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It was a bit crazy, but I went to Maine again on Monday (after coming back from there on Sunday night) with my art teacher.

I am very fortunate to have a personal watercolor teacher, who is actively creating art and constantly having shows. When I first went back to the church only one week after being discharged from BWH, I happened to talk to her about changing the pace of my life. She suggested that she could come to my house to teach watercolor painting. I jumped at her suggestion and started taking lessons in January.

Even though it was a bit too much for me to go to Maine two times in a row, I wanted to take her to Maine before I leave for Japan on 4/11.

Spring weather is violently different from one day to another, and the scenery on the coast changes quickly. While my trip to Maine with J on the previous day was so beautifully springy, the weather was very winterish this time; snowflakes were dancing in the strong wind under the heavy grey sky.

We drove to the place called “Land’s End” that is located at the tip of Bailey island. While the place looked almost sleepy on the previous trip, the waves were breaking violently on the rocks this time.

I actually love the wintry and desolate ocean view. It is particularly wonderful if you can go back to a safe and warm place afterwards. And that is exactly what we did.

After having hot tea in the cottage, my teacher started painting the view we can see through the sliding door, simply using a compact travel kit. It was the first time that I saw her actually sketch a landscape, and it was very interesting to see how she did it.

During this trip, I witnessed how disciplined and committed a serious artist has to be. When I woke up next morning, she was already painting a tree outside. After breakfast, she took the car to find a good location for sketching while the snow was coming down, and came back with a beautiful watercolor landscape.

Even though I was planning to paint with her, I did not feel like doing it because of the sudden tightening feeling at my throat. On Monday, at every meal, something got stuck at my throat, and my facial muscles were tense until the piece of food went down. I was totally exhausted and started having migraine-like pain at my temples by the end of the day.

I suddenly became nervous that my esophagus needed dilating again. Because I am leaving for Japan in about a week, I needed to contact my surgeon right away.

Consequently I spent most of my day contacting the hospital to arrange the dilation procedure next day. (It is my excuse why I did not paint even a single watercolor.) BWH was extremely efficient, as usual. Within a few hours, they had arranged the pre-op and the dilation to take place the next very day.

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On 4/4 at 9:30 I was at BWM for pre-op. Because I was an add-on patient that day, I had to wait till 4:30 to get the procedure done, and was literally the last patient of the day.

According to my surgeon, who came to talk to me in the recovery room, the stricture was not too bad. Why did I feel so bad on Monday then? Does it mean that this is as good as my esophagus will get? Will I never be able to eat food like a normal person? Depressing thoughts sneak into my mind.

However, I am glad that BWH and my surgeon did the dilation before I leave for Japan. This way I do not need to find a Japanese doctor to dilate my esophagus while I am there.

PS: Images on 4/4 and 4/5 are the watercolor sketches done by my teacher during those two days.