I woke up this morning feeling great and knowing what a great day this would be. Boy what a surprise I was in for. I went to bed at 9:00 pm, still not being used to the time change. I woke up at 6:00 refreshed and ready to start the day. My friends Paul and Katerina went off to do a 2.5 hour hike up and down the local mountains here. I set my gps for the local police station to make a police report on my missing ipad. The GPS mal functioned for 1 hour until I ran out of battery life. I arrived at a small police station only to find it closed. I some how found my way back to my house an hour later by following the beach road until I recognized my street.
P and K arrived at the same time as me so we went off to a beach side restaurant for a light lunch. Paul and I then went over to the triathlon site to check in. They took one look at my bike and said that I could not race in a world championship using a road bike with straight handlebars. I had never heard of such a thing but apparently it is written somewhere in the handbook. Paul immediately went onto our web site for Canadian triathletes called Slack. He sent out a request for a bike hoping that someone would have raced in the olympic triathlon today and so would not need the bike for the sprint race tomorrow.
Within minutes a nice girl, Luisa, from Ottawa accepted to lend me her bike as she had finished her race and did not need it tomorrow. What a wonderful person and what a great sport. We met at the transition area and had the bike mechanic adjust the seat and change the pedals for me as I use a different type of racing pedals. I then registered the bike and left it in the transition area.
I will race tomorrow at 8:10 am in the 75 to 79 age group. I will meet my saviour later in the day and have invited both her and her husband out for dinner tomorrow evening.
This evening we got all our stuff ready for the race and put on our tattoos. You can only have your bike, running and bike shoes and a wet suit in the transition zone. They are very very strict here.
I arrived in the airport in Sydney with 2 bags on rollers but still rather unmanageable. My Ibis Airport Budget hotel was a few a few hundred meters away, so I rolled and bumped my baggage along for 20 minutes. Needless to say on arrival that my Ibis Hotel with a slightly different name was in the opposite direction. I wanted to check in early but they wanted and extra $30 for the privilege so I just left my bags in the locker. I took a train downtown to visit Sydney.
While in the airport at San Francisco I managed to get my ipad stolen when I looked away for an instant. The plane was leaving in a few minutes so I had no time to make a police report. I went to apple in Sydney and they blocked all the data and locked the ipad. The app ‘find my ipad’ showed me that my ipad was still in the airport. Maybe someone found it and turned it in. In any case it is insured so I bought another one from apple. Apple transferred all the data to my new machine so I was in business. I was rather discouraged and hungry so I drowned my sorrows eit a Caucchino and a muffin. In an hour or so once I started writing on my new toy, I felt better. I switched my sim card for an Australian sim card I minute to late and received a welcome to Australian message from Bell Canada that cost $30.
I picked up my rented bike on the other end of town and bumped along with 2 bags and a bike to a train station that took me to Wollongong, a small town on the ocean where the triathlon is takeing place. I rented a house with another couple about 10k from the village , on the sea. We are staying in a 4 bedroom, 2 story very will appointed house with a garden. The beach is just down the street. My house partners are a couple from Australia who are very nice.
Yesterday afternoon we went to the triathlon site to register. They gave us our tattoo numbers, a large bag, a swimming hat and instructions for the race. We had a meet and greet dinner with the Canadian team at a beach restaurant. Later in the day all the teams got together for the Parade of Nations through town. The streets were lined with 10,000 spectators and there were a lot of television camera. There are 4000 thousand athletes here from 73 countries. There are many races here including the elite race, the age group races , the sprints, the olympics, aqua bike faces and duathalons. I am doing the sprint, age group 75 to 79 race.
For the parade, each nation marched in as a group. We are about 200 on our team. Israel has a small team here. When I saw them, I went over to them, told them that I had been with the IDF and MDA and asked permission to march in with them. They were very. pleased and shock my hand. Some one walked lover to me and asked me if I would wear a ‘free Palestine bracelet .’ I quietly refused telling him that I was on the other side.
