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.