Get Out Of Town

it is 7:30 a.m. in the holy city of safed.  i took the dogs out at 6:00 a.m.  they woke me up and wouldn't let me go back to sleep.  i went to a playground and there was a large pit bull with his owner.  the owner was siting on a bench enjoying the morning air. and the dog was enjoying the grass.  it took me a moment to see that the dog was not on a leash.  it took my dogs a moment before they started to yipe.

the man got the dog back on the leash in a moment.  i see him and his dog every day.  the dog is never on a leash .  he seems quite docile and possibly elderly; but i am afraid of these types of dogs.  i watch videos of 'pitties' all the time.  i am still afraid of them.   i say a silent prayer every morning as i leave the house; that i don't have a run in with a wild animal or a viscous dog. it helps.

i am going out of town this morning to my gyn oncological appointment near tel aviv.  i am taking a taxi.  i am beginning to feel anxious. i have fretted for weeks about going.  i cannot travel on a crowded bus anymore.  on Thursday, the soldiers are going home and the busses are full.  i am pretty scared to be going to a major hospital, too.  there have been many corona patients there.  my neighbor's daughter is a nurse there and she told me it was very safe now.

i am beginning to shake a bit.  i am not afraid that i will get bad news from the doctor.  i am more afraid that i might contract the rona.  a few years ago, i went for a pre surgical visit a week before my scheduled brain surgery and contracted the flu and remained ill for a few months.  i never rescheduled the surgery.  i am due for an MRI and will call the hospital next week. isn't life grand!

i just broke my nightly 13 hour fast.  i had some slices of organic rye bread with a few slices of additive and lactose free cheese.  i will have my chai tea, shower and get ready to be out of here.  the taxi should arrive in half an hour.  i hope the doctor notices my weight loss.  oh vanity, oh vanity!

update:  i got back to safed at 3:00 p.m.  what a luxury being picked up and waited for and then dropped off at home!  the trip was only two hours each way. i left at 9:00 a.m. and was home in six hours.  that included the hour and 3/4 wait to see the oncologist.  when i travel by bus i always take a taxi to rosh pina and catch the express bus to tel aviv.  that usually takes 2 1/4 hours.  i then catch a bus to the hospital which is about a 45 minute ride.  when i return i almost always wait an hour for a bus back to tel aviv which entails a 45-50 minute trip.  i then usually wait another hour for a bus back to rosh pina and a 2 1/2 - 3 hour ride.  from rosh pina i usually catch a taxi to my neighborhood.  the entire trip including waiting for the doctor takes me more than 12 hours.

the ride was very expensive.  i was just too scared to go all the way there on crowded city busses.  i got a rave report so i'm good for another year.  i checked out all the ladies there.  i wondered who was pregnant and who was doing fertility treatment and who was fighting cervical cancer.  i didn't once think who had the covid 19.  the waiting room was quite full but they divided the chairs and kept a space between seats.  all in all, it was a good day.