Last evening we went out for seafood. I ate burundi fish that I had never eaten before and it was delicious. Today I will go for a swim, relax and catch up on my writing.
Here is a little background for those of you that are new to my blog, on why I do triathlons. 12 years ago while playing hockey, I had 3 heart attacks and a quadruple bypass. I recovered well by doing some serious cardiac retraining. 3 months later, I was racing my sailboat and playing hockey. My friend Glen, who does ironman championships encouraged me to do a triathlon. I really didn’t know what he was talking about as I had never considered myself to be a triathlete. With his help I changed my training pattern and concentrated on triathlon sports. My first triathlon in Montreal was as a sprint triathlon, 750m swim, 20k bike ride and a 5m run. I competed in the age group 65 to 69. I was the only one in the group and of course the only one to finish the race so I won a gold medal.
That gave me a taste for the sport. I play in many different sports but it is very rare that i come first and win a medal. The following years I would do 1 or 2 triathlons a year. Eventually I moved up to the olympic category and continued my winning streak receiving gold or silver medals. If you out live the competition, you have a high likelihood of winning a medal. Once I put a team together to do the half iron man relay where I did the 1.9k swim. We finished in the second quarter. We had a superb runner who dragged us out of the 4th and 3rd quarter to finish the race respectfully.
3 years ago I qualified to become a member of the Canadian National Triathlon Team, Age Group, 70 to 74 and now 75 to 79. The numbers in each group go down considerably as the ages go up. There are only about 20 men in the 75-79 age group that can complete a sprint triathlon. We are 3 in my age group in Australia. 2 years ago, I did the World Championship Triathlon in Hamburg, Germany. and last year I did the same in Torremolinos in Spain. This year the World Championship Triathlon is in Wollongong, Australia. We are about 200 Canadians on our them with 4000 athletes from about 40 different countries.
I train all year for the event. I play 80 games of hockey all year. I race my sail boat in the summer and skied 34 days last winter as a ski instructor and as a ski patroller. On the days that I don’t play, I lift weights for 40 minutes and then bicycle for 60 minutes on my own bike attached to a trainer. I watch netflix or chaiflix to pass the time
I arrived at the airport 3 hours early as I had a stop over in San Francisco and therefore had to go through American customs. This usually a drag and can take 3 hours. This time I was through in 20 minutes. There are virtually no Canadians going through the States. I slept on and off for 6 hours and then had a 1.5 hour lay over in San Francisco. Once on the plane, I took 2 sleeping pills, an appropriate amount of wine to was them down and slept 7 hours. I then watched 3 or 4 dreadful movies.
This is my last evening in Israel and could well be my last entry for this trip. The manager of Maxim Hotel allowed me to have a late check out without paying for the night. That was very nice of him as I know him very well from this year and last year. I have a 6:00 am flight for Ben Gururion Airprort to Vienna with Austrian Airlines. I will try to get a few hours sleep from 10:00 pm to 2:00 am when I will drive to the airport to drop off my car.
If I am lucky they will allow me to stay in the fancy Dan Lounge at the airport for a few hours. My expensive Visa and Master Card credit cards sometimes allow me this privilege. This morning I met up with my cousin Erez and his running partner who I know from previous jogs. He was with his son so they were faster than me and went a head of us. Richard ran at my pace and we covered 9 km in 1:15 or so. We then went out for a 500m swim. The water was cool but great for swimming once you got past the 1st 10 strokes. We then met up with his wife at Golda’s a fabulous ice cream place for frozen yogurts. I hope that I ran and swam enough to work off the calories.
In the afternoon after packing, I went out onto the beach for my last sun tanning and swimming. I lie in the sun for 30 min and then go for a 15 min swim. I also picked up a few rocks on the beach for my kid’s and friend’s rock collection. I walked along the beach until I found the noisiest bar and restaurant. The music is deafening, a real party atmosphere which is just what I need for my last evening in Tel Aviv. I am treating myself to a white fish brochette and a beer while sitting on a high chair at a table over looking the beach. Why not, I guess that I have to celebrate a successful adventure in Israel.
