October was a very busy month. We had originally planned a trip to Aomori at the beginning of October and a trip to U.S. at the end of the month, but we also quickly planned a trip to Kamikochi, and I also had the final game of our soccer league, so our weekends were almost entirely packed for the month.
My wife and I went on a trip to Aomori in early October to go trekking around Lake Juniko in the Shirakami-Sanchi Mountains and to visit the nearby Furofushi Onsen, which has an open-air bath facing the Sea of Japan. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery of Lake Juniko, which I had always wanted to see. The trekking route around the small ponds scattered throughout the Shirakami-Sanchi Mountains was a very pleasant path through a beech forest.
Furofushi Onsen, which can be reached by bus from Juniko Lake, is a murky brown hot spring where you can relax in an open-air bath while looking out at the Sea of Japan. The hot spring is not so hot, so I soaked in it for about 30 minutes and gently massaged my tired feet from trekking. The numbness in my feet was completely gone, and I felt refreshed.
The week after returning from Juniko Lake, we went to Kamikochi. we had been to Kamikochi once before, but I had wanted to walk there in the early morning mist. I found a vacancy at a pension near Kamikochi, so we stayed the night there and took an early morning bus to Kamikochi.
To protect the natural environment, private cars are not permitted in Kamikochi, so you must park your car in a parking lot at the base and take a bus to get to Kamikochi, but even at 5am in the morning there was already a traffic jam just before the parking lot. We managed to park our car in the parking lot in about 30 minutes and make it to Kamikochi just after dawn. We got off the bus at Taisho Pond, shrouded in morning mist, and enjoyed trekking through Kamikochi in the crisp, cool air.
I was able to return to the parking lot from Kamikochi safely by bus, but the road back was very congested. I drove home in the traffic for about 5 hours, but my legs started to hurt on the way. It seems that I was driving after walking a long distance without a massage or a bath, and the numb parts of my legs from the anticancer drugs started to hurt. I managed to get home, had a massage in the bath, and slept overnight, and the pain went away, but it seems that even slight numbness is something I need to be careful of when walking long distances.
Unfortunately, we lost the final game of the soccer league. This is the end of the league, but I plan to continue training for the tournament that starts at the beginning of next year. There is a national tournament for senior soccer for those in their 60s, so my goal is to win the national championship. There are national tournaments not only for those in their 60s, but also for those in their 70s and 80s, so I would like to continue training every day with the ambition of winning the championship cup for all age groups in their 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Taking advantage of the break from anticancer drugs in late October, we took a long vacation and went to the United States to see our daughter and grandchildren.
Their house is in a rural town in U.S., and is surrounded by a peaceful park. We spend our days holding hands with our two grandchildren and walking in the park together, and taking baths together at night – these are the best times of the year. My three-year-old grandson would come into my bed and say, “I want to sleep holding hands with Grandpa,” and my one-year-old granddaugher would toddle over to me and give me a hug, calling me “Grandpa,” . The week had flown by.
A blood test after returning from the US showed that my tumor marker CA19-9 had dropped to 21, which is within the normal range. I realized the healing power of my grandchildren is truly amazing. I was reminded of the importance of continuing to life with smile.