My experience with going to the Hospital in Japan for surgery

Hello All – Kuma-JET here

I felt like typing up my experience for our page / resources but im sure somethings will apply to anyone needing surgery ( hopefully unexpectedly ) in Japan too

My experience at Kumamoto Orthopedic Hospital with proper surgery.

I know there isn’t too much in English on what to expect at a Japanese Hospital for a surgical procedure so I’ll type out my experience. I hope this helps anyone in need to know what to expect ( in general ) as I went in blind.

First and foremost, if you are a first time patient there you must pay for a profile card. This will be used to keep all your data on file and used at the kiosks for check in check and check out each visit. It was 5000 yen.

Kumamoto Orthopedic hospital does accept our insurance and as for payments, does take cash and credit cards. They are also able to charge our Higo Bank card directly at the service desk ( not available at the Kiosk. )

You can apply for “高額医療費” where through our, insurance because of our income, we will only be charged 80000 yen per procedure. You must apply for this in person at Kumamoto’s Health Insurance Association (( 健康保険協会 ) use this kanji to search for your local office.) at least a week prior to your surgery. They will mail you a card like voucher to take with you to the hospital. It is a great help for expensive procedures as it goes off of income based salaries. For us the max we would be charged for a procedure is 80000 yen ( not including meals, meds, room fees, medical equipment etc..)

Here is the address
[**Address**](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=ALiCzsaeoL25RXwERIzjdTbzXNEw91oNvA:1655363282146&q=%E5%85%A8%E5%9B%BD%E5%81%A5%E5%BA%B7%E4%BF%9D%E9%99%BA%E5%8D%94%E4%BC%9A%E7%86%8A%E6%9C%AC%E6%94%AF%E9%83%A8%20address&sa=X&ved=0CAEQ6BNqFwoTCMij6uK0sfgCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAB)**:** 1 Chome-20-22 Suizenji, Chuo Ward, Kumamoto, 862-8520

Leading up to surgery you may be expected to make a few consolation trips to the hospital so plan accordingly before hand. The hospital may be open on weekends or times you are not at school but the department or the doctor you need may only be available during school hours. I unexpectedly needed surgery as I went in for knee pain, I thought I was just going to be diagnosed with arthritis or need my knee drained as I’ve had similar issues with sports related injuries in the past.

My first visit was three x-rays and then a consolation with the doctor. He then scheduled me for two separate MRIs which were 2 separate visits, and then another appointment to review the results with him personally. Upon review he found a hard cyst ) that he couldn’t say for sure was or wasn’t a tumor. It was pushing my bones apart as it grew, as well as a torn meniscus. I was then scheduled again for chest x rays, blood work, and an over all health evaluation. Lastly I had to schedule surgery and “pick a plan” for a hospital stay.

Before an MRI you will be interrogated about wearing metals / having any metal plates. It seems redundant but every person along every step of the process will ask you this. If you have any tattoos, generally medical staff doesn’t work with many patients who have them so they will caution if your tattoo starts burning during the MRI to push the stop button. I had no issues with my tattoos.

All together so far this cost about 15000yen over 4 trips.

Picking a plan is especially booking a bed for your road to recovery. Options range from sharing a room with 4 people for no cost per day (rest rooms and showers in the hallway ), sharing basic room with one person for about 4,000 yen a day (room has a toilet), Sharing a larger room with a shared shower room with one other person for about 6500 yen a day, or having your own room with all bathroom needs for just over 12000 yen a day.

You are allowed to bring your own amenities ( such as changes of clothing, pillows, towels, toiletries, a cup for water, and so on ) but the hospital will offer packages to you for cheap as well. I suggest picking a package because if you are missing something you will have to go post surgery to the combini and pay extra for them. It’s very difficult to do this post surgery on your own. For 100 yen a day you can rent a TV and a fridge too. Friends / family can bring you food (covid restrictions permitting.)

Hospital showers provide basic soaps and shampoo. There is laundry options and even with covid and no visitors, friends can come and get your laundry / drop off clothing to you. You will be asked to sign a time slot out for showering early each day if you are sharing a room so the nurses can prepare around that time if you need assistance.

Once that was confirmed I met with my surgeon again to go over my health evaluation potential risks with the surgery and confirm my date and time. Things like the risk of anesthetics, what to do and not do during recovery, general surgery risks, and finally signing off and opting for surgery,

The day I confirmed my surgery was actually the day before I had actual surgery. They want to monitor your health and also you cant eat or drink for a certain amount of time before the procedure. You will be asked multiple times if you have any metal jewelry, any metal inside your body and asked to cut all your nails as short as possible so you don’t scratch yourself or the doctors. You can expect to sit in the bed for a day and explore the hospital if you’d like. Knowing I would need to do laundry and need rehabilitation I familiarized myself with where everything was.

On the actual day for surgery my vitals were checked twice before receiving an IV and then checked a 3rd time. I was wheeled down to the surgical floor and met with the whole surgical team before given local Anesthetic and passing out for the procedure.

The whole surgery was 3 hours long and I was woken up after and wheeled back to my room. I didn’t know that when you are given Anesthetic, you can’t eat or drink for a few hours after until a certain amount of the effects wear off. I was attached to a wound vacuum and bound to my bed for almost 2 days. Uncomfortable is the best way to describe that feeling.

A hospital day is pretty normal. lights on at 7am lights out at 9pm. Every time rotations of staff switches, they personally introduce themselves. Vitals are checked every few hours, meals given. rehabilitation scheduled. Generally you can just sleep as much as you want or roam around if you are able to. One day a week all the surgeons and staff do a floor run through where they briefly see their patients and update the nurse’s care to each patient. They want you up, alert, and dressed for this.

Being an American and used to Hospitals wanting you in and out ASAP I was really surprised with how long they wanted me to stay. Before surgery I was told I could go home after three days by my surgeon, but my Physical Therapist really requested I stayed longer do to my housing having no elevator and my commute to school having a good walking portion still. I made arrangements to stay with a friend and left after 5 days.

All together – Surgery – my room – meals – and 2 weeks of pain meds cost about 120000yen

Post surgery I had 3 appointments – 1 for stitches to be removed and 2 for range of motion / rehabilitation check ups. You will check in and get a printed number and wait for that number and what room to go to to be called on the TV. If you need help, the staff is more than willing to guide you or do it for you.

The stitches removal and each session of rehabilitation after was 220 yen

I was in need of an immobility brace and crutches. I rented them from the hospital for 6000 each and paid when I returned them. you will be given a paper that says you rented them and must keep that paper with you for when you return them.

I know ESID especially with medical needs/ medical locations – but I hope this serves some purpose to anyone in need of sort of idea on what to expect