Feast

Busy market

 Today the filipino community of the Holy Land celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines. They organised a Mass at the Basilica of Gethsemani presided by the Patriarch, and I heard hundreds from all over the country came to participate. The Nuncio, himself a filipino, was also present. I was invited but I didn't feel feel to stay for a 2 hr liturgy. But filipino religious sisters from many congregations came ... even those from Gaza. It was really a big event. And I was told they gave souvenirs to the chaplains, including me. I often help the communities in Jaffa, Herzliya, Netanya and Jerusalem whenever there is need. It was nice of them to remember me. 

The weather continues to be cool and humid. Sunrise is at 5.15am and sunset a little before 6pm. Days are getting shorter and night is very quick ... in a few minutes and suddenly everywhere is dark. I think this year, winter will be cold.

Much as I wanted to rest, I spent the morning at work. Inevitable. Now I have class at 9pm then another at 4pm. I will be so exhausted by 6am but I must go to the MC convent at 6.30am for Mass then to Bethlehem MC convent at 9am.  Then the MC sisters from Gaza want to meet me in order to buy medicines. I will die tomorrow. It's almost beyond my physical means.

Sunset

Sunset yesterday

 I survived the past 24 hrs. The diarrhea is slowly subsiding, the vomiting stopped. I'm even less dizzy than before. I'm just terribly sleepy though. Wish I could sleep through the whole day. I just got a call from the hospital to say I must go back to do a colonoscopy. I dread that.

From the blood test, I'm basically ok on all things. Blood sugar is 1 point above maximum but Sodium is way down ... I've been avoiding salt for a long time. Potassium is within range so that's good. I try to eat a banana twice a week to boost the potassium otherwise I get forgetful and distracted.

The weather has been fine though. Cool and not too sunny. It was down to 13 degrees last night, and today's noon temp. was 23 degrees. Heavy dew falls every early morning and the air is crisp. Sunrise and sunset are spectacular under these conditions. Spring bulbs are all putting up leaves, which is very early. I think it's due to the early cold. I take a short walk around our terrace to enjoy the sunrise and sunset. It helps me breathe better.

The mysterious fighter jets flying overhead the other day has been explained as routine exercise .... which we hardly ever have. Last night Israel bombed Syria killing two militants. Now we wait for a response.

Covid infections keep falling and the govt. is considering relaxing COvid rules. That's a relief. Though the airport is officially closed to tourists, Americans continue to come and yesterday even the first group of Bahrainis came to visit the Wailing Wall. I wonder how they got in. November 1st is the set date for foreign tourists to enter the country. It's a preparation for the Christmas crowd that everyone is expecting. Let's hope for the best.

I hope tomorrow will be a quiet restful day before the week starts. I need the rest. My weight continues to fall and I don't have the energy to handle a full week's work without some rest first.

Hospital

Catheter in hand 

Yesterday was eventful ... for lack of a better word.  I went to hospital 200km away early at 6am to avoid the highway traffic. Couldn't escape it ... there were several points along the way that were stuck with traffic. Arrived at the hospital 3 hrs later and prepared myself for an arduous morning of tests. There was the blood test showed good result. The BP was 130/84 which was good. Diabetes was under control. Sodium was too low though. Then I had to drink 1.5 litres of creatine mixed with water for the liver CT scan. It had to be taken slowly, one cup every 15 minutes. The docs, like those in Jer, wanted to know why I was losing weight yet my abdomen is bloated; constant nausea and dizziness. The scan itself was quick ... 7 minutes. I didn't have my usual claustrophobia whenever I do the scan. Maybe I was too weak. They injected some medicine into my bloodstream that caused a hot feeling in my head and neck and abdomen. 

Hospital

I didn't want to wait for the result as it was already 1pm and the taxi driver was in a hurry to return back to Jerusalem. It was another 3 hr ride home but I had very bad diarrhea, uncontrollable ... side-effect of the creatine mixture. The nurses warned me it will be like this for the next 2 days. It was so bad I had to wear adult diapers for the trip home. And having fasted for 24 hrs, I was very hungry and weak but I didn't dare to eat because of the diarrhea. It went on all night. This morning I started vomiting. Together with the diarrhea, I decided I couldn't travel 80km to another city to collect several boxes of things that had arrived from Singapore. I walked up to New Gate to inform the workers and driver to go by themselves. Then I realised I didn't take my usual daily medicines so I had to walk back 1km, after alot of vomiting along the way. Once I took my medicine back home, I had to go back up 1km but by that time I was too weak. A worker immediately went to buy some bread and isotonic drink for me as I haven't eaten in 36 hours.

Now I hope to rest and recover my strength this morning ... in the silence of my office. No calls, no messages please. I just need to rest.

Midweek

Lining up for booster shots

 The weather remains sunny and cool ... maximum 24 degrees during the day. Rather pleasant it might seem. Except that I've been quite sick. Blacking out and losing consciousness. I'm quite afraid of walking home alone because if I should faint, I'll probably crack my head on the stone pavements. Tomorrow I plan to go to the hospital, if I get transport.

