まだ生きてる - I'm still alive

 It's been over a month since my bout in hospital. So how am I doing now? Better than just before I went in to hospital, that's for sure. I had a checkup later on in May for a blood test, and the doctor said that my results were good. He showed me a comparison of my previous results when I first arrived at the hospital to figure out what was wrong, along with the regular blood tests that were done during my stay in hospital, and yeah, I am clearly doing better. 

The doctor wants me to return in late August for an echo scan and blood test to make sure that there are no further problems. Depending on the results, I may not need to return for several months, if ever. 

The cause of my condition was caused by a bad diet, and I have been making efforts to improve my diet - the first of which I am incorporating more vegetables. Furthermore, I have been bringing my own lunch to work recently and eating out just once a week. As the part of Tokyo that I am working in is particularly expensive, finding a cheap (but healthy) meal is a little more difficult. Though I found a nice restaurant near my office that does a nice vegetarian sandwich that is not served on white bread for a change, something I found is very rare in Japan. 

Something else I have started eating regularly is natto (納豆). If you don't know what it is, natto is fermented soybeans, and it's something that many foreigners usually don't like due to its smell, strong flavor and sticky/slimy texture. 

Natto - an acquired taste among foreigners

For a long time, I didn't like it either. However, there are several pros to natto - the first of which it's very healthy and helps improve digestion. The other is that it's very cheap to purchase at convenience stores or supermarkets, and can make for a quick prep meal, when eaten with rice and a side of vegetables. Since my time out of hospital, I've been eating natto with rice, and buying some pre cut vegetables at my nearby 7eleven for a quick dinner, which is also useful because I usually get back from the office around 8pm, due to my long commute home.