Pictures from today

Here are edited versions (Photo Shop for iPhone) of 4 pictures I snapped today in and around the hospital.

I hiked all the to the top of the main stairwell, and all the way to the bottom. At the top were 2 doors. The locked one obviously led to the elevator mechanism room. The other door was wide open to the room you can see in the 2nd picture. The 1st pic shows a close-up of the floor-tile pattern, the same one used throughout the hospital wards.

Since the door at the other end of the room led directly out onto the roof, it was, of course, locked. But the window right next to it was wide open with no screen. I could easily have climbed through it out onto the roof, but I restrained myself. Instead, I reached out through it with my phone held as high as possible and snapped the 3rd pic you see here, a sweeping view of most of the Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee") with the rim of the hospital roof in the foreground.

The last picture shows the sunset behind הר מרון Mt. Meron. I took it just a few minutes ago, from the balcony next to my unit's dining room, but it's essentially the view from my room!

Har Meron from the hospital

Here's the view of הר מרון Har Meron, the highest point in Israel west of the Jordan River, as seen from the balcony on the other side of my hospital unit's dining room.

The Kinneret from the hospital

On both sides of the dining room of my unit at the hospital there are outdoor balconies. The post and the next show the views from these balconies. In this view you can see Akhbara and the cliffs behind it. Further away is the Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee"), including Tverya ("Tiberias") on the right.

A totally new adventure

I'm on a totally new adventure. It really all started a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't know then what a different experience it was going to be.

For some reason, my left elbow tends to get really dry. I try to remember to put moistening cream on it, but the cream is greasy, of course, so I often put off doing it, even for days! I think I'll be more diligent from now on.

Here's what happened. The skin cracked, and some nasty little germs managed to get established in there. I noticed, of course, that it was infected, but I figured it would heal up shortly. Boy, was I wrong!

Last Wednesday, I finally made an appointment and went to see the doctor. Our regular family doctor isn't in on Wednesdays, so I saw Dr Darmon instead. We communicated quite nicely in Hebrew, he scolded me for not coming in sooner (which I deserved!), he gave me a prescription for Augmentin (a strong antibiotic), and he told me to make an appointment with the surgeon on Sunday.

By Thursday morning, I had taken 3 doses of the antibiotics, 2 on Wednesday and 1 Thursday morning. As I was having Internet connection issues while trying to teach my 1st student (such timing!), I saw a drop of yellow pus on my desk. A quick look at my elbow confirmed the problem -- the skin had broken. As soon as possible I put alcohol on it and continued to do so repeatedly throughout the day.

I realized that the danger of an even more serious infection had now increased. In the evening, at a time when I knew the nurses' clinic at the Maccabi (out HMO) office in town would be open, I had a 3-hour break between classes. So I drove into town, parked on Palmach Street (where it's free), walked down to the Maccabi office, and waited my turn to see the nurse.

As soon as the nurse saw my elbow, she immediately said I must see the surgeon. I had to wait a while until he was free, but I passed the time pleasantly enough thanks to my iPhone. ;-) As soon as the surgeon saw my elbow, he said he was sending me to the hospital!

The ER wasn't very busy, so I moved through pretty quickly. They admitted me to the hospital and told me I'd probably be having surgery the next day. The doctor also told me not to eat anything after midnight.

So, late Friday morning, wearing nothing but a hospital robe (even my earrings and wedding ring had to be removed!), I was wheeled down surgery. The surgeon triple-verified my identity (of course I know my 9-digit ID number by heart since it's used EVERYWHERE here!), the anesthesiologist had me sign giving my permission for general anesthesia, they wheeled me into the operating room, and I scooted myself over onto the narrow operating table. They hooked up the IV, put the plastic mask over my nose and mouth, and after a few deep breaths I was out!

When I woke up, I was lying comfortably on my bed in the recovery room. I felt like I had just awakened from a long, refreshing, deep sleep. Of course there was some pain in my elbow, but Ruti, the nice nurse who was there, gave me some liquid Optalgin (a common pain-reliever here in Israel). I had a fairly long and pleasant conversation with Ruti, mostly in Hebrew. Then the guy from hospital transportation took me back up to my room.

I felt just fine and was, of course, hungry. But they told me I should just drink a little water first, which I did. I later ate a little fruit but didn't eat a full meal until dinner, which I enjoyed thoroughly. I have always liked the hospital food here (having eaten a lot of David's food when he has been hospitalized here). Of course, I liked the cafeteria food when I was in college, too, so it figures.

Today (Shabbat) I'm also feeling fine and typing all this on my iPhone! Breakfast was also good.

This may not seem like such an adventure to some of you out there, but it marks a couple of important milestones for me personally. This is the very 1st time I have been hospitalized since I was born (in a hospital) more than half a century ago. It's also my 1st time under general anesthesia since I had my tonsils out (NOT in a hospital but in the doctor's office) when I was only 3 years old.

An interesting concert

Saturday night, there was a concert at our synagogue. Two great singers, our rabbi, Israel Horovitz, and a former student of his from way back in Argentina, both sang for us. The room was packed with people, and the music was varied. Included were traditional Yiddish melodies, modern Israeli favorites, and several others. For example, we heard "If I Were a Rich Man" (from "Fiddler on the Roof") -- sung in Yiddish, which seemed somehow appropriate, even though the song was certainly originally written in English. We also heard "I Did It My Way" -- in Spanish! How's that for cross-cultural?! There was even a combination of a song about a Yiddish mama and an Italian mama song! Anyway, it was an enjoyable evening.

An interesting film

Last Shabbat afternoon, David and I went down to the Cinematheque in Rosh Pinna to see an Israeli movie. The title of the movie was כלת הים, which means literally "Bride of the Sea". I suspect, though, that there's some allusion that I'm missing. At any rate, according to the Cinematheque website, the movie was in Hebrew and Arabic, with English subtitles. In fact, it was mostly in Hebrew, with some Arabic, and the subtitles were in French! Nevertheless, we were able to follow the story quite well.

The story was about a secular Jewish family in Jaffa, the mixed Jewish-Arabic part of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The family owned a car-repair shop and employed an Arab man and his son, who was 21. The family's daughter also worked there as the desk person. Without getting into too much detail, let's just say that it was a rather dysfunctional family, and that a mixed romantic relationship was a pivotal part of the plot. Add in the Jewish-Arab question and it's hardly surprising that you get a pretty sad story.

The movie was very good. The acting was great, the story was gripping, the characterizations were real and human, and the pace was well controlled. We enjoyed the movie, and I felt that the ending was appropriate, realistic, and hopeful. If you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it!

The perils of English

This is about something I actually saw a week and a half ago. We were at the Golani Junction (between highways 77 and 65, west of Tiberias), waiting to turn left (north) onto highway 65. The car right in front of us was a rental car from some small company that I had never heard of before (and whose name I also, mercifully, don't remember!). The reason I knew this was their sign, which was in Hebrew and English. In English, their slogan was -- I kid you not! -- "In your way!" :-)