Today Trump is meeting with Iran to discuss nuclear disarmament. In my opinion it is a waste of time as Iran will not budge. They may pretend that they will reduce their nuclear capabilities but their real goal is to develop a nuclear bomb which will make them the most powerful and dangerous Arab country in the Middle East. One way or another their nuclear capabilities must be destroyed. This would probably lead to a revolution in the country against the mullahs who run the country in a religious manner with an iron fist. I worked at a clinic in Toronto run by Iranian doctors. I had many Iranian patients both there and here in Montreal. They are a very well educated, soft spoken, good looking and kind people. An elderly patient is never allowed to come to the office alone. They are always accompanied by a child or grandchild to help with the translation if necessary. They always tell me that they came to Canada to escape the bad government there.
Many times I have tried to engage in a political conversation with Israelis. They are usually reluctant to give an opinion as to what the outcome of the conflict will be. They of course want peace but the question is always at what price. Before Oct 7, things were more or less stable. There had been progress with certain Arab countries with the Abraham Accords. There is 1 thing for certain however, they will never trust the Palestinian leadership as it stands today. Hamas must be destroyed or the ceasefire will only last for 3-5 years allowing them to rearm. Hamas was and I still believe is still supported by the majority of the population in Gaza. A few hundred people in Gaza demonstrating against Hamas does not mean that there is a lack of support for Hamas by the general population. I still vividly remember remember the short clip that can be seen on u-tube of the jeep carrying the German-Israeli girl and the mobs of people cheering as if murdering a poor girl is a great military victory. I still remember the fat Palestinian woman coming up to the jeep and spitting on the poor girl. Why did she do that? Does she not have a daughter herself? Would she like if someone did that to her daughter? Is she still spitting now. Look at the destruction that Hamas has caused to happen in Gaza. There is a famous quote ‘if the Arabs lay down their arms, there will be peace. If the Israelis lay down their arms, there will be no Israel. There will be peace only when the Arabs love their children more that they hate the Jews’.
As for me and my plans for the future, I will return to Canada to continue with my life there. I spent 2 months in Israel last year and 1 month this year. I received no monetary compensation for my efforts. I came here because I was, I am and I will always be a Zionist. I firmly believe that the Jews are a nation and as such have a right to a country. That country is Israel, 15 km wide, and without the desert is 10% smaller than Greater Montreal. Can’t the world accept this fact? In Canada we are facing an election next week in which the outcome is not obvious. 2 of the 3 leaders cannot be counted on to support Israel and hence the Jews in Canada. We have seen a rise in antisemitism in Canada that is unprecedented since WW2. And why? Are not the Jews good citizens in Canada? Do they not contribute to Canada to make the country better for everyone? I have always said, if you come to Canada to live, leave your prejudices and other baggage behind in your old country. Try to integrate and become a Canadian citizen with Canadian values. if not, why did you come here in the first place?
What are my plans for the future? I will come back to Israel next year that is a given. In what capacity will I come back? I am not sure. I will have to see how things develop here in Israel. I wrote my blog every day, spending 1.5 hours writing. The first part of my blot written last year has been made in to a book. I will add the next part on returning home and will include this months adventures. I have more experience but my feelings for Israel not changed. The proceeds of the book with be given to MDA.
The sirens went off at 6:40 in Tel Aviv and all over central Israel. I learned my lesson from last time when I was in Eilat, and put on a pair of pants and a fleece before heading out to the shelter. Everyone in the hotel stood in the stairwell for the 10 minutes that the sirens were going off. We learned later that the Houthis had fired a ballis I wandered over to Dizengoff Square for a late dinner last night and am doing the same tonight. On the circle are several restaurants, three of which I frequent often for dinner. Except for a few grandparents who are taking their children and grandchildren for dinner, I am well past the average age here. Great, I love to be with 20-30-40 year olds as it makes me feel young again. I am always shocked when I walk past a mirror and see a reflection of myself with wrinkles and white hair. I skipped grey and went straight from blond to white after my bypass, 12 years and 15 triathlons ago.
