Brie rolled onto her back to find that she was alone in the king sized bed she shared with her husband. She sighed softly as a smile spread across her lips. She was used to waking alone at times. Usually, he was either in the living room watching the news or he was in the office looking at something online. They had converted the spare room into an office when they started spending more time away from the house than they did in Jerusalem. Their trips to the states went for months at a time rather than a couple of weeks so that they could prepare for a new trip. After their last trip to Australia they had to stop jet setting. No jet setting meant that she had to stop the travel blog that she had been doing that outlined her and David’s trips around the world. And they had been everywhere. They even celebrated the Chinese New Year in Shanghai, China where she did a series of video blogs for those that read and watched, or followed her and David in their different social media outlets like Twitter. Then the doctors told them that the jet setting was taking too big of a toll on their bodies and they had to stop. It saddened her, but it was necessary.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the front door of their little house open and close. She could tell that he was trying to be quiet so that he didn’t wake her. She smiled and carefully sat up in the bed when he walked into the room after setting whatever he’d gone to buy in the kitchen. “Well, I guess trying not to wake you was pointless, wasn’t it?” he chuckled.
“Just a little. I’ve been awake for a few minutes.”
“Ah. What were you thinking about?”
“How I miss doing my blog about our travels and actually travelling. But, we just can’t do it anymore.”
He chuckled. “Nope. I’m sorry about that love. But, I brought breakfast if that’s any consolation.”
She laughed. “It helps, I suppose. What did you bring?”
“Remember those bagels you loved from that lovely little bakery in the Jewish Quarter?”
“Yeah.”
“I got some of those and some cream cheese. I think we have some sandwich meat in the fridge that’s Jessi bought after she and Adam came back from the US to house sit until we got back.”
“Oh yeah. I remember her mentioning something about that. If I recall, Abby is mad at us for making her bedroom an office.”
“Do I care?”
“Not from what I can see. Do you think I do either?”
“Not that I can tell.” He offered her a hand. “Would you like some help up this morning?”
She laughed and took his hand as she swung her feet over the edge of the bed. “Of course.” He pulled her to her feet and into the front of his body. “Well, well, aren’t we feeling frisky this morning?” she said with a smile.
“Maybe a little”, he said with a sly grin.
“I need to eat and take my insulin, dear. Then we can be frisky.”
“So, eat and take care of business like doctors and stuff, then I can be frisky?”
She laughed. “If that’s what you want, dear.”
“What I want doesn’t matter. What do you want?”
“To eat and take any and all medication, and call a doctor about these issues with my hands. We can see where things go from there.”
“Do I have license to be frisky after all business is taken care of?”
“If you want to. I have no objections.”
“Then let’s eat and you can call the doctor to see about your hands.”
She stretched up carefully and gave him a kiss. “I like that plan. I’m glad you thought of it.”
---------------
“You have got to be kidding me”, she groaned as she sat and listened to the receptionists for her doctor arguing over whether they could squeeze her in with her regular doctor that day or not. She started shouting over the phone in Hebrew, saying that it didn’t have to be that day, but if they could manage it that would be great.
Both of the young women on the other line were shocked. “We’re sorry, Mrs. Draiman. We did not know that you could understand us”, one of them said.
“Yeah, I get that a lot. What I need from you both is to understand that it doesn’t have to be today. As soon as you can squeeze me into see him over the next two months will work just fine. As long as I see my doctor and not any of the other partners. They have no idea what’s going on with my condition and I really don’t have the patience to play catch up with them. I need to see my doctor.”
“What is the issue you’re having?”
“I’m having problems with my hands functioning. I can’t close them to make a fist, which means I can’t pick things up to carry them. I need to know what the issue is.”
“So loss of motor function?”
“Yes.”
“Ok. Let me see what we have opened in the next few days.”
“That’s fine.”
She listened to the keys clicking on the keyboard on the other side of the conversation. Finally, the girl spoke. “You are in luck, Mrs. Draiman. We just had something for this afternoon open up this morning. Can you make it in at 1:30?”
She looked at David. “Can we make a 1:30?”
He nodded. “Should be able to. I don’t see why we couldn’t.”
“That’s just fine”, she said to the receptionist.
“Alright. We will see you then; and Mr. Draiman as I’m sure he’ll be driving you.”
“We will see you then.” She hung up and shook her head as she hung up. “Those girls.”
“What about them? The fact that they assumed that you didn’t speak Hebrew or the fact that they were sitting there arguing whether or not they could squeeze you in?”
“Both. Do they really feel that they’re being professional arguing with a patient on the phone or doing so on the assumption that they don’t understand you? It’s insulting.”
“Don’t pay attention to it, Brie. I try not to. I get the same thing. At least you got the appointment.”
She nodded as she took a bite of her bagel. “Very true. I did get the appointment. If it’s not with my regular doctor, I’m going to throw a fit.”
“You could call back and find out.”
“I could, but I would think that my shouting at them in Hebrew that they had better give me my doctor and I didn’t care when it was got my message across. If not, I will have their jobs.”
