2026/04/19

予約した10日の10時に病院に行って待っているとすぐに呼ばれて、

診察室に。

画像を見ながら先生の診察。脳の血管の画像を見て、素人目には普通に見える画像なんですが、

先生が見ると驚愕だそうで、左右の縦に走っている太い血管（右側は薄くなっている）が

驚愕なのは、その縦の太い血管から、横にも太い血管が出ているみたいで、

お母さんの画像からは、完全に消えていて先生が驚いていました。

先生曰く縦の太い血管から、新しい血管が出来てきていて、それでお母さんは何とか、

生活が出来ていると。その新しく出来た細い血管で、側頭部に血液を送って

いる感じだそうです。

今後どうするか

脳神経外科からは、今後何をどうするかということは、何もないとの事。

薬も、これ以上は無理といわれました。

水をしっかり飲んで、1.5㍑は飲んで欲しい、脱水が一番怖いとの事。

しかし、循環器内科の方では、あまり水を取りすぎないでくださいと。

言われ先生も困っていましたね。どちらをとるかは、本人が選ぶしか無い。

こんな感じで診察終わり。

３０分で病院を出ることが出来ました。

週末金曜日の午前中、土日予定なし。

お墓参り

ドライブにでも行くと妻に言われたけど。何か頭の中にお墓参りって。

お墓参りって簡単に言うけど、家の場合岩手県まで行かなければなりません。

妻に聴いてみたら良いんじゃないというので、母、妻、自分で急きょお墓参りに。

母の実家に電話して、本日泊まれるか聴いたらOKをもらい

本日は母の実家に泊まらせてもらい、明日お墓参りに行く事にしました。

母にお墓参りに行く事にしたから、今日は実家に泊まるよ。反応が薄い？ってな感じ　ヤバいかな

それでも行ってみよう。

支度して宮城県大崎市に、晩ごはんを買って母の実家に。

母の実家は米農家。お米だけでは食べていけない、現実が凄く分かるお家です。

だから自分たちで食べ物飲み物は買って、実家の分まで買っていきます。

夕方着いて、母にお父さん・お母さんの遺影を見せて、誰だか分かる？って指を指してみせた。

すると、自分の名前も言えなかった母が、お父さん・お母さんと名前までハッキリ答えた。

驚いた、自分の名前はと聞くと、言えるではないか。あれーーー！

何かあるかも知れないかなと思い、寝る部屋も遺影がある部屋で寝てもらいました。

この時期、飼い猫の盛りの季節なので、一晩中鳴いていました。寝不足・・・・・

朝、妻に寝れたかと聞くと、母は寝れた、妻は全然寝れなかった。

美味しい朝ごはんを食べさせてもらい、岩手県一関に。

お墓参り

母の実家から、１時間半位で到着。

母を車に置いて二人でお掃除に行きます。

お墓は、山の中の急な坂道の中腹にあります。お水、ほうき、除草剤他を持って上がるのでさえ

息がハーハー言うぐらいです。

墓掃除を終えて、下山し昼飯を食べに行こうかと思ったけど天気が良かったので、

スーパーでお弁当を買って川原で３人で食べました。桜も咲いていて、良かったです。

それから、花、線香、お茶、を買って改めてお墓参り。

母の車椅子を押してお墓まで。何とかたどり着けて、お墓参り終了。

近くの道の駅で、一服。これからどうするか？妻に聴いてみると、このまま帰るのもな〜ーーーー

母も・・・・ただいまの時刻、午後3時前。今から予約出来るか？

良し去年泊まった八幡平ハイツに聴いてみよう。

電話で宿泊３名内一人車椅子で本日泊まれるか？・・・・・OK

良し！貸切風呂も空いていて予約完了。夕食も出来るとの事。

道の駅を出発してしばらくすると雨。どんどん強くなってくる。

最寄りのICを降りて、ホテルに向かうときには、台風のような暴風雨でワイパーが効かない。

何とかかんとかホテルに到着。予約の関係でご飯の後の貸切風呂。

美味しいごはんを、食べてお部屋でくつろいでいると、風と雨の音が凄い

カーテンを開けて外を見てみると、木々が右に左に折れるんじゃないかという位揺れてました。

お風呂に入って、昨日の猫のせいで寝れなかったため、あっという間に寝てしまいました。

次の日

朝起きて、カーテンを開けてびっくり、一面真っ白。

風の方も止んでました。

バイキングの朝食を食べて、今日はお家に帰りますよって母に言うと、早く帰ろうって

ホテルを後にして、東北縦貫道で帰宅の予定が大風のせいで、区間：大衡IC ↔ 古川IC（上り・下り両方）4月12日の強風による通行止めは、午前11時50分にNEXCO東日本から第1報が発表 NEXCO East Japanされていて、その時点で通行止めが始まっていたようです。

途中から、釜石自動車道（花巻JCT〜釜石JCT）で迂回して帰って来ました。

時間がすごくかかりました。

まとめ

この3連休、前回病院で待たされて、急きょMRIを受けて、

結果を聴いて、このまま維持していくのが一番って感じで治らないこと。

何かそれを先生から言われたからか分からんけど、頭の中にお墓参りのキーワード

いきなりのお墓参りツアー。

妻が了承してくれたから実現したツアーでした。感謝しかありません。

母も多分長くは無いので、行けるタイミングが合ったらまた行きたいです。

糖尿病からの動脈硬化の進行。私も息子なので気をつけないと。

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English Translation

April 19, 2026

I arrived at the hospital at the scheduled 10 AM on the 10th and was called in right away.