Last year and again this year while at the laundromat and waiting for my clothes to wash and dry, I noticed a storefront gym with young people doing shadow kickboxing without actually fighting, accompanied by loud rock music. Everyone seemed to be sweating and enjoy themselves so I decided, why not, maybe I will give it a whirl. With my 3 days of training in krav maga, why not try a new challenge. I spoke to the instructor who invited me to come to a group class this morning.
There were about 8 of us in the group class, mixed men and women, the oldest of whom could not be more than 35. Great, I felt really at home with the group. We donned 12 oz gloves and then stood in front of the boxing bags, quite heavy and hung from the ceiling. Each of us had our own bag. The instructor then went through different moves of punching and kicking the bag. For each round of 3, he added a new kick or punch. We then moved on to weights with a bar. Most of the students took 30 lbs weights. The instructor gave me 10 lbs to start. He told me to take it easy as this was my first lesson. After lifting the weights we did a series of push ups and sit-ups. Most of the students did 10, 3 times. I was ok for the sit ups but to my surprise, I could only do 5 push ups at a time. I will have to practice before my next session next year. I may consider purchasing a punching bag and gloves at home for my basement.
I came back to the hotel to change into my bathing suit. I learned my lesson yesterday and reserved a beach chair at 9:00 before going out for my kick-boxing lessons. The chairs are hard to come by at 12:00 which I found out yesterday. It was at least 35C today with a slight breeze. There was not enough wind for sailing or kite surging. My usual routine is to lie on the beach chair for 30-45 min and then take a dip in the sea. Today, I felt enthousiastic after my boxing lesson, so I swam out to the breakwater twice, a distance of 1 km.
I ate my Magnum ice cream cone and then went for a manicure in a shop near my hotel. The lady was really nice and did a great job on my nails. It was only the second time in my life that I had a professional manicure.
continuation from paragraph 1,
We learned later that the Houthis had fired a ballistic missile at us. The ballistic missiles are much more dangerous than rockets or drones. They obviously are being given to the Houthis from Iran. Well they asked for it and they are going to get it. The missile was taken out over the water by the iron dome and no damage was done to Israel. However this cannot continue to go on forever without punishment. Trump is again meeting with Iran this Saturday. Neither Iran nor Trump will back down on Iran’s nuclear strategie. Iran has so much oil that they really don’t need nuclear energy unless they are contemplating using it for making a nuclear bomb. If Iran gets a nuclear bomb, every country in the Middle East will get a nuclear bomb. This is like having babies playing with fire. It just won’t work if the world wants to have another generation of children. One way or another, be it through diplomacy or war, the nuclear capacity of Iran must be destroyed.
On this happy note,
Love,
Brian
Dizengoff
my kick boxing instructor
Sirens went off at 6:40 am due to ballistic missile fired by Houthis
I started the morning off with 1 cultural event, a visit to Erez Israel Museum. It is a nice museum with many low rise buildings featuring the development of Israel fromprehistoric times to the present day. Over the centuries, following the destruction of the 2nd temple by the Romans and the beginning of the diaspora, there were many invaders of the land. Prior to the Romans, the land was invaded by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Mamyluks, the Greeks, and the Romans to name a few. After the fall of Rome the land was invaded by the Arabs, the Christians and the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Israel was always a crossroads so many peoples passed through the land. The above list is by no means complete. The final rulers before Israel became a state were the British being given the land by the League of Nations that became known as the Palestine Mandate. I spent 1.5 to 2 hours visiting the museum and as in any museum, one can spend days studying each exhibition.
It was 36C at 1:00 so I went off to the beach for a few hours of sun. As usual I swam out to the breakwater and back, a distance of 500 meters. There was a cool breeze making the day pleasant in spite of the heat. The beach was packed with sunbathers. This is a very different population than what I saw in apartment buildings with MDA. There was 20-25 knots of wind with a westerly wind blowing on shore 1-2 ft waves. There were no sailboats out but the water and beach was filled with kite surfers. At one point I counted 50 kite surfers in the water and flying through the air. It is a wonder that there ropes do not cross each other.
