2024-03 Israel

Israel 36,

April 22, 2024,

Hi Everyone,

I did emails, laundry and blogging that took some time to catch up. Yesterday I did an evening shift, 3:00 to 11:00 in Yevneh where apparently there is a nuclear plant. The town is very pretty with nice new 10 story apartments. I worked with Dan with whom I have been before. I got a phone call from Moshe, the head of MDA who told me that he would like to do a shift with me as he has never seen anyone get so many ‘good’ cases. Last evening was no exception.

We were called to an apartment to see a 3 year old boy who was having seizures. It was a 4 story walk up and we had to bring all our rather heavy resuscitation equipment. The child was having seizures and so of course was not conscious but breathing ok. We gave him a shot of anti seizure medication which slowed things down. The seizures were due to a fever so we cooled him down with a cold towel. We carried him to the ambulance and I held the oxygen mask on his face for 20 minutes. Once again I was impressed with the efficiency of the service and the kindness with which our team spoke to the parents.

Our next case was a truck vs truck accident. We sped to the scene at break neck speed doing 140K, at 10:00 at night dodging traffic. The motorcycle MDA fellow was there as well as the fire department. There was nothing left of the front of the truck. I don’t know how the man survived. He was pinned between the door and the dash board. The fire men inserted a machine that we would call ‘the jaws of life’. It was a large piston, attached to a generator .It pushed the door open and lifted up the dash. The patient was conscious, not in too much pain and was on his cell phone. We put him onto a stretcher and brought him to the hospital. In no time he had multiple IVs, oxygen, blood tests and x-rays, CT scans. I spoke to the orthopaedic surgeon. The patient was lucky as he only had a simple femur fracture that would require a rod. There were no vascular or neurological complications.

I finished my shift at 11:00, drove back to Tel Aviv which took an hour so they did not give me a shift today. I had not eaten supper so I went to a bar on the beach and had fries and a beer. I watched the end to the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer game. There was a goal with 2 minutes to go making the score 3-2. There was a lot of cheering so I guess the favourite team won. Tonight I will go to Rochelle’s for the Seder. I told MDA that I didn’t want to do an evening shift today as it would probably be my only chance to do a Seder in Israel although I was invited to one 53 years ago with my friend Arnon.

Love,

Brian