第二十七章

27 August 2075

Shoichi thought that he must have dozed off but on checking his watch was surprised when Aoyagi-sensei entered the room less than ten minutes since she had left with her colleagues.

‘Sorry to disturb you,’ she said. ‘I’ve just received an alert from the hospital’s monitoring systems of an unusual change in the blood flow in your wife’s brain.’

‘Is that good or bad news?’ Shoichi asked, unable to mask his concern.

‘Neither really,’ Aoyagi-sensei continued. ‘There is a part of the brain called the amygdala and many sensory inputs converge in this part of the brain as it plays an important role when learning fearful responses. There are also numerous connections from the hippocampus into the amygdala and therefore it also influences how people remember traumatic incidents. Drugs used to treat post-traumatic stress disorders work to block receptors in the amygdala and therefore inhibit the consolidation of fearful memories. Studies have shown that when people are shown a scary looking face or asked to recall frightening thoughts, there is a measurable increase in the blood flow through the amygdala, and this is what our monitoring systems have just picked up.’

‘So do you think that Kimiko is experiencing some form of trauma?’ Shoichi asked.

‘It’s possible although she is still in deep coma and despite the positive observations in the hippocampus, we would not usually expect such active blood flow in any part of the brain, including the amygdala, at this stage of a recovery,’ Aoyagi-sensei answered. ‘I am not overly concerned although wanted to visit to see if there were any other signs that might help me to understand what is going on. Do you mind moving to one side while I carry out some basic observations?’

‘No, not at all,’ Shoichi said as he stood up from his position next to Kimiko’s bed to sit in a chair that was in the opposite corner of the room.

Aoyagi-sensei began by shining a light into Kimiko’s eyes to check that her pupils continued to contract and dilate as expected, and they did which was a good sign. She then gently lifted her head and moved it from side to side observing the movement of Kimiko’s right eye and then left to ensure that they moved the opposite way to the head turn. Following this, Aoyagi-sensei lightly scratched the bottom of Kimiko’s feet for which there was still no reflex response, as had been the case when she was first admitted.

‘Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of your wife’s physical reactions,’ Aoyagi-sensei said, turning towards Shoichi. ‘So whatever is happening in the amygdala is not having a negative impact elsewhere. It is rather puzzling though and nothing that I have seen or read about before. Did you wife experience any events in her life that might be considered traumatic?’

‘Well, yes. We both grew up in Ōfunato and were elementary school students at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake,’ Shoichi began slowly before opening up further. ‘We lost many loved ones, both friends and family. It’s something that neither of us has been able to talk about much at all since it happened.’

‘Oh, I see. And did either you or your wife receive any counselling after the event or have you felt the need to seek any support since?’ Aoyagi-sensei asked.

‘No we didn’t,’ Shoichi replied now choking back the emotion. ‘It was offered to us although we felt that we didn’t need it. Of course, it was a terribly sad time but we had people around us for support.’

‘Well, might I be so bold as to suggest that you give some serious consideration to addressing what you both went through?’ Aoyagi-sensei said. ‘I hold some optimism for your wife’s recovery but the trauma from that time could be manifesting itself now as a dormant memory that is beginning to wake up. We will never truly know, but for her mental health and yours it would be advisable to get some help. My colleague and friend in the psychotherapy department here has spoken on many occasions of patients she is working with whom have been gravely affected by the earthquake and tsunami, even so many years after the event.’

‘Thank you for your concern, Aoyagi-sensei, I will give it some thought,’ Shoichi said in earnest as he had never truly got over the pain of loss from decades ago.

‘Not at all,’ Aoyagi-sensei said touching his upper arm in an act of support.

 ‘I don’t think that I could survive losing another person I love so dearly,’ he said walking over towards Kimiko and tenderly stroking her hand, before becoming lost in memories from his childhood in Ōfunato that had not surfaced for many years.