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Being diagnosed with cancer in Japan

minader

Kouhai
2 Sep 2014
69
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What happens if a MEXT scholar find out he has cancer while studying in Japan?
I guess keeping on studying in Japan would be insane/illegal? (since he's receiving money from the government...).
In that case should the scholarship be interrupted immediately?
 
Sounds like you need to talk to your doctor about how your treatment in Japan if possible/affordable will affect your studies. Will you have to miss a lot of school , or still be able to attend while getting treated?
With that info , you should be able to talk with a guidance person at your school about finishing your studies or maybe getting a delay for a long absence that you can latter return and finish your degree. I would think the school would be helpful if you have been doing well in your studies.
I guess you should think about your family back home also. Will they want you to return home so they can be there for you and offer any type of help you need? Do you think you would get better medical care in your home country than Japan and feel safer back in your home country? I have had many friends , family , and patients with cancer in my lifetime (20 years as a nurse). I find two of the most important things for recovery are a positive attitude they you will beat the cancer and get well and avoiding stress and worry as much as possible as they weaken your immune system.
I'm sure others here will have better advice than me , I sure feel you have a lot of tough issues to solve and wish you luck with a full cure.
 
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Have you been diagnosed with cancer? Or is this a hypothetical question?
 
Thank you very much for the detailed answer Uncle Frank. I appreciate your advice!
I don't have a diagnosis though. And I'm not enrolled yet, still a research student. I'm supposed to take the entrance examination next month.


Mike Cash, as above, it's an hypothetical question, but I will be having further examinations at the hospital soon so I wanted to know what should I do in that case.
 
You never know what life is going to throw at you or when, so there's no sense in preparing for specific, unlikely outcomes. Just take it as it comes and respond accordingly.
 
Why are you wasting people's time with a hypothetical? Unless cancer runs strongly in your family, or you already have potential symptoms that you have not investigated with a doctor, this is moot.

"Cancer" is also not just one illness. People survive skin cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, etc. all the time. Some cancers are not malignant, while others are.
 
Why are you wasting people's time with a hypothetical?

Because cancer is scary as hell. The prospect of a cancer diagnosis is scary as hell. When we're scared we seek comfort from others.

Some cancers are not malignant, while others are.

Malignancy is one of the defining characteristics of cancer. Not all tumors are malignant, but all cancers are.
 
Why are you wasting people's time with a hypothetical? Unless cancer runs strongly in your family, or you already have potential symptoms that you have not investigated with a doctor, this is moot.

"Cancer" is also not just one illness. People survive skin cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, etc. all the time. Some cancers are not malignant, while others are.
So you think I woke up randomely one day and decided to worry about cancer with no reason? Who told you I have no symptoms?
I talked with two doctors, the latter booked a visit in a hospital for further examinations.
 
Minader, best wishes for your medical exam.

Did you read your school's policy on leaves of absence or withdrawal for medical necessity? What about MEXT's policy? When you find the two policies, see if you can find the effective date. If it's more than a couple of years ago, ask the responsible office if it's still current (sometimes websites and handbooks can be outdated for quite some time before they're revised to reflect current policy).
 
In the past 15 years , they have diagnosed me 3 times for lung cancer and twice for prostate cancer and once for pancreatic cancer. So far they have been wrong each times after more tests results came back. There is a good chance you will luck out and further tests will show you are fine. I'll keep my fingers crossed for good luck for you.
 
So you think I woke up randomely one day and decided to worry about cancer with no reason? Who told you I have no symptoms?
You yourself said there is no diagnosis. "I don't have a diagnosis though."
You also wrote:
Mike Cash, as above, it's an hypothetical question,

minader, I'm going on what you wrote in the first post. You also wrote in the third person, as if it didn't relate to you: "I guess keeping on studying in Japan would be insane/illegal? (since he's receiving money from the government...)."

The prospect of a cancer diagnosis is scary as hell.
Yes, I know. I just lost my father to cancer, and I have also lost a dear friend to it. The problem is, in the OP, there was no hint of any prospect of cancer. NOW, we have some indication (post #8).

And, I will add my best wishes to minader as well, just in case there is anyone here who thinks I'm not sensitive to people's feelings.
 
Actually, there was mention of it in post #4, but it didn't exactly leap off the page
 
You yourself said there is no diagnosis. "I don't have a diagnosis though."
You also wrote:
Mike Cash, as above, it's an hypothetical question,

minader, I'm going on what you wrote in the first post. You also wrote in the third person, as if it didn't relate to you: "I guess keeping on studying in Japan would be insane/illegal? (since he's receiving money from the government...)."
Honestly, I don't see the correlation between having no diagnosis and having no symptoms/having not seen a doctor.
I wrote that it is an hypothetical question because it was and it is still an hypothetical question.
Maybe the title was misleading.

Thank you everyone for your concern. Vincent, thanks, I'll also try checking my school and MEXT policies.
 
OP.

I am sure this is very stressful for you. So I wish you the best with your medical situation.

Firstly, I'm sure you will need to submit a medical health certificate at some point in the application process. Usually after the university has excepted you, and is submitting your name as a candidate for MEXT if you are uni nominated. If you have applied directly (e.g. Abe Iniative), or embassy scholarship then they take the paperwork directly, Are you probably have already submitted it.

I think that will be a point where you'll have to think more about it. If you've already submitted the certificate, then I would take a wait-and-see attitude and hope for the best.

I'm not sure what country you're from, but if you do come here and your health gets worse, Japan has one of the best health care in the world.

If you get sick while you're here is the student, you will be covered by national health insurance.

I hope this helps and of course best wishes for your health.
 
I will double what tonomi said about the health care. A lot of people put it down, and yes there are some lousy doctors here, but that's true for any country. A little bit of shopping around and you can find outstanding care in any medium-sized city or larger. And if you are American, you'll find it's quite a bit more affordable as well. (There are a number of reasons for American health care being so expensive, mostly systemic, and many are not insurance related.)

My main concern would be how comfortable you feel in Japan and how good your Japanese is. If you love being here, then you should do whatever you can to have your treatment done here as well, because environment is an important component to cancer recovery.
 
Gibbousmoon and Tomoni, thank you both for the advice. I'm already here in Japan and my examination is booked for next week. I already had a CT examination but they didn't tll me anything about the results.
I'd actually prefer to be here in Japan in case things turn bad but I don't have people to rely to. When I opened the thread I thought that in cases like these it was expected to leave Japan and giving up ones studies, glad it's not necessary like that.
Of course, being actually diagnosed is the worst-case scenario, I hope/think the examination will just turn out to be ok
 
Minader,

Since you are here, basically you don't need to worry so much about staying here if you are still able to study during treatment. If you become drastically ill and unable to attend school for s long period of time, then you may enter a gray zone in terms of regulations.

However, I would not project so far in to the future but focus on your health and studies in that order.

Good luck with your health and please keep us posted on how you are doing.

Take care
 
I had my examination yesterday, no cancer!
I still can't believe it because I basically had all the worst symptoms. The doctor, when I told him the symptoms, booked the examination writing 緊急 and let me chose the day (as far as I know, normally you wait several weeks). I probably have irritable bowel syndrome and the other symptoms were coincidences and/or were due to lifestyle changes.
thanks to everyone who replied to this thread :)
 
Great news!!

1) and you are one a the few people I know that are elated to have irritable bowel syndrome . Another thing that may contribute to that is stress.

2) Sometimes too much information on the Internet also could increase your stress Because basically everything is a symptom of cancer.

Anyway we are glad to hear you do not have cancer.

Thank you for letting us know. Take care.
 
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