Sickness and Wall Street

I got a cold the day I left Sydney. Then I was really sick for my first week here. Then in my 2nd week, little did I realise, I was incubating the tonsilitis virus, then I managed to catch a virus that Eli had- which is not connected at all to my present state of tonsilitis (Eli doesn't even have tonsils so I didn't get it from him). My immune-system is absolutely shot. My glands in my neck were so swollen for a few days, they were the size of big grapes.

I had one night alone here on Thursday night when Eli had to stay in Jerusalem. I came home after hanging out with Shir and catching up from the last 5 years that we hadn't seen each other. It was so great to see her. We spoke and spoke, went to a cool bar.. and I was conscious the whole night that I was feeling cold. Inside the bar I had my scarf and my coat on and I was shiverring. After a sleepless night of shivering and shvitzing, I got up to go to the toilet at about 8am on Friday. I was dizzy and weak and low blood pressurey and on my way back to the bedroom I took 2 panadols and put them in my hand... then I fainted. First time in my life. Pretty scary experience. Especially because I was alone. I totally blacked out, and when I came to, I was lying splat on my back in the kitchen and my head was throbbing (we have tiled floors all throughout the unit). I remember opening my eyes and the first thing I was looking at was my hand on the ground. I was wearing Eli's pyjama top. I thought it was Eli's hand. But it was definitely mine. But what was I doing on the floor??? I was so disorientated. Then I got up, grabbing every wall I could for support, and I tried to continue walking to my bedroom, (The Dr at the hospital gave me excellent advice- if this EVER happens to me again, particularly as I do have low blood pressure, I am not to get up, but instead I should stay horizontal and put my legs up in the air for a while to get my blood circulating... great. Wish I'd been given this advice earlier)...and anyway, the next thing I know my eyes open and I've fallen splat on my back for the 2nd time, right near the entrance of my room- my head absolutely pounding. I dont know how long this journey from the toilet to the room took me. I have no idea. All I know is it took me forever to get off the floor, I was just lying there, helpless, in such pain, and i saw myself in the mirror- white as a ghost- More white than I remember Maya on her first night in Amsterdam. And that was WHITE.

Then I had to crawl on all fours back to bed, and I wanted to take my 2 panadols, but I couldn't remember what happened to them. This will always be a mystery. Til this day I still don't know what happened to those damn panadols... they are nowhere to be found. Probably flew into the kettle or the wasking basket or something. I found 2 Neurofen next to the bed, but i didn't have enough strength to even open the lid from my watter bottle so i swallowed the tablets dry! Eeuuwwwww I am NEVER doing that again. I gagged for ages. I called Eli and cried. He told me to go on all fours and crawl to the kitchen to get a different water bottle. He stayed with me on the phone as I crawled to the kitchen. I decided instead to pour myself some water from the kettle. He called me periodically throughout the day and came home as soo as he could. We called off our trip to Haifa and had our own Shabbat dinner.

On Saturday morning I woke up and vomitted a lot. Mum and Dad called and Mum begged me to go see a Dr. The Russian Dr I went to in the hospital confirmed that I have tonsilitis, and that the virus was something separate which has passed now (it's true, Eli only had it for 2 days), and he said the vommitting was probably just related still to my head injury- I'm not very balanced.. It's either that or the fish Eli cooked for me the night before. I swear I have bad luck eating Eli's fish. It's the 2nd time he made me fish, the first time -in Waverley, he had to rush me to hospital bc I got a bone wedged in my throat...

aaaannyywaayy

I'm on antibiotics and sucking lots of strepsils and taking panadol equivalents for the head pain. (every time I cough my head throbs) Back of my head is still bruised. Makes sleeping difficult. Especially because my neck and shoulders and back are also very sore from the fall. I'm getting lots of massages though & Eli is treating me like a princess. I really can't complain about anything. I am one very lucky girl. 2nd time I fainted I was very close to our heater. Could have been much worse. Besides, I am revelling in this new found freedom of having the time to write and read and play scrabble... and go for walks and discover more about my cool neighbourhood.. and I dont feel like there's anything else I should be or need to be doing right now....

I start the training for my job at Wall Street ('Val Strit') on Dec 11. That's this Sunday. It's going to be very intensive. I'm excited. I'm getting a working visa which is, as every one warned me about, indeed 'verrrryy complicated'- but I'm very fortunate. I got the english teaching job at Wall Street- after only being here for 2 weeks!!! Lots of people immigrate to Israel so the competition for these kinds of jobs is fierce. It's a full-time job. So I will no longer be a full time domestic slave. As much as I was loving it....