The kite is semi circle about 10 ft long and 2 ft wide. One edge is inflated with air. There are 4 strings attached to the kite which lead into 2 strings that attach to a 1.5 ft bar. The surfer holds onto the bar and also has a belt attachment. The surfer holds board is 4 ft long and 1 ft wide with places for one’s feet. 1 person holds onto the kite and eventually lets it fly. His partner holds onto the bar and puts his feet into the attachments on the board. When the string is taught, the surfer just seems to take off on the water. By switching the bar around, he can control the direction of the kite. Some of the surfers can obtain 20-30 feet in the air. One day when I am older, I must try this sport. It really looks like fun.
Last evening when my new friend Boris and his wife left, 2 young girls sat down next to me. As usual, I cannot forego striking up a conversation with fellow patrons sitting at the bar. My opening line this time was ‘are you American?’ As they were both speaking English and were clearly not English or Australian, American was a safe bet. 1 young lady was here for a short visit. The other lady came after Oct. 7, and has been here for 1.5 years. She started a website on Facebook called Sword of Iron, Israel Volunteer Opportunities. It is a very successful website and has become the go to website for foreigners looking for opportunities to volunteer in Israel. I consult the site almost everyday and often read about the volunteering experiences of fellow travellers. I told her that I write a blog on a website and have been documenting my stay of 2 months last year and 1 month this year with the IDF and MDA. She was most interested in my experience and took note of my blog site. She also encouraged me to write my blog on her website which I will do ASAP. It may drive more readers to my site as well as helping me in the sale of my soon to be published book. I have decided that the proceeds of the book will go directly to MDA.
This morning as usual I was up at 5:30 am in order to get to my base on time. The hotel prepares me a breakfast to go as they only start serving at 6:30. It takes me 20 minutes to drive to the base but 45 minutes to return due to the heavy Tel Aviv traffic at rush hour. Rush hour here seems to be any time after 9:00 am to 7:30 pm. I worked with 2 paramedics with whom I have worked before on several shifts as well as the chief paramedic who is very experienced and according to his employees, has seen and done everything. They defer to him for his opinion on many cases. The cases were very simple today so I will not go into details.
The 1st case was a Californian lady who married an Israeli and has been living in Tel Aviv for several years. She is a runner and was suffering from a severe acute groin injury. She could not get out of bed due to the severe pain. We gave her an analgesic and muscle relaxant and her condition improved. I think that she has a coxo-femoral inflammation in her hip. I had a similar condition last month and could hardly walk. The radiologist gave me a cortisone shot in the hip joint under ultrasound guidance and I was better in 15 minutes. She will probably have the same treatment.
The 2nd case was an elderly patient with minimal chest pain that quickly improved when we arrived. He didn’t require transportation to the hospital.
The 3rd case was a young man with a cardiac history. He had midline abdominal pain. We brought him to the hospital for an u/s to r/o an aneurysm which was an unlikely diagnosis. I think that he has a semi acute pancreatitis and will have the appropriate tests.
The 4th patient was an elderly gentleman with mild chest pain. In cases of chest pain we always to the routine tests in the apartment and in the ambulance and then transport the patient to the hospital.
Today we finished on time at 3:30. I said good-bye to my colleagues and we took the usual selfies. I invited them to contact me if they ever come to Canada. I promised to take them skiing if they come in the winter or to go sailing on my boat if they come in the summer.
