So ive found myself having to have a pretty major surgery done. (Maybe cancer) and I dont have anyone who I would feel comfortable being my emergency contact in Japan… has anyone else encountered this issue? Tbh the whole situation is pretty overwhelming and I am what I thought was young and healthy.
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It depends on what you mean by comfortable. Is it simply that you don’t have a relative in Japan? Or is there no one you can trust even though you have relatives?
I’m in the same situation. But there are services you pay and they will become your emergency contact. I’m not using it now. But I’ll use it someday.
Emergency contact abroad is just fine.
Source: I was told that at a hospital before.
I think in this case, it would be okay to use whoever is sponsoring your visa as a contact? (School or work?)
I’m so sorry you’re experiencing that. I’ve also had major health issues so if anything is overwhelming or you don’t understand what you need to do before the surgery for insurance etc or medical terminology (I’m a doctor) you don’t understand please ask me!! I’ll do my best to answer it.
For your emergency contact, you can tell them you have no family in Japan and then list the overseas family. Do you have a Japanese friend or trusted boss/coworker that could be your secondary contact?
Another idea may be to set up a group LINE with your relatives and an English speaking friend just in case.
Please take care!
Where are you located?
Can’t help you on the emergency contact, but on generally being overwhelmed: know that as much as we tend to complain about certain aspects of medical care in Japan, if you’re at the getting-surgery level you will be well taken care of.
Take a second to go through some past threads we’ve had on hospital stays, especially ones that go over things you should pack that might not be on the list provided by the hospital.
Creature comforts like noise-canceling headphones, a couple real pillows (Muji, Nitori, Ikea, whatever you prefer), furikake, long charging cables etc. will go a long way to helping you relax once you’re there, especially if you aren’t in a private room (can get very expensive but worth it).
I had a major surgery myself this summer. I looked into the emergency contact but it turns out you don’t have to provide that info. Hospitals want it but they usually won’t deny you service because of potential lawsuits (according to some blogs online).
Hey, going on four years now since several major surgeries–and bottom line is that it’s very survivable. First, I had my aortic valve replaced, full open, heart lung machine, etc (late March). Then I had a lung lobe taken out, along with nearby lymph nodes (that same year, september). Then a few months later, january of the next calendar year, prostate removal. All in about 10 months, and only the heart valve was not cancer. (Two different/unrelated cancers, not metastasis.) So cheer up. It’s surgery, but that means they found it and that there’s a decent chance it will all be gone (staging of cancer won’t be done/finalized until after what they take out has been biopsied). And surgery is the first line of treatment, it’s when that hasn’t worked and they’re talking chemo/radiation that it will be time to worry.
You’ll likely be fine. Mine was four years ago, and I’m doing as well as can be expected–only ‘problem’ is that my VO2max took a hit since I’m missing 20% of lung capacity–I’m not the speedster on a bike that I once was. But as far as normal life? –no problems. The aftercare/followup checks here are also quite good–they watch very carefully for any signs that they didn’t get it all.
As for the contact person here, that’s a hard one. For me that was my wife, and she helped with a lot of the paperwork and some other things. If you have someone, or some people, that you’re not comfortable with, you may just have to bite the bullet and choose one.
Edit: where I had the surgeries asked for a guarantor, but they also said that by using a credit card (intending to pay that way) a guarantor would not be required.
Hey man (right?), my main fear for you with that comment is that you also feel a bit too much alone in Japan or I misunderstood your post and then sorry. Anyway, you are not alone and you have some number you can call if needed : https://telljp.com/lifeline/
Very sorry. Depending on where you are I could be your emergency contact.
Prayers.
I’m sorry you are going through this.
If you google 緊急連絡先 代行 a bunch of places that provide services for people who are in your situation come up.
I had surgery for cancer 7 years ago. It was early stage, so surgery was all that I needed. I felt really overwhelmed before the surgery, but the ordeal was not as bad as I thought it would be.
The one thing that I think that really helped me was, before surgery, I adopted a super healthy diet and lifestyle. (I had to wait over a month) I did it because I was really scared of the cancer spreading before surgery and I wanted to do everything possible to prevent that. As a result, I felt like I was in the best health in my life (besides having cancer) when I had my surgery. I was sleeping well, pooping well, lost a bunch of weight, generally felt great. I don’t know if it worked for my cancer but I’m pretty sure it helped me have a smoother recovery. Judging from the nurses’ reactions, I think I had less pain than average.