I got up at about 5:00 this morning and was out of here and walking to the airport by 6:30, having already eaten a good breakfast.
My flight to Tel Aviv took off precisely at 8:00, just as scheduled, and at about 8:45, I started my walk from the Sde Dov airport in Tel Aviv to the Assuta Hospital. I arrived there at about 10:20 or so. I had stopped to rest 2 or 3 times on the way and also bought a soda at a gas station.
The first thing the doctor did was to inject some kind of contrasting substance into my vein (probably a radioactive isotope of iodine). Then she told me I was free to go out and do whatever I wanted until 1:15. She also said I should drink 5 cups of water during that time. So most of the time I just sat and relaxed, but I also walked over to a Landwer Café close to the hospital and had their delicious buckwheat mixture, with yams, carrots, mushrooms, and cubes of tofu.
The machine they use in the procedure looks something like the CT scanner: a big vertical donut with a narrow bed that can slide back and forth through it. But this one had 2 large parts attached that moved close to my body and slowly scanned it from different angles. It took about 10 minutes. Presumably, I glowed well for it!
They told me the disk would be ready in about 40 minutes, so I sat in the waiting room to wait for it. While I was sitting there, I saw an Arab man not far away and smiled at him. He immediately smiled back, a nice warm smile, and came over to shake my hand and sit beside me. I found out that he teaches English to school children in Bethlehem, where he lives. His wife teaches math. He was there with his 16-year-old daughter (who was sitting close to me, looking a bit shy and wearing a nice hijab). She has lymphoma. The man and I chatted a little until my disk was ready. He told me that he prays that Allah will heal me, which I found very touching.
For the walk back, I took a slightly longer router, going through the heart of HaYarkon Park. It was really beautiful, definitely the scenic route! I stopped and rested multiple times and took a number of pictures, too.
I got to the airport WAY early, hoping to catch an earlier flight home. But it didn't happen, so I just flew back on the originally booked flight, which didn't leave Tel Aviv until 8:55. After arriving back in Eilat, I walked home.
I broke my previous record for kilometers walked in one day by quite a bit. Today, I walked a grand total of 20.83 kilometers!
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