Sore throat and moving up another gear

Back to Work

A rare team meeting for Japan Harvest in 2013. We primarily
work from our homes, and if meetings happen, they are
either by Skype or between two of us at a coffee shop.

With the boys successfully started back at school I move into an even higher gear. On Tuesday I start back working as the managing editor of Japan Harvest. I've been dipping my toe into the waters over the last few weeks, but from Tuesday I'm having one-on-one meetings with most of the team that has worked so hard in my year-long absence. Hopefully by next Saturday I'll have a better sense of where things are now and where we need to head. But also what immediate responsibilities I have to deal with.

I think I'm looking forward to it. I'm glad for the 14 months I've had away, I surely feel refreshed as a result of not dealing with the magazine on a daily basis. Working on a quarterly magazine is a relentless occupation. There is no end, though there are celebrations along the way. But putting together a quality magazine with volunteers and with an almost none-existent budget, produces a fair number of challenges.

Health concern
Before Tuesday I have Monday. I'm going back to an ENT doctor tomorrow to see if I can get more help for a throat problem that's been troubling me for over a month now. My lower throat is inflamed. That's all I know. We don't know why, though 1 ½ courses of antibiotics haven't tamed it. I haven't lost my voice, I'm not having serious difficulties swallowing and breathing is fine (now that my asthma has settled down). Nor am I feeling ill.

I don't want to go back to the doctor, because to look at the affected area he has to put a camera down there via my nose and it's uncomfortable as it sounds. It triggers my gag reflex, and he's lucky I don't throw up on him! Thankfully a good friend who has better Japanese than I has offered to come along with me. There's something about discomfort like that that renders my limited Japanese ability even more limited.

Hopefully I'll have some better news to report about that soon. In the meantime, life goes on. I'm off to heat up some left-overs for our hungry boys (the older two have recently taken to eating bowls of rice between meals to keep the hunger pains at bay).