This was my last day in TLV so I did the usual things that one does on the last day. Early morning emails, airline check in, swim to the break water, run 5k and pack. All very exciting. I fly to Paris and on to Montreal tomorrow. Let’s hope that I can do it in 12 hours. The last flight here took 36 hours door to door.
This evening I took Vicki out to eat at a beach side restaurant. The food was so-so but the company with Vicki is always nice. No one knows what the outcome of the war will be. Trump is too crazy to predict. There will be an election in October and hopefully a big change in government. The government just voted that studying Torah is equivalent to going into the army. That unfortunately guarantees support from the Haredi group. The country like the rest of the world is in trouble. No country in the world has a good leader now.
When I return to Montreal I have a busy 5 weeks at the office. I then will retire on Sept 1 after 44 years in practice. I have 3 goals this year: 1, learn to speak Hebrew. I will take an online course and them maybe do an ulpan next summer. 2, promote my book, Swords of Iron. I have several speaking engagements which should lead to sales and donations. 3. Learn to navigate. I can race my J 24 well round the buoys but I can’t do long distance navigation.
I have 3 triathlons lined up. The 1st one is in Wasaga Beach Ontario which I have to win to get on next years Canadian team. The 2nd one is the World Championships in Spain. The 3rd is a relay in Spain at the same time.
I got to bed at 1:30 after watching the World Cup disappointing Final game. But as the saying goes, ‘you win some, you lose some.’ This one ‘we’ lost. I was up bright and early at 9:30 just in time for breakfast which is served from 6:30 to 10:00. I met my Australian friends, M & W, from last night so we had cappuccinos and cinnamon buns together. We arranged to meet at noon to go down to the beach for a swim. W is a good swimmer and a swimming instructor so we swam out to the breakwater together. That is the 1st time in 3 years that I have ever seen a swimmer go out that far. She told me that in Australia she would never go out that far from shore due to the danger of being eaten by a shark. Why tempt fate. They left for Haifa later in the afternoon. They are on a 3 month world tour, ending up in Vietnam which leaves me drooling with envy. Next year!?
After my usual, I took a beach cold water shower and had the 6:00 soup and wine provided by the hotel. This evening, I decided to visit the beach side, 5* hotels. I have photographed them from the beach many times but have never ventured inside them. I took the initial picture from the outside from several angles. I then went inside to photograph the lobby. The final photo was taken of the main restaurant.
All of the hotels are beautiful and worth staying in if 5* hotels is your ‘thing’ and of course if you are willing to spend the money. I usually avoid 5* hotels when I am travelling, trying to stay in B&Bs or 2-3* hotels. I will stay in a 5* if a medical conference is being held there as we always get a group rate. The hotels did not disappoint me with their overall decor. The lobby’s and the restaurants were all tastefully decorated. The food prices, except for the Kapinski, were on par with the local nice restaurants. The prices of the hotels ranged from $500 to $1000 to $2000 per night. A pasta meal or a big Israeli salad could be had for $30. A fish meal was double that except for the Kapinski where the prices are much higher. Kapinski is really top tier, followed by the Hilton and the Sheraton. The Carlton, Renaissance, Herod, and Crown Plaza are just 1 step down but still nice. There are other nice hotels here but I concentrated on the ones on the beach. Next time I am here, I will have an Israeli salad in each one for comparison.
I am sitting in one of my favourite beach side restaurants that I have frequented in the past. The sea is black and I can hear the waves lapping the shore. There is soft rock music in the background, not loud enough to disturb. I am on my 2nd Tuboug beer to go with a falafel. It is 25C with a cool breeze. There is no better way to spend an evening in TLV. I walked on the board walk for 2.5 hours to do my photos. There must have been 1000s of people out, strolling, running, skateboarding, bicycling, and scootering. TLV has to be one of the nicest places to be in the summer. There are very few cities in the world of this size which have a beach-waterfront so easily accessible.
Yesterday I felt that I had had enough sun so I took the day off to walk around Tel Aviv. TLV is a great city and fun to visit on foot. I needed a new mouse as they tend to break if you drop them too many times. The price was the same as in Montreal which surprised me as everything else, from restaurants to apartments is much more expensive. I still managed a good swim and a run. My afternoon snack consisted of a frozen yogourt at Golda’s but I found the taste too sweet and will stick with ice cream for my next treat.
I met a nice couple from Australia and we spent the evening together watching the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. Billed as Europe vs South America or Palestine vs Israel, depending on how you look at politics. It was supposed to be a thrilling match between 2 championship teams. Unfortunately, the game was uninspiring for us. We came down to the beach front restaurants at 8:30, expecting to easily find seating. Everything was either reserved or had long lineups to get in. We walked down the beach for a while eventually finding seats off to the side but with a reasonable view of the screen if you had binoculars. There were at least 2000 fans on the boardwalk and on the sand watching the game, eating and drinking at our chosen restaurant.
