On November 2024, shortly after my 28th birthday, I was hospitalized in Fukuoka University Hospital to undergo a cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) following years of intermittent gallbladder attacks.

My friends, thoughtful as ever, prepared a care package that included a sketchbook and pencil crayons so that I could occupy myself somewhat while recovering in hospital. Having undergone surgery in both Canada and Japan (fun fact: I have had two non-essential organs removed), I can say that Japanese medical care feels relatively gentler. Hospital food in Japan was also surprisingly delicious once I could stomach it.

It was a difficult experience of course, but not an entirely unpleasant one. In my predilection for documenting my experiences, I’ve created an illustrated journal.

View from the hospital room

Fukuoka University Hospital Inpatient Journal

Schedule

Room Layout

Hospital Meals

Last Night with my Gallbladder

Surgery Day: The Morning

In Other News: A Second Trump Presidency

It Turns Out I Quite Like Hospital Fashion

Evening Doodling in the East Ward

Haphazard Thoughts Jotted in My Notes App

Day 3

Pain like dark pointed stabbing in all directions; IV drip like liquid cool relief. Blue wave smoothing over my pain and eroding it.

Day 4

A man is vomiting. Perhaps he’s the same patient whom I’ve heard continually vomiting since I was admitted. I’m in the realm of the sick. The nurses who tend to us walk freely with hurried steps that betray a lack of effort. Walking is straining for me. Standing up straight hurts. Nothing divides people more than the vapour-like, fickle curtain between the healthy and the sick.

Day 5

Looking out the window at the end of the hallway, staring down: turning cars, men packing up tents from a small festival, people walking with umbrellas this rainy day – the rhythms of life continue to beat. Out there, people are concerned about different things than In Here. The world is different here.