Inspire and hold it...

I’ve been spending some time in clinics these days. Not the mental ones, they don’t seem to have many of those in Japan or so I’ve heard, the medical ones. I think it’s the novelty of actually having health insurance again in my life. Even though I pay for it myself, it’s still a whole lot cheaper than in the states. Yeah, ok, the bedside manner here isn’t always the best.. I had one doctor actually ask me what I wanted him to do during my health check up... but I did have 2 wisdom teeth pulled (and got the drugs too man) for a measley 5,000yen (that’s about 50 USD). My dentist was completely shocked when I told him to pull out both of those suckers at the same time. It seems that, in Japan, they like to pull one out at a time so you can chew on the other side of your face (ha!) The sound of having them yanked was much worse than the pain. I’ll have to remember that when I go to get the last one pulled this summer.
Last week was the annual "Kate completely loses her voice for a few days and then gets a husky new one for a few more days" event. I knew I was done for when I was doing my trial lesson at a kindergarten where I was interviewing. Somewhere between music time and art project time my voice left me and didn’t return in time to get the phone call telling me I’d gotten the job (whoo hoo!) I was afraid to pick up the phone because all I could do was whisper. Finally I went to my doctor who gave me some more drugs.. 3 different kinds!
This morning I went to yet another clinic for the school’s mandatory physical. Miss Etsuko from the school came along with me to interpret and she was lucky to see not just one, but both of my cupcakes when the nurse nonchalantly lifted my shirt to check my breathing. How’s that for bonding with coworkers! Later I got to flash my boobs a few more times as they attached an EKG-thangy. Atleast there will be no question that I’m healthy.. in fact.. the doctor said I have the blood vessels of a 24 year old! Wowzers! it’s miniskirts and pumps for me this Spring! Finally it was time to do an x-ray to check anything else they may have missed during the other exams. The doctor told me to "inspire and hold it for a few moments" while he pushed the button to take the x-ray. "Ok, now INSPIRE!" The sweet man, of course, meant to say "inhale" but I didn’t have the heart to tell him and anyway, it was pretty inspiring just to hear him say it.