Spain had 20 shots and 12 on goal. Argentina had 2 shots and none on goal. The Argentina goal tender kept them in the game until the 2nd overtime period, stopping 11 shots allowing a 1 goal victory by Spain. The Spanish midfielders were on top of Mesi every time he touched the ball. The audience was silent for the whole game, as Argentina’s performance gave us no reason to cheer. After the game, we filed away quietly to lick our wounds. The game ended at 1:15 AM so I slept in this morning.
In Israel, everything is very quiet here on Friday nights as people spend Shabbat with their families and most restaurants are closed. That changes completely on Saturday when the whole city descends upon Tel Aviv Beach in spite of the fact that it still is Shabbat.
For the last 2 weeks, except for the weekend, I was up at 5:30 and usually didn’t get home until 5:30 pm. Given the fact that I find it difficult to go to bed early, I have been sleep deprived the whole 2 weeks. Last night for a change of pace, I slept for 8.5 hours. That is close to a record for me who usually goes on 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep per night all year.
I woke up fully refreshed and ready to start the day and my 4 days of holiday. I had my usual full filling breakfast and then headed upstairs to the roof top terrace to catch up on my emails. It is amazing how much emails pile up in this day and age if you don’t select, file and turf what you don’t need on a daily basis.
The rest of the day was filled with R + R (rest and relaxation for those of you who have not watched MASH in the 80s). Without going into details, I rented a beach bed, suntanned, swam to the breakwater twice, ran 5k, Magnum ice cream at 4:00). The beach was rather crowded but far less son than the Riviera beaches. I had to duck footballs, volley balls and paddle ball games which slowed down my run a little. I am now as dark or even darker than most Israelis. However, they still address me in English in bars and in restaurants. But, 1 French lady addressed me in French (do I now look French). 2 young Americans asked me if I spoke English (to them, do I now look Israeli). Their question was, ‘what were the dates of WW1?’ I guess with my white hair they must have thought that I could be a veteran of the Great War.
After a light supper of soup, wine and a fruit salad I took a stroll on the boardwalk. The whole town is out tonight. All the bars and restaurants are doing a great business. There are musicians out playing sax, guitar or just singing. There is a championship game of beach-volleyball-football with hundreds of spectators. It consists of a volleyball net on the sand and 2 players. They use a football (soccer ball) and hit it back and forth with their feet, chests and heads. It is amazing how long they can keep the volley going while being encouraged by the noisy crowd.
I am writing my blog, enjoying the warm summer breeze, overlooking the Med, sipping a beer and eating fries. Lovely. Tomorrow is the FIFA final between Argentina and Spain. I will try to arrive early to get a seat as the place will be packed. Israel is routing for Mesi (who is very pro Israel) and Argentina as Spain has a reputation of being very antisemitic.
Today I had a 9 to 5 shift with MDA which was a 1st for me. The 1st case involved a middle aged female patient with mild chest pain. We did the usual MDA work up before deciding that this was not an acute coronary syndrome. We gave her pain medication but no nitro. We then transferred her to Sheba Medical Centre for further evaluation and treatment.
The 2nd patient was a young man coming from Russia with his mother by plane. He presented with a rash (urticaria).We were called to rule out an anaphylactic reaction. The patient was in no acute respiratory distress. We brought him to a paediatric hospital.
The 3rd patient proved to be much more difficult in both complexity, diagnosis and treatment. The patient lived in Jaffa an Arab/Muslim neighbourhood which is renowned for crime but can be visited without fear during the daytime. A neighbour called the police to intervene with an elderly female patient exhibiting a psychotic, aggressive reaction. She was screaming and accusing her neighbours of many atrocities. The police called us for further evaluation. We spoke to the patient through a locked door which she would not open. The police then banged on the door to no avail.
After an hour of persuasion she consented to open the door. She would not settle down or allow us to bring her to hospital. We are not allowed to administer antipsychotics medication or to forcibly bring her to hospital unless she is a danger to herself or to others. This was not the case. We then called for back up which consisted of an MDA nurse trained for patients in psychosis. After 1 hour of discussion, the nurse called a physician for advice. The physician ordered antipsychotic medication to be administered by force if necessary. The police held the patient and the nurse gave her IM Haldol which calmed her down enough to allow us to bring her to the ER for further treatment. The entire process took 3 hours.
