Last chopper out of 'Nam

I had to leave Israel to go home. Hamas ruined my day. There was a suicide bomber loose in Kfar Saba and I had to be on standby in case something blew up. It was a very tense 7 hours. This combined with others on my program leaving for home had me very on edge. Ultimately the suicide bomber was arrested, but I was still very shaken. I spent an afternoon on the phone to get my flight out. Apparently I was put on one of the few open seats untill August. All the tourists are leaving now. I got to see some good runs such as a number of ankle fractures, a number of MVAs and even a motorcycle accident. I also got to party a few good nights, but for now this blog is closed untill I find other use for it. I now leave this open letter to Hamas.


To Hamas:

Please stop sucking and be funnier. I mean seriously; those ski masks are so out. Every terrorist group has them and they just do not look scary anymore. It is sort of like the way goth is just loserish and not scary anymore. Get with it Hamas. On a more serious note: you are another group who is ruining the collective good time of my people. This letter orders you to cease and desist all activities contributing to my people's bad day. Failure to comply will result in a severe beating which will be delivered 4-6 weeks by standard mail.

signed,


The Ambulance in the Artist.

Only a few more weeks left

Time does certainly fly. There are about 2 and a half weeks left to my program. I have seen 3 members of our group leave. I would not blame them with everything that has been going on. It means there will be a number of unfilled shifts as they farmed us out to Herzelia as well as the Kfar Saba station. There is no sign of them filling those spots anytime soon either. Hopefully the high school kids who usually fill the stations can pick up the slack. This should not matter though as the call volume has gone down dramatically.

The lucky break that I just found out was that the Israeli Air Force destroyed a missile which had enough range to hit Tel Aviv. Kfar Saba, where I am stationed is north of Tel Aviv. I am also thankful there is the wall which was built at the green line as Kfar Saba is 2 miles away from it. I feel safe running at night because of it. I will be taking a trip to Bayit Vagan on Thursday and will re-assess things once I get back that Sunday night. The mood has become more depressed among the members of my group and things have become too quiet.

Bombs Bombs and more Bombs

I left off from my last post saying how a few cities were hit by rockets. Now a large number in the north have been hit and Haifa as well. The Mason-Dixon line of where not to travel has been pretty well set at Haifa. My friend who was stationed in Carmiel has been since moved to Be'er Sheva and others up north have been moved as well. It was eerie watching the news at the station and hearing about all the attacks. This brings me to my open letter to the government of Lebanon.


To the Government of Lebanon:


Please stop ruining the good times of all those Haifa and north. The Hezbolla is making everyone miserable most of all me. Haifa was a place I wanted to visit. This letter orders you to cease and desist all activities which are contributing to my people's collective bad day. Failure to comply will result in a severe beating which will be delivered 4-6 weeks by standard mail.

Thanks,

The Ambulance in The Artist

Holy @#$%^&*( it's a war zone!!

Just when I thought everything settled to a dull routine, there was a nice shakeup. First off my routine of emergency medical taxi on the לבן (BLS bus) was broken by being allowed to ride the נטן (ALS bus). That unit is never called unless there is something seriously wrong. I had one run where we picked up someone who had a hematoma on his head the size of my fist. The run right after was most memorable. We were called to do an ALS intercept for a patient who had gone into convulsions and lost consciousness. They transferred the patient to our ambulance and we got to work. Of course since I am not a paramedic I assisted and took vitals. He responded to painfull stimuli only by the time we got ahold of him, but apparently he walked on his own into the original ambulance. I saw he had one blown pupil: not good. He was also rapidly losing consciousness. The paramedics decided they did not the way his airway was and decided to intubate him. They tried 3 times with one size of tube but he would not tolerate it. He became a vomit fountain and my EMS pants needed cleaning. Finally after trying a different tube, it was tolerated and we took him to the trauma center. Our patient was also nice enough to bleed all over our ambulance so we had to decon it for almost 2 hours.

As for the title of the post: I am witnessing soldiers moving up the highway to the north of me. APC's everywhere. The Hezbola shot missiles into Tzfat and Kiryat Shmonah today and many were wounded. There were also 2 soldiers kidnapped. Israel is now shelling Lebanon into the stone age. There were reserves called up as well. It appears to be a large operation in the works. We have had travel restrictions placed on us. We cannot go any farther north than Haifa untill otherwize notified. It really brings the news much closer when I know I am maybe 2 or 3 hours away from it.

Wow more frequent posts!!

I spent this weekend on the beach in the Kineret. I came home with a new appreciation for the sun as my superhero name should be Count Superchalk. This is at least untill now. Three years in no sun drained my skin of any color. It was a fun trip overall. I had never taken a vacation this long before. I have finally become acclimated to my surroundings.

My friend A took me and a few of her friends camping at the Kineret. We arrived in a dusty, grimy car and left that way too. In between there was a ton of tanning, swimming and BBQ'ing. Another friend of hers who was a Druz came by our camp and made us some genuine Arab food. It was consumed like a fat kid and chocolate cake. The posts have been hurried because I barely get much time to compose my thoughts. This week I can ride the mobile ICU's so hopefully the calls become more interesting and depart from "Emergency Medical Taxi".

Not too much new to report

I finally did some souvenier shopping and also picked up some yummy Israeli snacks and nuts. The picture which is my backdrop as I am writing this speaks for itself.

Calls Calls and more Calls

I know it has been a while since the last post so I'll get everyone up to speed. I have started running calls and a blur of a week later I realize I have 3 more weeks to go. I worked a mix of day and night shifts. The calls all seem to be the same as the ones back home. There have been a lot of taxi runs from nursing homes. I have also seen a few car accidents but nothing serious. I suppose my time will come and I will work a code or 2 or perform an extrication.

I have settled into life at the absorbtion center pretty nicely. I have gotten used to the fridge which needs duct tape to hold it closed. I have gotten used to the 2 meager burners on my stove which need a match or lighter to start them. I finally will get to a beach tomorrow. I hope.