Tue, May 20 - Excitement in Nazareth

The following narrative is rated "R", Restricted, for violence and graphic language. Children under 18 should not view unless accompanied by an adult.

We left the story of me leaving the Fauzi Azar Inn to search for something to slake my thrist. As I exit the small door from the courtyard to the street, I close the door behind me. Almost immediately, a dark complexion man of about 20 walks down the street, opens the door and proceeds to yell stuff that I don't understand, but I have a good inkling that he's not trying to sell apples to the hotel inhabitants. No matter, I'm on a mission for a drink.

I know there is a store closeby, but the way old Arab cities are laid out, the streets are a confusing maze. I know from my experience caving about how far I can go without getting lost and its not very far. I walk for perhaps two minutes without finding a store and then turn around and retrace my steps. I get to within about 50 metres of the hotel when I see the same friendly apple seller being escorted by a couple friends. I figure his friends have pulled him away from the hotel, perhaps he is drunk and they are taking him home to sleep it off. We are walking in opposite directions and will pass each other in a few seconds.

I am now next to this man when quick as lightning, he punches me square in the face, with his fist hitting my nose hard and extending to a point directly below my left eye. I fall backward to the ground, blood gushing from my nose. I'm a bit fuzzy on what happens next. I suppose that his friends have hauled him away before he can land any more blows. I recall trying to sit up, lots of people milling about, someone pouring water on my face to wash off the blood and perhaps rivive me, and me squeezing my nose shut to prevent blood spewing all over my clothes. My nose is quite sensitive and I have lots of practice with nose bleeds and containment is always a priority. I recall the left side gushing more and I jam some paper from my pocket into my left nostril.

Tue May 20 Face

My left eye hurts a lot and the central field vision is quite dim and blurry. I am glad that I can still see something from the eye but worry that permanent damage has been done and perhaps the eyesight will go completely.

Very soon I recognize voices of the hotel staff, and see them looking shocked as they take in the scene. They quickly ask whether I can walk and without really waiting for a reply, start shepherding me toward the relative safety of the hotel. I want to be inside that courtyard and have the door shut and perferably locked behind me. It is extremely comforting to have the familiar faces of the hotel staff surrounding me.

"Do you want something cold to drink?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"What's your name and how old are you?"

"Where do you hurt?"

These are a few of the questions I remember. At some point I get a wad of toilet paper in my hand and use it to contain my dripping right nostril. Someone, Nate I think, suggests that he stops nose bleeds by plugging the nostril with paper. I've been so used to having my left nostril bleed that it was instinctive to plug that one, but I never thought to jam them both up. I proceed to do so.

I can feel my left eye start to close up and realize with a start that I need ice on it. Immediately. I have someone get ice from the freezer, then look around for a plastic bag in which to tie it up. The only one I see is not ideal, about 2 feet long and 2.5 inches in diameter, used to hold plastic drinking cups. Someone empties the cups and Nate and I put the ice into the bag and I keep it pressed over my eye for the next hour and half. It does the job.

There is much discussion amongst the hotel staff. They have summoned the police. It takes the police about 15 minutes to arrive. I later learn that they have a post all of two minutes away, 60 seconds if they hurry. I suppose they are all off on important missions elsewhere in the city.

Maoz (the owner of the hotel business) and Suraida (building owner), have both been notified and are aghast at what has happened. A couple other people who have cars have been contacted but no-one has a car readily available, so a taxi is ordered to take me to the hospital.

I am sitting, icing my eye and nose while the staff frett about the fact that the police have not yet arrived. They realize that ten minutes have passed since the taxi was ordered, the length of time the taxi expected to be before arriving. The staff feel it is more important for me to get to the hospital than talk to the police. A quick discussion ensues. Who will accompany me to the hospital? Nate has experience as an EMT and is voted onto the hospital team. Someone suggests Yaron, who is a hostel owner from south of the Dead Sea. He just happens to be here and is fluent in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Others could come but the feeling is that some of the other males should stay at the hotel in case my assailant is still at large and returns. This discussion and round of decision making takes place over the course of 60 seconds.

I am glad that a couple of men are with me as we walk down the alley where I was punched. I had visions of making my way alone to, "The White Mosque", the area where the taxi is to wait for us. Earlier in the day, I had seen a number of youths hanging out in that exact spot and I had no desire to encounter them alone in my current condition. I am also happy with the selection of Nate and Yaron, feeling that both prior EMT experience and language skills are probably the two most valuable skills to have with me at this time.

About the same time, Maoz leaves his home on the coast and drives to Nazarath, wanting to meet me at the hospital and offer any assistance he can. He and all the hotel staff have been incredibly supportive during this whole incident.

We start walking and meet a policeman headed our way. We talk briefly, giving him the bare facts and telling him that others at the hotel know additional details, and that we are on our way to the hospital. He continues to the hotel and we continue to the White Mosque. As it turns out, the taxi is not yet there. We wait a couple minutes and then begin to think of alternate ways to the get to the hospital when the taxi pulls up.

Nazareth has three good hospitals known as the English, Italian and French hospitals, after the missions which founded them years ago. I think each of these countries continues to provide funding for them but they are very much locally run at this point. We go to the Italian hospital.

