I am still trying to come to terms with what I saw and experienced in Yokohama. Dr. Okuno hosted me with the greatest hospitality and generosity, even while he operated on patients twelve hours a day.
His medical practice, a combination of science, technology, research and art, impressed me beyond words. I watched as he introduced a scope into the veins of a middle-aged woman and sprayed multiple malignant cancerous tumors with a cocktail of cancer-fighting agents. The tumors shrank within hours.
Patients who entered his clinic with excruciating pain and little hope, left without pain—and with renewed hope.
With one treatment, Dr. Okuno saved a person’s life—and with two or three treatments, he saved his patient’s quality of life.
That was his main goal. Dr. Okuno was so brilliant and so humble, he would not even admit he cured cancer or saved lives. He only admitted to helping cancer sufferers improve their quality of life.
If I had been on my own, without a family, I doubt I would have returned from Yokohama.
However, when I sat with Dr. Okuno and his counselor Takahashi to discuss business, I asked for more than I would require from an employer in the United States. Cindy and I had agreed that if we were going to move abroad, we would only do so if we could put money in the bank. I did not want to live and work in Yokohama with the possibility of finishing the year with little or no savings. Yokohama was not as expensive as Tokyo, but we wanted to put our children in private international schools which were very expensive, and we wanted to be able to visit the USA at least twice during the year.
I told Dr. Okuno that if was going to move my family to Yokohama, I would need a salary—plus all expenses paid.
Dr. Okuno told me that Clinica E.T. functioned on a budget and could not hire me on those terms. Both the doctor and I were disappointed we could not reach an agreement, but I had the feeling my visit with Dr. Okuno would not be the end of our relationship but the beginning.
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