I know I promised a continuation of the Peace Now and Settler Movement analysis but life got a bit more hectic this week than anticipated. I’ve had a balagan at my bank I had to deal with. When I went in on Sunday to get the guarantee renewed for my lease for another year, I also asked that each month 300 sheks (about $70) get automatically put into savings so I can maybe build up a bit of my savings account. Ahem. Then yesterday when I went to go get money to pay the dentist I was like WHAT?? It took me forever to discover where all the money in my account seemed to have gone and even longer to get the bank to straighten things out –the girl had added an extra 0 accidentally into the computer to the amount so that 3,000 sheks got transferred. And I tell you, getting your own money out of your own savings account, even if it was the bank’s mistake in putting it there, at any other time than the once-a-month “you can shift/access your money” day is something of a herculean task.
I had three fillings done where I had a new cavity and two of my old fillings had disintegrated. My dentist also gave me the distressing news that even if I pay him loads of money to whiten my teeth that it simply will do no good. As my mother noted when she was here, my teeth are a really dreadful non-white shade and make me look like I don’t care about my appearance. Sadly, that unfortunate impression is simply going to have to continue because my teeth are structurally that disagreeable greyish-bluish colour. The dentist looked at them, told me about the wonderful whitening job he’d just done on the young lady (who had indeed left his office with her “continue at home” kit happily smiling a nice white smile as I was coming in) but that my teeth had been damaged from either tetracycline or doxycycline (actually, I’ve used both over the years pretty regularly since I was a young teen against acne) and that bleaching simply won’t work on them. The only option and one he strongly recommended against doing, is to have the top surface of your teeth scraped off, nearly halfway through the tooth, and a porcelain enamel adhered to them. Each tooth costs about $1500 dollars to do, it all has to be redone every 6-8 years for life, and if you are unfortunate enough to get a cavity in the remaining bit of your tooth then you are highly likely to lose the entire tooth. Well, no thanks.
Then last night when I went out feeding my outside crews, one of my favourites who had not come up for two days came up. Came up very slowly, crying and crying. Then huddled and cried in front of one of the little piles of food but did not eat. Good g-d, something was obviously wrong. He was so skinny and he was breathing funny. I took one look at him and shook everything out of the bag I was carrying, picked him gingerly up and put in the cloth sack (Noa thank you for that sturdy sack!!). Usually he will let me pet him but never would let me pick him up. I raced home with him and immediately called Ronen who is finally back in town after having been gone for like a month for additional training. Ronen was unfortunately working his job with the animal protection police and couldn’t get back for nearly two more hours. I debated taking the little thing out to the hospital but decided to wait for Ronen since it would take me close to that amount of time to get him out there and have him seen.
The kitty had either been hit by a car or kicked by a human. There were no external wounds. He had a huge pocket of air from a punctured lung filling up his chest cavity. Ronen removed some of it with a needle in order to be able to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed there was also fluid in his abdominal cavity and when Ronen took some of it out he discovered there were two kinds, blood and fluid indicating severe perio… (argh I’ve forgotten the word). The kitty was having a terrible time breathing, even under sedation and it was terrible to see. He asked what I wanted to do. I had three options, the first being to put him to sleep immediately, the second to do an operation to repair the lung and other internal injuries, and the third was for an exploratory operation and then to make the decision once the full extent of the damage was clear. I opted for the latter and petted his little head while Ronen made the incision. Unfortunately, it was quickly clear once Ronen got a good look that his chances for survival even with the repairs were not good. Ronen kept shaking his head and saying he’d never seen a little cat this badly injured able to have walked much less have come across the street to me like he did or to have responded to my caresses. Usually such injuries immobilize them and put them into a deep shock so that they aren’t really aware of what is around them, aware of nothing but the pain. Such a little fighter but his chances were so slim of recovery with the additional trauma of the surgery, I couldn’t see putting him through any more. He was already deeply sedated and so he didn’t feel anything when Ronen gave him an injection into his heart to stop its beating. My little friend is at peace now.