This evening I listened to a talk organized by Sar-El at Maxim Hotel. An Israeli, originally from Ethiopia gave an interesting rendition of his early life in abject poverty in a village in Ethiopia. The Israeli government arranged for a large scale rescue of the Ethiopian Jews to Israel. These people considered themselves to be Jewish and were unaware that a Jewish community existed elsewhere in the world. There customs were far different from modern Judaism. The religious leaders in Israel forced them to undergo a Jewish conversion which was very insulting to them. After 1 or 2 generations they have inter married with the resident Israelis and have been accepted into the community. The speaker, with no education, studied hard, served in the army and eventually became a professor.
I am at Mike’s one of my dinner hangouts. Once again I was served by a waitress who was originally from Ukraine and recognized me from previous visits.
Last evening I decided to eat a light meal. I ate the usual soup at Maxim’s accompanied by my usual glasses of red wine. I had an orange and an apple saved from breakfast so I asked for a yogourt, mixed it with the fruit and made a fruit salad. Not bad for a guy who once boiled an egg and burned it.
I had a great team today with MDA, very efficient and kind to the patients. We had 3 cases of note as well as several cancellations for unknown reasons.
The 1st case was a 60 y/o lady who often comes to the hospital for a COPD exacerbation. This has in no way diminished her smoking habit. This time she had shortness of breath and a tightness in her throat due to perhaps an allergic reaction. She had quite a character and had us laughing all the time. She insisted on giving us candies. We brought her to the ambulance and initiated treatment with ventolin. Her condition improved rapidly and we transferred her to the hospital at a regular speed.
The 2nd case involved a 50 y/o worker who was suffering from minimal chest discomfort and palpitations on a construction site. We took a history and physical exam and placed him on an EKG monitor. His EKG was normal as were his VS. Nevertheless we transferred him to a hospital for monitoring, tropes, possibly an angiogram and holter monitor to rule out an arrhythmia.
The 3rd case was much more exciting. We were called to a rehab centre where a 70 y/o male patient who had suffered a stroke, was now presenting with the tonic and clonic contractions seen in acute epilepsy. He was unconscious of course. The team worked extremely quickly. We installed an IV and gave him an anti epileptic medication. We then placed an oro-pharyngeal tube in his mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue and to help him breathe better. We gave him oxygen and monitored his EKG. We rushed him to the hospital with sirens blazing. A report was emailed to the hospital. The physicians were standing by, awaiting our arrival. A stroke can mean either an intracerebral clot or a bleed. A CT scan will tell the difference and ‘clot buster’ medication can be administered if a clot is present. Time is of the essence to limit the brain damage.
I am now siting in one of my favourite restaurants on Dizengoff Square where all the action is in Tel Aviv. Dizengoff Square is really a circle. In the middle of the square, there is a fountain lined with photos of the Israelis who we lost in the war. This is very similar to what I saw 2 years ago when pictures of the hostages were present.
Trump and Iran are still trading missiles with some falling on other Arab states. For the moment, Israel is sitting on the sidelines but that could change any minute. France is out in FIFA World Cup with England and Argentina advancing to the finals. Mesi is openly very pro Israel so it is obvious which team we are routing for.
After completing my blog on the terrace yesterday, I went down to the beach for my daily athletic event. I swam to the breakwater twice, a distance of 1k and then ran 5k on the beach. Some people have told me that they have been stung by jelly fish so I will have to be more careful with my swim. I wear swim goggles so I should be able to identify one before getting stung…
I purchased a day ticket that allowed me to go back and forth from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for 24 hours as well as to take unlimited trips on the local bus and light rail system in both cities. I met my cousin, David, in Jerusalem in front of the City Hall. The trip to Jerusalem takes 45 min and the light rail trip takes 10 min. I first met David 50 years ago in Trout Lake at my grandmother’s cottage and renewed acquaintances with him 2 years ago. He was a rabbi in the Israeli Air Force and now does IT research for the government. We are diametrically opposite on the religious spectre and still get along superbly. We went to an upscale restaurant in an upscale mall and had a wonderful dining experience together. I broached the political subject of the solution to the current crisis hoping naively for incite or an answer. Unfortunately at the present time there is none. I personally don’t think that Israel will strike Iran first unless Trump asks them to do so. On the other hand, Iran is striking Middle Eastern countries at will on a daily basis. I am scheduled to fly back to Canada on July 22. I have made a decision to stay and work with MDA if rockets are flying in Tel Aviv before I leave.
