Memoirs of Uri Milunsky

 Memoirs of Uri Milunsky

1969 proved to be quite an eventful period in my life.  I was in private anaesthetic practice   in Johannesburg, and a member of  the Israeli medical committee involved     in   all  medical matters pertaining towards Israel’s welfare  Attending and briefing us at our monthly meetings  was an extremely efficient  and fantastically able  Shaliach  from Israel 

We were all acutely aware of the crisis in Israel  in 1969 as Abdul Nasser had declared a war of attrition against Israel (March 1969)  The sporadic clashes  that had occurred since   the 6day war were now followed by intense daily mortar and artillery   barrages across the Suez canal.,  Nasser was intent upon  re capturing  the Sinai  Peninsula.     . Our committee received an urgent call from Israel requesting volunteer   assistance.  at the  Tel Hashomer Hospital.  A team of 4 was immediately formed -2   Anaesthetists  of which I was one,   ( Dr Hennie Judelman z/l the other),a plastic surgeon specialising   in hand surgery and burns (Dr Isadore Kaplan z/l)  and an orthopaedic surgeon( Dr Charles Malkin z/l)   Dedicated doctors all  

Can you imagine the shock to Beryl (my wife)and the whole family when I told them that I was going to  Israel as a volunteer. Cries of have you gone meshuga?,etc etc .      Reason finally prevailed  especially when I told  Beryl she could join me  after a few weeks  She was  mollified to some extent  but not so with my elderly parents who had great difficulty reconciling themselves that their  son was “off to war” I  closed up my practice  and a week later was on   a El Al flight  to Israel .   .

After a long and tedious flight we finally arrived in Israel at 1am the following night.! Charlie and Hennie  were met by relatives who promptly whisked them away to their respective homes whilst Isadore and I were driven to the hospital   expecting  some form of reception. However at that hour 3am  there was not   a soul in sight.  The debonair handsome  Isadore was already mumbling under  his  breath about Israeli inefficiency- obviously from a previous experience. After about 20mins a young female internist  came   running towards  us , apologizing profusely for being  late . Isadore just glared at her ! She then  escorted us to our quarters – two small   rooms with unmade beds and bare cupboards “ to match”     The intern stood looking on waiting for someone to say something.Undoubtedly  she was aware that we were both in a state of shock.

Finally Isadore broke the silence and asked her very politely  if these rooms were to be our accommodation  for the duration of our stay    Speaking in a fairly good English  she   replied in the affirmative,   and quickly added that she would go and find some bedding for us.      Before she could utter another word,  he asked  her in a quiet modulated tone “ “Doctor    would you kindly order a taxi to take me to the Hilton hotel in Tel Aviv-Thank you “ I thought he had gone crazy, especially when he asked me if I was coming with. I  simply shook my head .Can’t afford it.  “ O K then and     with a cheerful “cheerio, see you in the morning” he was gone  The stunned intern then ran off to do his bidding and search for my bedding  .  By the time she finally arrived-an hour  later apologising    that she had been caught up  in the theater watching an  op.  

I had killed   squadrons of Israeli mosquitoes’ who had invaded  “  my room” when I   inadvertently  opened the windows widely to allow for fresh air .However I left a legacy of blood stained walls     Needless to say I did not sleep too well in the remaining few hours of darkness.