I cannot leave Tel Aviv without making some comments on the Israeli drivers. I actually find the drivers to be quite civilized as long as you follow the rules. They accelerate fast but rarely go more than 10-15 k/h above the speed limit. They are very much respectful if you have the right of way. On the other hand if you don’t have the right of way, forget about making a turn or changing lanes. It is faster to go around the block. Waze is superb here. Without Waze I could never get from A to B. There are too many one way streets and the streets go in circles rather than straight lines. Signalling is theoretical here if you want to change lanes. The horn is a most important part of the car and is used very frequently. I think that most drivers can hit the horn faster than they can hit the gas peddle. There is a green 2 way lane for bicycles, scooters and small motor bicycles. You must not make the mistake or walking in a green lane. They don’t expect you to be there and will give no quarter. They is virtually no J walking like in Montreal. Pedestrians have a green little man on the traffic light allowing them to cross. This very well respected both by cars and pedestrians alike. Pedestrians will stand for several minutes waiting for their turn to cross even if there are no cars in sight. There are also pedestrian cross walks in the middle of the the street with no lights. Cars jam on their brakes if they see a pedestrian showing an indication of wanting to cross. I rented a small Kia for getting around. You must have a small car here as parking is at a premium here and the parking spaces are very small. Israelis can get into much smaller spaces than I would willing to try. I mostly walk here for short distances or take the bus. A young man rolled down his window and asked me if I wanted to sell my car. He was disappointed when I told him that the car was a rental.
I am sitting outside at a table in a sushi restaurant. The sushi is ok but rather expensive for what you get. It is 20C, very pleasant to eat outside. I am alone at a small table writing my blog. As usual on a Wednesday evening, the restaurants are full and I had to visit several ones before getting a table, as many to the tables are already reserved. People really know how to enjoy themselves here.
Today once again I had a great team with MDA. I had worked with one of the paramedic last week who is in her training period. I had a driver with whom I had worked as well as the chief of the station. It was like a reunion and I was happy to work again with these highly skilled paramedics. I learn something on every shift and this shift was no different.
Our 1st case was a simple elderly lady with an aspiration pneumonia. She was on IV antibiotics at home and was not improving so we transferred her to the hospital.
The 2nd case was much more exciting. We got the message that there had been an explosion in an apartment building. We could see the smoke rising in the air in the distance. We put the siren on and sped to the building at breakneck speed in the city. When we arrived, the firemen with fire trucks had already arrived. The police were there and there were already several ambulances present. This was a very poor area of town with many new immigrants from Africa. The lady was cooking with propane gas and the tank of propane exploded. The entire front of the apartment was blown out on the street. The firehoses were out and the firemen had already entered the building. If there is one job in the world that I would never do, it would be a fireman. I told that to the paramedic who smiled and said that they have to be very brave. In the end, there were 2 persons injured, not too badly and they were taken away in the first ambulance that had arrived.
The 3rd case was a trauma case that was bad, but could have been much worse. We got an alert that a child had been injured by a pipe and had a penetrating chest wound. We put the siren on and sped to the case. We were doing 150 km/hr breaking my previous record of 140 that I filmed last year. I have never gone so fast in an ambulance. I filmed a lot of the journey and will try to put some of it on my blog in the future. I was not wearing my seat belt as the paramedics usually don’t wear one behind the drivers. When we turned a corner I almost flew… When we arrived, the father had picked up the child and placed him in his truck on the front seat. The 11 year old boy was walking in between 2 buildings when a 2 meter rod, 2 cm in diameter had fallen straight down from the 3rd floor. The child penetrating chest wound 2cm in diameter and 2 cm deep in the anterior triangle of the neck above the clavicle. I never saw someone work as fast and as efficiently as the chief. He examined the wound and then covered it with a bandage. He then secured the arm to the chest with a bandage to prevent movement to the upper arm.
In trauma cases, the paramedics must stabilize and move the patient into the ambulance in 10 minutes. The case took 7 minutes and we were off to the hospital. The metal object had penetrated the skin and muscles but not the lung or chest cavity. The clavicle was visible. The child was very lucky. Had the rod struck his head, 4 cm away, the injury would have been fatal. The rod missed the subclavian artery and vein by 1 cm. That probably would have been a fatal injury as he would have bled out. We did not suspect a neurological injury as the child could move his arm. This will require further testing at the hospital. The child was extremely brave. He did not utter a sound of complaint. He will have a CT scan and surgery immediately on arrival at the hospital. The physicians in the ER were waiting for him when we arrived as we can message them in advance of the injury.