I did have to go out to buy some important supplies. Asked for company to be with me in case I blacked out on the way. No one answered. That's life. You just have to survive on your own here. On my way to the shop and back, I had to pass by Municipality Square and there was a very long queue of people. Wasn't sure what it was all about so I asked and the people there told me it's for the booster Covid shot. Wow I'll tell you Israel is leading in the vaccination programme in the world. They make it available in the public, no appointments needed, no hassle. Line up, get your jab.

Israeli fighter jets have been flying overhead all afternoon. Scary. People have been asking what's happening. No answers yet ... just a lot of guesses and conspiracy theories. Maybe the newspapers will tell us something tomorrow.

School starts

Sunrise today

 My dreadful diarrhea has stopped after the pharmacy gave me some medication. But I'm still feeling very weak and dizzy all the time. Last night was particularly bad, with terrible pain in the upper right abdomen. This morning the nursing nuns told me to eat little but often as my liver is not functioning well and cannot handle a full meal. That could be the cause of the liver pain ... overworking. So I'll eat less but often and see what happens. Anyway it looks like I've a lung infection as the pain in the chest is terrible. I'm taking an antibiotic which was prescribed 3 months ago when I also had an infection. Hope it goes away soon. Breathing is so difficult and shallow.

Yesterday's outage of FB and WhatsApp was a nice surprise. I had no one asking me for this and that, no disturbance in my sleep, no calls, no messages. I hear it was traumatic for some people ... I found it serene.

School has started today with the inauguration Mass. Not sure how many classes can be held in person, as Green Pass restrictions will be heavily enforced on Thursday and many new students have not or cannot arrive. I was busy all morning with lawyers and the Human Resource department discussing a change of contract and work hours for some of our workers; then a meeting with the Finance Depart. for salaries of our workers. All that took 3 hours. It's tiring for me.

I hope to be able to sleep early tonight, with the medication to alleviate the breathing and infection. The weather has turned cool again ... now at noon it's only 20 degrees. I'm carrying a hoodie wherever I go because it could get too cold for me in the evenings. It'll make my coughing worse.

Transitus

Baldachin of St. Francis

 The past two days have been horrific. I've been having great difficulty breathing and blackout spells. Quite bad ones. Due to the lack of oxygen my body goes into spasms while I black out. I make sure I'm on a carpet and away from sharp edges of furniture so if I do blackout like the last time, I won't injure myself. Usually it gets better during the day after I've walked about and loosen the thick phlegm in my throat but the past two days were not like that at all. Maybe I have a bronchial infection because my upper chest is very painful. I'm feeling really sick with no energy and constant dizziness. I planned to go to hospital this Wednesday but I have no transport. Getting a taxi would cost 1000 shekels as it has to wait for me to bring me home. I'll have to figure how to get to Nazareth somehow ... when my headaches subsides.

Transitus of St Francis

Today is the solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi. The celebration of his passing is actually yesterday evening, called the Transitus. After solemn vespers, the account of Francis' death was read out, Ps. 140 was chanted as he requested, then his death marked by a darkened church (lights out) illumined only by the candles we held. Then the Canticle of Brother Sun was sung and the relic of St. Francis was brought out for veneration. It's always touching. I sat throughout the liturgy as I was feeling very ill.

Anyway while the rest of the Custody is celebrating, I'll be resting in bed. Hopefully this bout of illness will pass by tonight. Waiting for a miracle.

Weekend

Altar at the her-
mitage in Geth-
semane

 It's Friday, the weekend has started. And the usual high security for Fridays is in place ... especially so after yesterday's terrorist attack in the Old City. I went down to the Hermitage in Gethsemane to celebrate the closing Mass of the 8 day retreat of the MC sisters, but which also I preached and participated as my annual retreat. The police allowed to enter and leave the City Gate freely as I was a foreigner. Other arabs were stopped and searched by the police. It's Friday so many arabs from around the country come to the Al Aqsa mosque to pray.

After coming home at 10am, I felt quite sick and went to sleep. I just didn't feel well ... giddy, nausea and a little unbalanced standing up. It might have been due to the lack of sleep. I was up at 11.30pm due to the phlegm lodged in my throat and was awake till 4am. Slept till 4.30am then I started work till now 5.33pm. That's over 12 hours. I am feeling very tired. But I must catch up with my work otherwise my weekend will be spent in the office. I'm looking forward to a quiet Sunday preparing for the feast of St. Francis.

The new Nuncio to the Holy Land made his solemn entrance into the Holy Sepulchre yesterday with all the Orthodox and Catholic hierarchy. It was very grand. The 4 General Consuls of Spain, Italy, Belgium and France were also present as required by tradition since the Ottoman times. Due to Covid restrictions, many lay people could not attain. though religious communities did send representatives.