Admission is ridiculously easy. There are a couple patients in the emergency waiting room, but nothing like the lines I am used to at my clinic in Palo Alto, California. I am able to see the check-in person immediately. My passport number is the only thing needed in order to admit me. Within two minutes of entering the building, I am ushered in to see a doctor. The doctor cannot believe what happened to me. He is shocked and apologizes profusely for his countryman who have done such a thing. He cleans me up, gives me a couple simple eye tests, pokes and prods my eye and then sends me in for X-rays.

I chat with Nate and Yaron for twenty minutes while the X-rays are processed. They do a great job of keeping me occupied, asking about my past, telling about themselves, anything to keep from dwelling on the current situation, possible loss of eyesight, further medical treatments required, etc.

The doctor comes by and with a playful spring in his voice says, "You told me that you had a contusion of your eye but why did you not tell me about the contusion to your nose?" At this point there was a cut under my left eye but no obvious damage to the nose area. The X-ray shows that the bone around the nose is fractured. Fortunately, both "orbits" (the bone around the eye socket) are intact. With serious damage to both the eye and the nose, I need to now travel to the French hospital, who have specialists for both eyes and nose.

The doctor writes up a report of all the damage. One copy is for the insurance company and a second copy is a police report. I can't read a word of it because it is all written in Hebrew. Perhaps it will make a nice wall hanging one day. We get a CD copy of my X-ray so that when we go to the French hospital, they can access the data.

The taxi driver has waited to hear what happens to me. He also expresses his shock, amazement and apologizes for what has happened. Everywhere I hear the same story. This never happens in Nazarath. How could it happen here? It's a common refrain I hear throughout Israel when I meet people and lift my sunglasses to reveal the mess below. It's a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a strange way, this incident has probably made Nazareth a safer place. With the increased awareness toward violence in the area, future violence will be reduced. I'm like a lightning rod that has discharged a dangerous force that was building, making it safe for those who follow.

I first see the nose doctor, whose first action is to pull the toilet paper plugs from my nostrils which I have used to eliminate the constant stream of blood from my nose. He prepares a two inch long cotton swab, squirts some stuff on it which will staunch the bleeding, opens up each nostril in turn with a special tool that looks like a pair of pliers, and pushes the swab two inches into my nasal cavity, rotates it around the nasal cavity so that his cauterizing juice touches all the fleshy areas in my nose and then leaves it in position. I'm a bit squeemish about such things and when he sees me turn white, he has me lay down on a gurney while he completes the procedure.

With the bleeding stopped, he is able to complete his nasal investigation, poking various instruments up my nose and using different lights to illuminate the nasal passages. He then highlights the fact that my nose is way off center, because of the fracture. While I'm wondering how on earth you re-center a broken nose, he starts pushing the nose back into position. I'm glad he is able to straighten my nose, but folks, this is not an experience you want to try. It is unpleasant and uncomfortable to have someone pushing your nose sideways, hard, for five minutes, trying to get the bone fracture to line up along the break.

Maoz, the proprietor of the Inn, arrives from the coast. He expresses his deep sympathy for my situation and says the Inn has waived my room charges and is paying all the medical charges associated with this incident. I'm very grateful for his generous support, and the support of everyone at the Inn. They have done everything they can to make this experience as positive as it can be under the circumstances.

After a twenty minute wait for the eye specialist to get free, I spend time with him. The standard eye chart shows both eyes to have close to 20/20 vision. He prods the area around the eye asking if specific spots hurt. That turns up nothing. Then he presses on the eyeball itself. That is certainly uncomfortable, well, more than uncomfortable, but no worse than he expects. He has me rest my chin on the standard optician bench used to examine eyes. He shines light, usually in the form of a bright vertical slit at all places on both eyes. He puts florescene dye in my eye which will highlight any scratches to the cornea. Everything turns up positive.

The last test he does is a retinal examination. This is more uncomfortable than most of the tests as your eye is fully dilated and he looks through a large lens while shining a bright light into your eye. He spends some time on this one and keeps moving back and forth between my left and right eyes. I sense that something is amiss and ask.

"There is a fluid edema in the macula of your left eye. Normally this occurs in both eyes at the same time and is an indication of macular degeneration. You have it in only one eye and I don't know if it is a result of macular degeneration or a result of the trauma. I would like you to come in tomorrow and see one of our senior doctors who has more experience in this area."

Macular degeneration is a bad deal, where the image in your eye degrades to the point it is unusable and you are effectively blind. I have a few things to ponder as I head back to the hotel to sleep. What will the outcome of tomorrow's exam be? The eyesight in my left eye has improved over the course of the evening. It is no longer dim and blury in the central field of vision. Will this improvement continue? What happens to my assailant? Will they lock him up for a few years? What does the community think about this whole situation? Will the community want my assailant to be dealt with harshly, to set an example to others or will they feel that this was a random event that should be ignored? Will this divide the community into two camps, those wanting retribution and those favoring leniency? So many questions. It's amazing to think of all the repercussions caused by an event lasting less than one second.