The last case was simple fractured or sprained ankle that we transported to the hospital.
I am sitting in a restaurant at the bar, eating supper, drinking beer and writing my blog. Wine in a restaurant in Israel is very expensive so I usually drink beer. I am at Dizengoff Square again at a different restaurant. Dizengoff Square is packed with people even on a Tuesday evening at 10:00 pm. The vibe here is indescribable. I like to sit at the bar when I am alone as often it gives me a chance to talk to my neighbours. I struck up a conversation with a charming couple who were originally from Soviet Union but have lived in New York for 40 years. He was a urologist in Russia but is now a pulmonary specialist after some retraining. His son is a urologist and does robotic surgery. His name is Boris. He laughed when I told him that I was named after my grandfather Boris but my mother refused to call me Boris Morris. Hence the name Brian Morris, very Anglo and dignified.
I finally got enough sleep to face the day properly. My usual 6hr30min progressed to 7hr and I awoke fully refreshed. ⅔ of my team was new to me today. 1 of the paramedics who is in the army and doing her training with me was with me today. She is both lovely and lovely to work with. The chief of staff of the MDA station was the driver today. He is very experienced in his work and a good driver. The chief of the team was another lovely girl who finished her MDA training with the military in Gaza. For a young girl of 21, she has seen a lot of trauma. She would like to go into medicine. She is currently studying for the SAT exam which is an American exam accepted for admission into Israeli medical schools. She is calm, cool and collective which makes her a very professional paramedic to work with. She explained the admission requirements to get into an Israeli medical school. One way is to apply after high school. This is a 7 year course. The student must at one point go into the army for 3 years. The other way which she has chosen, is to do paramedic training and work as a paramedic both with MDA, a civic ambulance service and as a paramedic in the army. The student then has 4 years of medicine to do. There are 7 medical schools in Israel, all of very good quality. I hope that she is successful with her exams as in my opinion she will make a very good physician. I will be working with the 2 young ladies tomorrow. I am happy as they are very proficient in their approach to patients.
We had 3 patients today which were very routine and I will not describe in detail. The 1st patient was an elderly woman who may have had a urinary tract infection, had been prescribed Cipro and was not doing well. She looked dehydrated so we rehydrated her with ringers lactate. She also had a tender abdomen and will require a full work up including a CT scan of her abdomen. She made a remarkable improvement on arrival at the hospital. 2nd patient was weak and had an abnormal EKG in spite of the fact that he had a pacemaker. The 3rd patient was a routine patient with shortness of breath. I have not seen any major trauma since arriving here in Israel.
It is passover and a number of restaurants are closed for the holidays. Some of my usual restaurants were full and I could not get a table without a reservation. It is Monday night and the restaurants are packed. I walked over to Dizengoff Square where there are several restaurants to choose from. I am sitting at a table over looking the square and just had a dish of shrimps accompanied with a beer. Delicious. The night air is cool and comfortable with Israeli rock music in the background.
Yesterday was a quiet day. I spent the morning getting caught up on my emails. I like to classify my emails every day or so or the total number becomes unwieldy. I owed a few friends a return email. I then went up on the terrace and studied Hebrew. Progress is slow as usual but I give myself credit for trying. It was too cool for swimming and the beach was virtually empty. The sky was blue with a little breeze, the perfect weather for walking around and visiting Tel Aviv. There are always new neighbourhoods to visit.
There are facebook websites called Sword of Iron and Volunteers for Israel where anyone who is a member can post things. There is a useful amount of information about what is going on in Israel. Often one can find places to volunteer for the day or for a week. A lady made a posting for volunteers who were looking for a seder to attend. All of my relatives here were either going away or were having a seder with their in-laws. I decided to accept the invitation and brought a box of Belgian chocolates. One of the volunteers staying at Maxim’s was also invited so we walked over together, a 10 minute walk.