David chuckled. “You’re vindictive.”
She laughed. “So nice of you to notice.”
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They finished their breakfast and started getting ready to go to the doctor. They took a dip in the hot tub that no one knew was there but the two of them to loosen up their tight muscles from being stuck on a train for as long as they had been. They sat back and relaxed- just floating in the water- and felt everything let go that was so tight they could barely move. Brie sat back and opened and closed her hand. In the water, she could make a fist now that her hands were nice and warm. “Look at this, David”, she said, holding her hand up and making a fist. “Now that my hand is warm, I can use it.”
He took that hand in his and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Do you think it was the Colorado cold that was giving you problems?”
“Yeah. That and the fact that Beijing was getting snow when we got there. All we could do was stay in our little room and do our best to stay warm until the climate started changing. Now that we’re back here in Israel and I can keep my hands warm, I probably won’t have all of the problems I had while we were visiting the kids.”
He pulled her across the pool to hold her. “Now that we’re home, we’re going to see what’s going on. What do you think it is? Do you think it’s neurological?”
“No. I think it’s circulatory. You remember when Angela found us during the Occupation right? I asked her how her hands were; if she was keeping them warm.”
“Yeah.”
“She had a circulatory issue known as Raynaud’s phenomenon. The lack of circulation means that I’ll have to fight to keep my hands warm to keep blood flow to my fingers or I’ll end up with the ulcers like she had. Not really something I want to fight with, but I might have to.”
He kissed her neck. “You know I’ll be right here with you as you fight it.”
She smiled and reached over her shoulder to lay a hand against his cheek. “I know. Just like if it were you, I’d be there for you.”
He pulled her tighter against him and sighed as they relaxed together. “You know, we should probably get out of here and put this thing away so that we can get dressed for this appointment”, he laughed.
She laughed with him. “Five more minutes. My hands aren’t hurting for the first time in two months. I want to enjoy it.”
“Did Angela’s hands ever bother her?”
“No. My hands hurt because of the arthritis. I can’t close them for unknown reasons. My hands are always cold unless they’re soaking in hot water and I don’t know why that is either. Let me enjoy it for a few more minutes.”
He reached out and checked the time on his phone. “We can only do five to ten more minutes. We need to start getting ready to go soon.”
“I know, David”, she said with a sigh. “I’m just enjoying the heat as it soaks into my muscles. Before we leave, I’ll check my sugar again and eat a small snack on the way to keep it up until we eat some lunch.”
“As long as you know what you’re doing.”
“I do. I’ve been doing this for far too long not to know.”
---------------
Finally they were dressed and ready to go. Brie grabbed her purse and put her phone in the little holder that she had on the purse and they were getting ready to go to see what her doctor wanted to do to see what was going on with her.
As David came out of the bedroom he groaned. “Oh my poor aching knees. Do I really have to drive?”
“I could give it a shot if you’d like, love.”
He chuckled. “No. I’ll drive.”
“It’s a good thing we bought that little automatic hybrid a couple of years ago or we’d be calling for a cab.”
“Yeah. I’m glad you thought of that. All I have to do it put it in drive and go.”
As they headed for the door, there was a knock. David opened it to see Jessi standing there with Abby. “I hate to do this but I really need a babysitter.”
“We can’t, Jessykah”, David said. “Your mother has an appointment.”
“For what?”
“My hands”, Brie said. “I can’t use them the way I need to and I’m going to see my doctor about it.”
“But you said that you’d watch her.”
“Yes, if you needed it and we weren’t busy. You really need to learn to call ahead, Jessi.”
“I’m desperate. Please? I have no one else to watch her. None of the other girls I work with that have girls old enough to babysit are available. They all have something going on of some sort. You know I wouldn’t do this unless it was an absolute necessity.”
David sighed. “Does she have things to keep herself entertained? We’re going to be sitting in a doctor’s office. Mom is going to have to have tests run and all that good stuff. I’m not going to sit there and give her my undivided attention because I’m going to have to give the doctor my own observations about what’s going on with your mother.”
“She has her iPad, she has her school work, and she has dolls that she can play with. She shouldn’t need a lot of attention.”
They exchanged a look. “Fine”, they said in unison. “Abigayle, go get in the car”, David continued.
“I’m so sorry”, Jessi said.
“No more last minute babysitting, Jessi”, Brie said as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder. “You have got to know ahead of time from now on if you’re going to need us so that we can work our schedule around this. What are you going to do when your father and I are no longer here for you to just drop her off?”
“I don’t know, Mom. I’m sorry. You’re right. I should know ahead of time so that I can see if you’re available. How far ahead of time do you need to know?”
“At the very least a week.”
“Ok, Mom. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry is something I suppose. Now move. I need out and I need to go out to the car so that we can go. You know how I am about being early to appointments.”
“I know, Mom. I’m out of the way. I love you, Mama. You and Dad both.”
“We love you too, Jess. Go tell your daughter you love her and go. You’re blocking us in.”
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