==JAPAN: KM== [Family]

When I was about to see my 35th birthday, the challenge attacked me by slow degrees. I felt like my head had been burning up since morning. In the evening, I had little appetite so I took my temperature. The thermometer indicated about 40 centigrade, so I decided to go to the Red Cross Hospital where I used to work to consult a doctor. In spite of the hour hand pointing to the ceiling, the waiting room was full of patients and their attendants. About 30 minutes later my name was called, so I opened the sliding door and entered the emergency room.
A nurse beckoned me to get into a consulting room divided only by thin walls. When I opened the curtain, a woman, young at diagnosis, was sitting and writing a clinical chart. She told me to sit on a small stool leeringly. Finally she turned her face toward me and said,
"What seems to be the matter?"
"I can't sleep because I can't stop coughing. I'm having trouble breathing. "
The doctor continued.
"Do you smoke?"
"Yes."
"How many cigarettes per day?"
The doctor inquired about the history of my present illness, past history and family history. Next came the chilly stethoscope on my back and the auscultation. After that she put a small clip on my thumb to measure my pulse and SpO2. She glanced at the figure expressed on the machine and said. "I hear your lung making dry rale. And your SpO2 is 89%. It is slightly low. It seems that you are sick with asthma, so you will need to inhale O2 and a bronchodilator." The diagnosis wasn't saying much. I had had an atopic dermatitis. Four years ago, we started to live with a cat, and her fur has always drifted onto my desk. In fact, since her coming I have coughed a lot near the end of the fall. What's more, I have been a chain smoker.
People depend on a lot of support to live. For example, the existence of a person is often linked to a particular substance. As for me, cigarettes are the necessaries of my life. A cigarette and Zippo lighter have always been in my pocket for 15 years. They know every situation of my life. Of course, I realize that smoking injures the human body. But I wouldn't quit smoking, even if seeing it advertised as a poison. In addition, I have had confidence in my health.
The hospital treatment had little effect, so the doctor injected a physio-logical saline containing antibiotic and steroid into my vein. An hour later, the doctor came and glanced at the paper with the data of my blood test and X-ray films.
"The treatment is over. I want you to give up smoking. And you will need to come and see the pulmonary specialist. " She said.
It was quite natural for her to say so. But to the contrary, I planned to start smoking as soon as I got well. It was the cunning thinking of a man who is addicted to nicotine, and I surely was.
When I went out of the emergency room, my three-year-old son ran up to me. He said with his arms around my foot, "Are you all right, daddy?". I found his eyes shining, because there were puddles in those small eyes. I held him in my arms and said.
"Why do you weep?"
He cast an anxious look at me and stopped crying. But he did not answer the question. On my way home my wife told me that the kid sleeping on my lap had broke into tears after I went to the X-ray room to take the chest X-rays. I thought children were the ones solely under the protection of their parents or other adults. But his reaction changed my notion. He was definitely sustaining my life. It was then that I decided to give up smoking. It's high time I abstained from nicotine. I felt relieved when I smoked, but the existence of people who are concerned about my health gave me an immeasurable peace. My heart goes out to him, and I am thankful for his consideration. I breathe beclomethasone two times in a day as a substitute for the nicotine. And I talk with the little but strong medicine every day. I have just started a big challenge.

"Getting It Together"

I thought it too difficult for me to write an expository or an argument essay, so I decided to write a narrative essay. And I chose the topic which was something personally impressive. While I was writing my essay, I was worried about the selection of words, especially verbs. I wasn't able to judge which was better in each situation. Then I solved those problem by using a Japanese-English dictionary, and an English-Japanese one to help create a nice text. The topic which I chose was health. It's one of the important elements to live happily. I had a new understanding of that through getting ill and the attitude of my son.