The seder was fabulous. The lady was originally from Montreal and had been living in Israel for 40 years. She is a professional comedian and travels the country and the world giving performances in English, French and Hebrew, an incredible accomplishment. Her husband was an accountant from London. My friend was from Ottawa and has lived all over the world. There was another lady from Montreal who had a long career with the Canadian government. The last fellow had an NGO that helps new immigrants adapt to Israel, finding them jobs and apartments. All together it was a highly intelectual group. It is rare that I meet people who have travelled and even lived in as many or more countries as me. Except for one person, we were all on the better side of 68, a real group of genuine real live hippies from the 60s. You can imagine the conversation or maybe you can’t.
The seder was brief as planned, even shorter than our seder in Montreal. Boray Pree Hagoffen and the meal began. We started off the evening with an orange wine that resembled a dry port wine followed by main course of brisket, salmon and salad. For desert we had cheese cake. The wine and conversation flowed until after midnight although I had to leave at 10:30 as I had to get up at 5:30 for work. The lady’s husband did all the cooking, a first quality home cooked meal.
This morning after a 3 day break a was back to work with MDA in Ramat Gan. I had a new team that as usual was very competent. The driver was an experienced paramedic who had spent time in Gaza and Lebanon. He carried a pistol which is common for the driver. We go into many different areas of Tel Aviv, rich and poor and we are never sure what we can meet. Although I have never had an incident in 2 years, it is reassuring. Although I am well trained after my 3 days training with Krav Maga, in orderto disarm an assailant with a gun, knife or baton, I would rather not have to put my lack of experience to the test. The chief today on our mission had 8 years experience with MDA and had just finished his medical training as a physician. He is in the process of deciding what specialty that he will do. I tried to convince him to do urology. Rounding off the team was a young girl who is still training to be a paramedic. The chief let her do the initial history and physical exam of the patient. Afterwards he gave her a lot of teaching in the ambulance, reviewing the case.
Our 1st case was an elderly female in the last staged of breast cancer. The physicians had stopped active therapy and she was having palliative care. The paramedics discussed the case at length with the family to get an idea of what they wanted for their mother. In the end we decided to bring the lady to Tel Hashomer for further palliative care.
The 2nd case was an elderly man of Yemenite origin. In 1948 Israel brought 48,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel in an operation called Magic Carpet. These Jews had lived in Yemen for almost 2000 years. However the antisemitism had become untenable after the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. 800,000 were forced to leave their homes in Arab countries from 1948 to 1950. They had been living in these countries for 1000 years and left in 2 years with no compensation and not a word from the UN. The man didn’t feel well and all of a sudden, without warning vomited ‘coffee grounds’ all over himself and the floor. Coffee grounds often means partially digested blood in the stomach indicative of internal bleeding. The family, consisting of 6 people didn’t bat an eye lash. They just cleaned it up as if nothing had happened. The floors in most Israeli apartments is made of tile for large plaques of marble 75×75 cm making clean up much more simple than had the floor been made of wooded lattes. We transported the patient to the hospital.
The 3rd case was an elderly man with shortness of breath. He had some crackling at the base of his lungs so we diagnosed that he had congestive heart failure. We gave him 40mg of a diuretic, furosamide and transported him to the hospital. On arrival at the hospital, he voided a large amount of urine and felt much better. His shortness of breath had disappeared and his colour was much improved.
The 4th case was an elderly man who apparently had bradycardia, a slow heart beat. When we arrived he had a high blood pressure but no indication of bradycardia. He was in no acute distress and was not short of breath or had chest pain. We spoke to his family MD who will treat him as an outpatient.
I am writing my blog in one of my usual haunts called Mikes Place. They serve comfort food and the place has big screen TVs on the wall. There is football everywhere. It resembles some of the bars that you find in American ski resorts. On certain nights there is live entertainment but not tonight. I just spilled my bear, missing my ipad and cell phone so the waiter kindly offered me a refill.
gobriantravel 