The concept of beautiful prosthetic limbs and my hat

 

Right: The picture of "美しい義足（the beautiful prosthetic limbs）", courtesy of Shunji Yamanaka Design Laboratory. 

I had an opportunity to watch a presentation on the product design of prosthesis a couple of months ago, given by Professor Yamanaka of Keio University. "Prosthesis used to be something to be hidden underneath the clothes. But when athletes with prosthetic limbs sprint through the ground, it becomes something to show rather than to hide, then finally becomes something to praise. We wanted to support those athletes by designing a functional yet beautiful prosthetic limbs" Professor Yamanaka said, and displayed his creative product design. I was simply impressed by his idea of "functional yet beautiful prosthesis" and captivated by the delicate design. People almost always prefer something beautiful over ugly, when there's an option. It's kind of like how I try to decorate my hat with ribbons and flowers.

Then I wondered, how do these athletes feel when people say, "your artificial leg looks so cool!" Regardless of the cause of these athletes' loss of a body part, I'm sure they prefer to have their body part back, if possible. The situation is very different, but it's probably close to the feeling when people say "your hat is cute" to me. During the past couple of weeks, I wouldn't be wearing a hat if I wasn't sick. When I could simply be happy when people compliment my hat, that's when I fully accepted myself with lymphoma.

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I was fully recovered last Thursday or so. It only left me 5 days with normal condition. Time is passing by really fast but when I foresee the next 3 chemo, it still feels like forever...arg.