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Emperor undergoes procedure to remove fluid from his chest

19 Comments

Doctors on Tuesday conducted a procedure to remove fluid from Emperor Akihito’s chest for the second time in two weeks.

The emperor, 78, was discharged from hospital on March 4 after undergoing heart bypass surgery, but he was becoming short of breath while walking and not showing much appetite.

On March 7, the procedure, in which fluid was removed with the use of a needle, was carried out at the palace hospital by doctors from the University of Tokyo and Juntendo University, who performed the heart bypass surgery on Feb 18.

The emperor has been recuperating at the palace, walking and doing deep breathing exercises, but continues to be short of breath, the Imperial Household Agency said.

The emperor's only official duty this week is a meeting with the emir of Kuwait scheduled for Wednesday, although Crown Prince Naruhito may fill in for the emperor.

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19 Comments
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I hear this is an unserious postoperative event many patients go through.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Get well soon.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Don't think bowing to the emir of Kuwait is more important than my health...cancel cancel cancel!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

My heart feels so sad and my wife and I extend our prayers to the people of Japan.

Aging can be such a stressful time.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Too bad the emperor wasn't in the best of health going into the procedure but he is older than a lot of men. He can recover, it will just take a lot of hard work. Hope he's up for it.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

He would recouperate a lot better if he was a regular citizen and people left him the hell alone.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

God bless the emperor with immediate recovery and good health!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Let the poor man retire already!!

0 ( +5 / -5 )

People talk about the man like he's 95 years old. He's only 78.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The emperor is just an old man without power, a symbol. I am curious how this country would be under the rule of a real emperor with real power that he doesn't have. A country led by an emperor, a man of goodwill and competence who loves his country, instead of being governed by mad politicians and greedy businessman and arrogant shameless government officials.

He doesn't look a bad man at all and the emperor have so many faithful followers that he could help this country get back her feet again. He or his son or any other emperor or just a good leader, if there were any. Sadly he is just an old man and the country is a train running mad without an engineer.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It doesn't bode well for him, does it, or does this kind of thing eventually clear up?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Godspeed my emperor, am praying for you.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Ganbatte Tenno.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

There's no need to panic. Nothing out of the usual.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Bless him. I don't know him personally but he seems a lovely caring man who greatly cares for his people. I wish him a speedy recovery.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Aging can be such a stressful time.

We are continuously aging from 20, losing 10 000 neurons in our brain daily, but we just realize it in the last decade of our lives. Stress and unhappiness is another factor that speeds up the aging process and I think the emperor and the empress are one of us with the most stressful life. Kings and emperors always believed to have the best and happiest life. Well, some may have, but the the lowest price for me to set foot in that stressful, rigid place that the palace would be a min. 5 000 000 yen for one time.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

The Emperor was said to be his usual upbeat self, grinning and staring into space.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

The issue I think is if the fluid remains and becomes infected. That could be really dangerous. But it sounds like the doctors are well on top of it. heres hoping he makes a speedy recovery

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Just happening what I predicted, more exactly foresaw in my early post about the outcome of this surgery, before it happened. I collected a huge pile of thumb downs, it seems people have difficulties to accept realities that old people don't heal they die, even if an emperor and Japanese doctors, even if some of them are not quacks are not almighty and cannot go against nature or make miracles.

It is a nice thing to pray for the emperor but it is just God who created life, aging and death, He has got his own reasons for that and He hits everybody equally, emperor or beggar. If anybody wants good for the emperor it is more effective to change the rules created by humans for fellow humans and simply talk to the IHA to allow him retire. That would be more human and effective than asking God to keep him alive and healthy when it was God who created aging and dying for all of us.

-13 ( +0 / -13 )

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