Blogging

Blogging is very new to me. To tell the truth, it smacks of the kind of self-centeredness that I despise. But since so many things have been changing with the surgery and with our trip, it allows me to keep everyone updated without sending out a ton of e-mails. Everything is changing so quickly! Blogging will allow me to keep track of thoughts and ideas, and ask you all for advice. It will allow me to post photos of our travels (and tribulations)!

And speaking of photos, here's one of our dedicated dachshund Lucy, who is coming to Israel with us.

I was thinking the other day about walking the dog in Tel Aviv. I wonder what the streets will be like and if we will make new doggie friends just like we have here in Portland. The first question everyone asks is, 'what kind of dog is that'. I guess I will have to learn how to say תחש in Hebrew.

Will there be morning newspapers in Israel and will there be tea? Now that I think about it, I should not be looking for touches of home while I am away. The whole point of living in another country, which we have have wanted to do for years, is living in another country. But tea is light; I'll put a few boxes in my bag.

Surgery

In two weeks and one day I am having a laparascopic supracervical hysterectomy (LSH). I'll wait while you go google it. Back now? Okay here we go about that.

I have a large uterine fibroid tumor and now some recently discovered cervical cysts. So all of that, and the neighborhood that they have been living in, is being removed.

J. and I met with the surgeon last week. With the voice of an airline pilot he had me feeling both calm and reassured. The surgery should go easily, just 2 to 3 hours long. Just two days in the hospital, and supposedly some people go back to work in a couple of weeks.

That good feeling was erased with a trip to the pharmacy. If there is so little pain, why does my prescription for vicodin come in a bottle the size of a juice glass? I check the label...three refills? I am hoping that I won't be on drugs for a month. And then there is the 'bowel prep kit'. Needless to say I am not doing anything the day before the surgery! Thank God he also prescribed xanax because I need one after getting all of the other things filled!

There is exactly eight weeks between the surgery and when we leave for Israel.

Shalom!

Bitai avon means 'bon appetit' in Hebrew. And we hope to have a lot of good meals in the upcoming months. This is our blog about our trip to Israel, our further travels in the Middle East, and all that is going on before we go there.

Also, because I am having surgery in a couple of weeks, I'll be blogging about that too. So this is your one stop shop to get all the scoop about what's going on in our lives.

Our temporary move to Israel starts the first week of December. This trip is a temporary assignment for his work, and he will do most of his job, plus that of another person while we live in Tel Aviv. We will live there for four months and hopefully visit Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Jordan while we are there.