Into the examination room.

The doctor reviewed the brain scan images with me. To an untrained eye the images looked normal, but the doctor was shocked.

The large vertical blood vessels running on both sides (the right side has become thinner) were there. What shocked the doctor was that the thick horizontal vessels that should branch off from those vertical ones had completely disappeared from Mom’s images. The doctor was visibly surprised.

According to the doctor, new blood vessels have formed from the main vertical ones, and that is how Mom is managing to get through daily life. It seems those newly formed thin vessels are somehow carrying blood to the temporal region.

What Happens Next

The neurosurgeon said there is nothing more that can be done going forward. Medication has also reached its limit.

We were told she should drink plenty of water — at least 1.5 liters — as dehydration is the biggest risk. However, the cardiologist had previously said not to drink too much. The doctor seemed at a loss too. Ultimately it comes down to what Mom herself chooses.

And that was the end of the consultation. We were out of the hospital within 30 minutes.

It was a Friday morning, with no plans for the weekend.

Visiting the Grave

My wife suggested going for a drive. But somehow the idea of visiting the grave just kept coming to me.

Visiting a grave sounds simple, but in our case it means traveling all the way to Iwate Prefecture.

I asked my wife what she thought, and she agreed it sounded good — so Mom, my wife, and I decided on an impromptu grave visit.

I called Mom’s family home to ask if we could stay that night — they said yes.

We decided to stay at Mom’s family home that night and visit the grave the next day.

I told Mom: “We’re going to visit the grave, so we’ll stay at the family home tonight.” Her reaction seemed distant… a bit worrying.

Still, we decided to go.

We packed up, bought dinner, and headed to Mom’s family home in Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.

Mom’s family home is a rice farming household. It’s a place that makes the harsh reality of not being able to live on rice farming alone all too clear. So we always bring food and drinks for ourselves — and extra for the family too.

When we arrived in the evening, I showed Mom the memorial portrait photos of her parents and asked: “Do you know who these are?”

Mom, who had been unable to say even her own name, clearly answered with their names: “Dad. Mom.”

I was stunned. When I asked, “What’s your own name?” — she could say it! What?!

Feeling like something might be happening, I had her sleep in the room where the memorial portraits were kept.

It was that season for the house cat, and it meowed all night long. We were sleep-deprived…

In the morning I asked my wife if she had slept. Mom said she slept well. My wife said she couldn’t sleep at all.

After a delicious breakfast, we headed to Ichinoseki, Iwate.

At the Grave

About an hour and a half from Mom’s family home, we arrived.

We left Mom in the car and went to clean the grave, just the two of us.

The grave is on a steep hillside in the mountains. Just carrying water, a broom, herbicide, and other supplies up the slope was enough to leave us breathless.

After cleaning the grave and heading back down, we thought about going to a restaurant for lunch — but the weather was so beautiful that we bought bento boxes at a supermarket and ate by the river, all three of us. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. It was lovely.

Then we bought flowers, incense, and tea, and returned for the actual grave visit.

We pushed Mom’s wheelchair up to the grave. We made it, and the visit was complete.

We stopped at a nearby roadside station for a break. What next? My wife said going straight home felt anticlimactic.

Mom too… It was just before 3 PM. Could we even get a reservation now?

Let’s try calling Hachimantai Heights, where we stayed last year.

Called them: 3 guests, one in a wheelchair — can we stay tonight? … Yes!

Great! We got a private bath reserved, and dinner was available too.

We left the roadside station, and soon it started raining. The rain grew stronger and stronger. By the time we exited the nearest interchange heading to the hotel, it was a typhoon-like downpour — the wipers could barely keep up.

We somehow managed to reach the hotel. Due to our reservation timing, the private bath was scheduled after dinner.

After a delicious meal, we relaxed in the room, listening to the howling wind and rain. When I opened the curtains to look outside, the trees were swaying left and right so violently they looked like they might snap.

After the bath, still exhausted from the sleepless night with the cat, I fell asleep almost instantly.

The Next Morning

I woke up, opened the curtains, and was stunned — everything was pure white.

The wind had died down as well.

After a buffet breakfast, I told Mom we were heading home today. She said: “Let’s go home quickly.”

We left the hotel and planned to take the Tohoku Expressway home, but due to the storm, the section between Ohira IC ↔ Furukawa IC (both directions) was closed. The first report of the closure caused by strong winds on April 12th was issued by NEXCO East Japan at 11:50 AM.

We detoured via the Kamaishi Expressway (Hanamaki JCT to Kamaishi JCT) and made it home.

It took an incredibly long time.

In Summary

This three-day weekend — after the previous hospital visit where we waited so long, had an emergency MRI, heard that maintaining the current condition was the best possible outcome, and learned there is no cure — I’m not sure if it was because of what the doctor said, but the word “grave visit” kept coming to mind.

And then, suddenly, a grave visit tour.

It became a reality because my wife agreed. I am truly grateful.

Mom probably doesn’t have much time left. I want to go again whenever we get the chance.

Arteriosclerosis progressing from diabetes. As her son, I need to take care of myself too.