, only two of the three manuscripts for this week have arrived."
"...Eh! Oh! Damn. I've already written it, I'll send it right away, sorry!"
I forgot to send the manuscript I wrote in bed...
I'm sorry, I'll try to remember next time, so please don't separate it.
