<Begin Segment 19>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

VY: So then you and your husband, Tetsu...

YY: Hmm?

VY: You and your husband raised a family, you traveled all over the place, and then later in life, your husband retired. And after he retired, not long after he retired, there was an accident. And I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about that particular time in your life and how your positive outlook, how both of you had such a positive outlook, how it kind of really got you through that time and how other people around you responded. Do you feel like talking about that?

YY: You mean after we retired?

VY: Yes.

YY: (Tets left for Lebanon in October in '99. I worked until the end of October, then retired, had surgery in early December, then flew to Lebanon two weeks later). And when we came back from Lebanon, then he retired. And he was in an accident. It was just a one-car accident where his (left front wheels) hit the median strip (which) jumped up and there was a (lamp post) there which the car hit, and it snapped back his neck, which caused his paralysis from that point down. And so he was a quadriplegic and he was in the hospital for almost (half) a year. Part of it was rehab. But he came back. Our house is, we live on one level, I mean, we have a downstairs too, but we were living on one level and therefore it was easy for him to maneuver around the house. So (he was able to live for) fourteen years after that, (and) was able to do just about everything on his own (as long as it was set up for him), with a little help, that's all.

VY: Was that hard on either of you?

YY: No, because it was what we would have done anyway, we would have been together. And he's always thinking of ways to do things better. And so he found that a challenge, and he could do a lot, quite a bit of it on his own just with certain things, he needed some help. Or I would get him different equipment so that he could eat even though he can't hold, you know, the fork is in there so he could eat. And he could hook his thumb (through the handle) to drink, and therefore he could take his pills on his own, everything. He did quite a bit on his own.

VY: I imagine your previous training...

YY: What?

VY: I imagine your previous training and the work that you did was helpful.

YY: Yeah, and I didn't even have to travel. [Laughs] I didn't have to commute in the traffic jam (to get to work).

VY: But it also sounds like he was someone who always kind of lived for the moment and didn't really have any regrets.

YY: What was that?

VY: It sounds like your husband didn't really have any regrets.

YY: Yeah. I mean, he was... it was almost as though he didn't know what has happened. I mean, I kept wondering if he was not facing the facts. But I asked him if he thought that he would be walking again when he first found himself in the hospital, and he said no. I mean, he thought he might be able to walk, he didn't know how serious his injury was. But in time, he said he realized that that was probably the case, but he accepted it and he said he always lived so that he won't have regrets. And he did whatever he wanted, when he wanted, and traveled where we wanted to go and do whatever we wanted to do. And so he really, he accepted it, and he made the best of it and always trying to figure out a better way. That's the engineer in him.

VY: Yeah, it sounds like the two of you were a good team. It sounds like you were a good team together and you both just sort of took everything in stride and just kind of moved forward.

YY: Uh-huh. And I think that's, I learned a lot from him, too.

VY: And raised -- sorry, go ahead.

YY: I just never saw him depressed or regretted anything, he just accepted it and made the best of it. I don't think I could have thought that same way. But he made it easy on me.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.