Today I worked an early shift with MDA. We had multiple false starts that were cancelled before arriving. The 1st case of note involved a 44 y/o worker how had a heart attack and cardiac arrest on the 5th floor of a building under construction. The white, BLS ambulance arrived first. The patient was in ventricular fibrillation requiring shocks twice. We learned of this before arriving, by the web. We ran up to the 5th floor with all our heavy equipment. They don’t let me carry anything probably believing that it would be too much of an effort on my part. They are right, 5 floors at full speed is enough cardiac exercise for me.
On arrival, the patient had partially regained consciousness. We did the usual routine, IV, EKG, oxygen, blood sugar, BP, pulse, fluids etc. We placed the patient on a back board for precaution. 6 of us then carried the patient down the stairs to our ambulance. We rushed the patient to the hospital with sirens blazing.
The 2nd patient was a small child with a possible anaphylactic shock from peanuts. This was not really the case but we took the patient to the hospital with appropriate monitoring for precaution.
I met several people at the Maxim daily cocktail, one of whom is a French-Israeli author and film maker of note. He has a Wikipedia page describing his accomplishments. That is my next goal. We exchanged emails and formed a WhatsApp group. Perhaps this will help me to advance my book sales.
I had an early shift today with 3 paramedics, 1 of whom I worked with last year. He is a physician who has completed his army service and is currently doing a rotating internship. He is considering doing ether paediatrics or paediatric surgery. I have him some advice. If he is intellectual he should do a medical speciality such as paediatrics. If he is good with his hands, he should do paediatric surgery. He will do a rotation at Schneider Paediatric Hospital and then make his decision. Today he gave me a brief tour of the hospital which has 1500 beds. There must be an endless supply of beds here as I have never seen anyone wait for more than 5 minutes in the ER and they appear to do a triage and hospitalize the patient very quickly.
The 1st patient was an elderly male, 76 years old. He was extremely skinny, lying in bed, on chronic oxygen therapy. On arrival in the apartment, I perceived a definite smell of cigarette smoke. We examined the patient who had shallow rapid breathing and many crepitations in his lungs. His EKG and BP were relatively normal. We gave him a treatment with ventolin inhalation and IV paracetamol and his condition improved. We then transferred him to the hospital.
The 2nd was a 77 year old female who had tripped on a small rug in front of her bed. She was lying on the floor with a deformed hip and her foot turned outward indicating a fractured hip. There was very little room to manoeuvre between her and the wall. We took a sheet off her bed and skillfully slid it under her. We collapsed the stretcher to a position 6 inches off the floor. We then lifted her onto the stretcher holding onto the sheet.
The 3rd patient was an elderly female of unspecified age. She was lying on the floor, obviously dead. We took an EKG which was flat lined. These people come from very tough stock. The husband was present, gave us a brief history, showing no emotion at all. He then took a picture of his deceased wife murmuring ‘this will be the last picture on my beautiful wife.’ In these cases we do not bring the patient to the hospital. The apartment was the most beautiful apartment that I have seen in Tel Aviv. There were floor to ceiling window giving a wonder view of the city including the sea. The floor was made of her black granite.
We had a couple of other cases which were cancelled on route that I need not describe.
Tonight, I will be dining with Vicki and her son for Shabbat. I bought a nice bottle of Italian wine from a wine merchant who was originally from Lyon and had been living in Israel for 44 years. I presented myself as a Francais-Anglophone from Canada who had lived for several years in Reims. He told me that the situation for French Jews in France is terrible. They are attacked from the left and the right wing as well as by the Arabs. They dare not wear a Magen David in public for fear of being beaten up. The ‘centre’ does nothing to protect them. Many Jews from France have purchased property in Tel Aviv and Natanya. Many others are considering leaving. What is this world coming to? Why should Jews living outside of Israel be blamed for Middle Eastern politics. Can you imagine if someone in Canada punched a Quebecois in the face for what the French did to the Hurons 300 years ago!!
Today I did my 1st shift on an MDA ambulance. The day started off slowly and ended up even slower. I was with a very good team so the shift was fun anyway. One of the paramedics was doing his last year of training. He had already done his 3 years of military service and then spent 2 years travelling around the world. He is hoping to get into medical school the following year.
The 1st call was reported to us as a drowning. While racing along to the beach, the call was cancelled as the would be patient started swimming. The 2nd call was for a lady unconscious but breathing and lying on the street. On the way to the scene, the call was cancelled as the lady woke up and walked away.
The 3rd call was a terrible tragedy. We were called to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The house was a beautiful white bungalow on a large property that was in the process of being renovated. We were told that a young 22 year old man was unconscious on the floor. The family had not seen him since the evening before. When we arrived it was obvious the man was dead and had been dead for several hours as rigor mortis had already set in. There was a computer with several screens on the desk and empty bottles of psychiatric medications near by. The young man was a Muslim and in service with the IDF. His father was away on business, apparently a CEO of well known bank. The police, 2 motorcycle ambulances, a white BLS ambulance and us in a yellow MICU ambulance were all present but there was nothing to be done except to pronounce him as deceased. I can say no more. We were all saddened by the apparent suicide.
