Chapter 10-29 Food is Medicine

I have always been the type of person who has loved writing letters and composing essays since I was in elementary school.

One day, I found a job advertisement for a 'writer' at a company called '

INYOU
' that aims to expand the low-level organic market in Japan and spread an organic lifestyle throughout society.

Although it was for a short period, I was very happy to debut as a writer and have several articles I sent from Seattle published.
☟

https://macrobiotic-daisuki.jp/koousogenmai-12983.html

I suddenly received an email through the editor-in-chief of INYOU from Ms. S, a mother in her 30s who had moved to Seattle with her family from New York for cancer treatment and happened to see that article.
A request for cooking support for her terminal cancer treatment suddenly came to me.

I made healing meals while simply praying for her recovery, and I did everything I could to help alleviate her pain even a little.

She was in a very terminal state of a rare cancer and was shockingly emaciated, but she had ascites in her abdomen, making it seem painful for her even just to lie down.

Ms. S was a mentally tough person who had overcome a harrowing past, holding onto a strong hope to live for the sake of her cute 3-year-old daughter.

Every day, constant, severe pain would attack her whole body, and she needed massages and healing care that would allow her to forget it for a while.

At first, she happily ate the macrobiotic healing meals I made, but the reality is that it inevitably takes time for dietary therapy to show results.

While she was awake every day, constant pain and distress would relentlessly follow her body, and she needed the massage I provided as a service after cooking more than the food itself.

She was devastated by the agony of the constant, tormenting pain, and her mental state gradually weakened; the care from her husband, who worked from home, was not enough.

While I was rushing for results from the dietary therapy, I couldn't say anything if she couldn't stop eating her favorite snacks or high-sugar dried fruits, as those were her moments of daily joy...

Unable to bear the ongoing pain and distress in her body, she gave up on the dietary therapy support after a few months and quit my support after only a short period.

The experience of facing a terminal cancer patient with such severe symptoms was valuable to me, and although the result was very unfortunate, I did my absolute best regardless.

Just as I felt that we had connected as women sharing various stories, she declared she was giving up, so I was left with a strong sense of 'unfinished business' and felt incredibly frustrated.

I couldn't see her recovery through to the end, and due to the inadequacy and helplessness of my care, a half-hearted feeling remained in my heart for a while.

Imagining her suffering and pain
made my heart ache, and the overflowing
tears would not stop.

And there are still quite a lot of people in this world
who suffer every day from painful and
absurdly serious illnesses.

Through my experience in this support work,
I felt as if the reality was slapped right in front of me,
asking, 'What will you do?' and 'What can Yoshiko do?'

#SelfIntroduction #Seattle #Massage #Support #Care #Writer #Illness #HotakaYojoen #Cancer #HealingMeal #HomemadeCooking #Pain #Suffering