At 29, I realized that 'health is the foundation' when I noticed blood in my urine due to cystitis

One weekday, while thinking to myself, 'I've been needing to use the restroom a lot lately...', I saw blood in my urine for the first time in my life. Thinking this was bad, I booked an appointment at a urology clinic in Shibuya that stays open late.

Actually, just before that, I happened to be talking to a friend about blood in urine, so I wasn't particularly shocked. However, when I had a urine test at the clinic that night, it had already turned bright red, and I was genuinely panicked.

In the end, I was diagnosed with cystitis. Now that my health has been compromised, I want to think about how to spend my life.

Could it be that if you can't work, you can't survive unless you're strong?

Although it was cystitis, the main symptom was frequent urination, which didn't interfere with my daily life. However, around the same time, I caught gastroenteritis, and just when I thought I had recovered, I caught a mild cold, and on top of that, something happened that affected my mental health.
Even for someone like me who calls myself a 'loose optimist,' this period was truly tough.

After taking about three days off from work, I thought,'Could it be that if you can't work, you can't survive? If you aren't strong, you can't survive?'that is what I wondered.

I have always been physically strong, and I probably have more stamina and mental energy than the average person. That is how I have managed to maintain my 2LDK life in Minato Ward, spending most of what I earn.

But what if I couldn't work? I realized the reality that my current life might collapse in an instant.

'Working adults need stamina! Let's exercise and build a foundation of physical strength,' is something I often see on social media, butI realized belatedly that living in a capitalist society is seriously predicated on being healthy.If you aren't healthy, if you can't work, you can't achieve anything you want to do, eat, or go to.

How are people who are physically weak or unable to work supposed to live? Is there the existence of family to support them, or the option of welfare?

I am still in my 20s, and naturally, I never doubted that I was healthy. This recent poor health became an opportunity for me to re-examine my future life.

When you are in poor health, you want to abandon everything

Gastroenteritis was particularly painful; I spent several days unable to drink or eat, and needing to go to the bathroom immediately after putting water in my mouth. Of course, I couldn't go to the office, and I didn't have the energy to look at Slack. I declined all meetings.

As a basic premise, I am the type of person who likes work, and I don't mind going to the office every day. I want to achieve the goals I've been given, and I want to get promoted. Working in a team is also a source of happiness.

However, even with those values,the moment I lost my health, I couldn't think about anything, and I stopped caring about work.
When I was resting and recuperating, I had time to spare, and I would vaguely think at home,'Ah, what's important isn't career advancement or a high salary, but a peaceful life,'and things like that.

However, my daily life is actually at the company. I can't quit my job

Nevertheless, as my health recovered, I naturally started to feel like I wanted to return to the community and wanted to work.

From that, I became convinced thatmy daily life isn't in the time off, but in my weekday work.As long as I stay healthy, I will belong to the company community and work; that is what I want to do.

Just as many people rethink 'health comes first' after catching a cold, I think it was good that my thinking loosened up during the break I got this time, and that I had time to think from a different perspective than usual.

The subsequent progress of the cystitis

After being diagnosed with cystitis at a clinic in Shibuya, I took various antibiotics every week.

After that, I spent several months with my condition improving and worsening, and since there was not much improvement, I decided to switch to a proper clinic and use my Saturday to visit a local urologist.

It turned out to be a clinic recently opened by a doctor who had worked at a famous university for a long time. First of all, the waiting room was comfortable, and I received detailed examinations and interviews that I did not get at the 'limit clinic'. In the end, I was prescribed a different type of medication.
I resented the fact that my company does not have a flextime system a little, wondering if I wouldn't have had to keep taking antibiotics if I had come here sooner...

Intimidated by my first university hospital experience

Following that, whether it was due to the scope of treatment, medical fee points, or the clinic's referral policy, I was referred to a nearby university hospital with the instruction to 'get more detailed tests'.

It was such a natural progression that I received a referral letter to a university hospital for the first time in my life. As I had heard in rumors, it was written with the expression unique to that circle, 'Dr. [Name] | Onkika'.

The university hospital was new, spacious, and clean.
I was waiting while reading a book with a system where you are called to the examination room by number, but for some reason, my number was skipped. When I asked at the reception, it seemed to be a mistake and it was restored once, but then it disappeared again. In the end, I waited for 3 hours (*I had been warned in advance that 'university hospitals take time, so it is better to go in the morning', so I was prepared).

Because I am a worrier, I searched the web for various things before coming to the hospital. Apparently, blood in the urine can occur with cystitis, but in some cases, it can be bladder cancer.
Given the nature of a university hospital, I was also intimidated by the list of items I had never seen before on the medical questionnaire.

However, I am in good health right now. I don't feel unwell at all, and I haven't lost any weight.

For now, the initial tests didn't seem to show any problems, so I was prescribed the same medication as last time.
Even when I recognize that the risk doesn't seem high, I learned that even a carefree person like me still gets nervous right before being called into the examination room.It is just how it is.

As you get older, you also get sick

In the outpatient building, many patients and their accompanying families were heading to their respective departments. I could see their individual communities, such as someone saying 'Sorry for the trouble,' a daughter pushing a wheelchair, or someone making a phone call.

I have only ever had common illnesses, but this time, the possibility of bladder cancer is still not zero. In the first place, people never know when they will become seriously ill.

As you get older, that risk naturally increases. I suppose I will have more moments of nervousness and despair at hospitals from now on.

When it comes to young people, not limited to physical illnesses, there are quite a lot of people around me who take time off work due to mental illnesses.
If I become unable to work, how long can I take off? How much financial leeway do I have? How flexible is the company? Is there anyone to help me?

I have set 'thinking about a plan for when I can't work due to physical or mental illness' as one of my goals for April to June 2025.

I also talked about this with a former colleague from my previous job the other day and we got excited about it. Of course, there is no need to be pessimistic all the time, and as long as you are healthy, you should play and work to the fullest, but I think it is effective to be prepared for emergencies.

First, I wrote about the time I lost my health as a memorandum.
In another note, I want to think about preparations for that time while I can.