The 4th call evolved an elderly woman living in a hospice. She had a severe history of cardiac disease and had had a stroke in the past. Her medical history, type written on 3 pages was given to us. We made the initial diagnosis of septic shock and did the appropriate management, IV fluids, epinephrine, history and physical exam, etc. She appeared to improve in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. On arrival, she was transferred to the hospital stretcher, placed in an ER room and had medical attention with physicians and nurses immediately. In Israel, I have always been impressed with the efficiency of the medical system when we bring a patient to the hospital.
The last call at 3:00 just as our shift was ending was a psychotic patient who had stabilized so the call was cancelled.
I returned to my hotel and went down to the beach. There were 1meter waves making swimming difficult. I swam ¾ of the way to the breakwater and back twice. Going out any farther would have been dangerous. The life guards were whistling people in if they swam out too far. I then ran 5k on the beach in less than 44 min.
I took a short nap and then went to La Mer restaurant to eat and watch the Egyptian – Argentina game. The place was packed with chairs and tables extending out onto the sandy beach. There were at least 1000-2000 fans present. Everyone was routing for Argentina especially after the incident which occurred after Egypt won their last game. The Egyptian coach ran onto the field after the win with a Palestinian flag saying that the team had won the game for Palestine. Politics are not supposed to be allowed at World Cup tournaments, but the incident was ignored by the refs. Egypt erected a huge high wall between Gaza and Egypt to keep the Palestinians out. I guess that he forgot about that wall. The restaurant was dead silent after Egypt took the lead with 2 goals. I was still hopeful that Mesi would prevail with goals. He did not disappoint us. In the closing minutes of the match, Argentina took the lead with 3 goals winning the match. The place went wild with everyone celebrating and congratulating each other. What a win!!
I struck up a conversation with a gentleman sitting beside me at the table. His name is Mikolaj Zalasinski and is a famous opera singer. He has been invited all over the world to be the lead singer in several operas. He will be singing in the opera, Tosca in the Tel Aviv opera house. He will try to get me invited as a guest. They have been practicing for several weeks. I love opera and will be very excited if he can get me a ticket. He was very impressed that I wrote a book about Israel. Apparently, his grandmother is Jewish.
I slept for 8.5 hours so I think that I am all caught up from sleep deprivation from the time change and my 36 hour voyage from hell. As they say, no pain, no gain.
Last evening I wandered over to Mike’s one of my favourite brasseries on the beach. It was a warm 23C with a cool breeze, just right to have a beer, in a pub, with the Med in the background, and watch the Norway-Brazilian football World Cup match. I was at a table with a family of Brazilians who had made Aliyah to Israel many years ago. They were very friendly and expressive but unfortunately it did not help their team win the match.
At the Maxim Hotel, you are free to sit at almost any table as the hotel caters to volunteers. I played ‘Jewish geography’ with a lady who was originally from Montreal and now lives in Toronto. She grew up in the CDN and CSL areas and we had many common acquaintances. I then spoke at length with a lady originally from South Africa and who now lives in Australia.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach doing my usual activities. I am really a beachcomber at heart. In my spare time there is nothing more that I would like to do. I am not really very intellectual at heart. I was 30C with a slight breeze and only the occasional 2 foot breaker. I swam to the breakwater, 500m there and back with ease. The life guards must be getting used to me swimming out that far as they didn’t whistle me in. I didn’t hear a whistle anyway and I was the only one out swimming that far. I then jogged 5k on the beach knocking off 2 min from my time yesterday. If I continue at this rate I will be down to 0 in 3 weeks which is impossible if you do the math.
I bought a Magnum ice cream bar at 3:30 and got so excited by the prospect of eating an ice cream on the beach, that I got carried away and dropped my credit card on the sand. A ‘kid’ picked it up and spent 135 shekels ($65) before I could cancel it. It must have been a kid, as a pro would have made an attempt to empty my bank account. The store got the thief on their camera and I will review it later in the week. I don’t know if they have ‘wanted dead or alive’ posters here.
I am at the La Mer Restaurant overlooking the beach eating my 1st solid meal in 3 days. I really have not been hungry and except for breakfast, have only consumed liquids. There is a live band here to encourage me as I devour a margarita pizza and a local Maccabi draft beer.
Tomorrow, I will do my first shift with MDA so you can expect a full account of my cases.
gobriantravel 