I woke up early  with a throbbing headache and enquired from a resident how to get  to the operating  theatres    Hennie and Charlie   arrived simultaneously  and we  were greeted with a hearty “Shalom, Welcome” by the staff.  Tea,coffee and buns were awaiting us Then the inevitable    “ where is Dr Kaplan? Gingerly I replied “at the Hilton  hotel but will be here shortly”  The head  of the Dept then knowingly exclaimed “ Ah  the rich surgeon stays at the Hilton but the poor anaesthetist stays at the hospital  He then took us on a short tour of the hospital   The equipment was excellent but both Hennie and I were a bit intimidated by the  wide variety of anaeshetic machines but rapidly acquainted. ourselves in their use We wanted no  anaesthetic  disasters ! Knowing that we would mainly be  dealing with trauma cases,we had   brought  with us  a few dozen phials of a  relatively new anaesthetic drug  (3 decades ago)  courtesy of Parke Davis) which could be used instead of a full general anaesthetic for repeated burn dressings or   short surgical procedures in seriously  wounded patients. It proved to be extremely  useful in selected cases and the Israeli anaesthetists were very thankful for the drug The Egyptians  exacted a very heavy toll, and the nature of the injuries  left an indelible print on my mind .   The whirling  of an approaching helicopter in the dead of night often awakening Beryl and myself  It always  signified trouble.     On one occasion a request was made for anaesthetic help at a Gaza hospital but  the head of the dept   told us in no uncertain terms    that he would not  permit us volunteers to go to Gaza  “ to have our heads blown off  by crazy bomb throwing terrorists- as he put it  

  On a lighter note  - one amusing, the other not so amusing      

          late one afternoon I was waiting for Beryl( who had joined me a few weeks earlier) to return from  Tel Aviv where she had gone sight seeing and shopping  I was getting restless wondering where she was so late when a police car drove  up virtually to the door and two young good looking policemen got out the car and opened the door for Madame Beryl. She gave them a winning smile and a wave of the hand, as they drove off smiling  and waving back .  Apparently she had lost her way,and on enquiring from  policemen in a police care  how to get to the hospital was told to.“Get in   and drove  her directly to  the medical quarters I just gaped at the scene. Only in Israel could this have occured 

The   following incident  was not that amusing  and actually an embarrassment .    An operation on a badly injured and burnt soldier  had been  specially scheduled   to accommodate  a few visiting  plastic surgeons requesting to observe Isadore’s highly specialised  hand surgery  techniques ( Not my anaesthetic technique)!  I anaesthetized the patient  and connected   the endotracheal tube (  a tube inserted into the trachea )   to the anaesthetic  machine.   . After the operation had progressed  about 40 min. I was  summoned to the phone to contact the ward as soon as possible  Normally I never leave  the theatre during an op. but it sounded urgent so I asked Charlie  who was sitting next to me watching the op. to keep an eye on the patient momentarily The ward sister kept me longer than expected  when suddenly the loud speaker blared forth “Will Dr Milunsky please return to the theatre immediately” Terrified  I  rushed back  to be greeted by a   ghastly scenario –not to be forgotten   The burly soldier was half off the operating table   and clutching at his throat  trying to pull the   endotracheal tube out of his throat , whilst a dozen pair of hands were trying to restrain him . Shocked as I was, I quickly grasped what had happened. Charlie was so engrossed watching the op, that whilst  leaning over to get a better view he unwittingly    dislodged the anaesthetic machine from the endotracheal  tube with the net result that the patient was not receiving any anaesthetic and  consequently waking up.  I pushed Charlie unceremoniously  aside and reconnected the machine to the tube which fortunately was still in place    

The patient soon settled   down   and   had to be  re- toweled,  whilst I  looked on sheepishly  under the withering  gaze  of the theater sister. Not too impressed with me!. Charlie however  kept very quiet  ! The operation recommenced    with an excellent surgical result T G  I often wonder  whether anyone ever told the patient what had transpired during the op.     The following day  I was forgiven by all and we  were given a heart warming   party as  we were returning to SA  thanking us etc etc    

We returned to SA very tired but inwardly very happy that we had been of service to Israel in it’s time of need. 

 A shorter stint at the magnificent Rambam Medical Centre  Haifa  in 1974  was just as rewarding. and in  1988 Johannesburg  Jewish doctors  donated a gift of equipment to establish a new Intensive Care Unit in the dept of  Neurosurgery at the hospital  which was greatly appreciated.

           Uri Milunsky  

Below : Beryl and Uri Milunsky