medical appointment progress

Wow, Someone up there is watching out or us.
This morning I called the orthopedic surgeon who was recommended by Dr. Gur. He is the head of the orthopedics department in Assaf Harofe hospital, and his specialization is hip & thigh. I spoke to his secretary, and she asked for my whole story. I have learned to be able to tell it in 2 minutes or less (on one leg :-), Israelis will understand the pun), and she deemed me worthy of seeing the Big Cheese on an immediate basis. She said "I know you are coming from Be'er Sheva. I can give you a convenient appointment at the beginning of April, or an immediate appointment this coming Thursday at 6AM. This man starts seeing patients from 5AM, and sometimes even 2AM. So, I took the 6AM, of course. Waiting a whole month more is not a working option for me. So how about that? It's going to take some planning, though. It looks like I'll stay Wed. night with my BIL & SIL in Modi'in, about 20 minutes from the hospital where I have to be. Rivka (said SIL) is actually going to try to rearrange her schedule to join me, believe it or not. I completely don't expect her to, but she wants to try to swing it. That'd be great, and over & beyond the call of duty!

I have yet to speak with Prof Giladi, the ID specialist. I put in a call to him yesterday, and also faxed to him the summary that Dr. Gur wrote from the consult last Thursday. I put in another call to him today. I have confidence he'll call back, he always does.

So the new orthopedist is named Prof. Nachum Halperin.
I now have to request coverage from my HMO (Socialized medicine here in Israel, called kupat cholim). They already outright rejected the Ichilov visits and/ or treatments. Thanfully we attained private medical coverage *before I ever got sick*, so in case Kupat cholim (in my case it's Clalit) rejects a certain treatment or medicine for our family, the private one takes over. Again, Someone up there looking out for us. So, today I have to go to the clinic anyway for Azriel's paperwork for the surgery tomorrow (also 6:30 AM!!!!!!!!!!), so I'll put in a petition for this coverage for the consult with Prof. Halperin in the Assaf Harofe hospital. If they choose not to cover it, it'll go through the private coverage. Thank Gd for that. They only cover 70%, but that is 70% better than the option of no coverage!

I don't know when I'll sleep these days. Azriel's surgery is tomorrow and we have to be there with him at 6:30AM (here in a medical center in Be'er Sheva, *not* Soroka). He will be there overnight, but Robert will sleep in the hospital with him. I will be with him all day tomorrow, though, until evening. Then there is Wednesday, in which we will have a sad owwie little boy to take care of which is, of course, very energy-sapping. Then I have to travel on Wed evening to Modi'in to sleep and get up at 5AM to make it to the 6AM appointment. [undoubtedly Robert will be awake more than asleep Wed night to help Azriel be comfortable. Hey, Zimrah lives with us... maybe she can help with that Wed night also, since I won't be here.... we'll talk] No way of knowing when I'll get home from that. Then comes Friday and preparing for Shabbat... I think it'll be cafeteria style take-out food. It's a nice change every now & then. There is a cafeteria here that sets up Friday mornings, for the specific purpose of selling food to people looking to not cook Shabbat meals. We'll see. I do look forward to being with our close friends this Shabbat, no matter how tired!

The Big Guy has take care of me/ us so far, it comes down to having faith that things will be OK. And I have that. :-)