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Spring has finally sprung, but I am not sure I like it. It has been a very different week I must say. It started on Monday night when I got home from work and I had no hot water. Everyone kept telling me it happens here in Russia where they shut off the hot water for two weeks while they do boiler maintenance, but it is usually in the summer so I was hoping this was not the two weeks. I got up on Tuesday morning and still no hot water so I turned on the stove to boil some water so I could take a sponge bath.
When I got home Tuesday night, I decided to put my wonderful crock pot to good use and this time, not to make me a hot meal, but to have hot water ready for me in the morning. I wanted plenty of hot water so I put it on high and went to bed and I did wake to nice hot water in the crock pot and started some more water boiling that I left in the kettle to find I had NO cold water either. Both the hot and cold water had now been shut off and my hot water in the crock pot was too hot so I poured it into the cold sink, which did cool it down a little. Enough I could take another sponge bath. I went to the refrigerator to get my cold drinking water out to wet my hair down so I could shampoo it and then rinsed it in the sink with the hot water from the crock pot. I did not even mess with shaving so I have not shaved in almost a week.
Thank goodness when I got home on Wednesday, I had both hot and cold water, but that did not make my Wednesday much better. I did not put in my blog earlier, but over the weekend while in Moscow, I stopped by the American Medical Center about my sore throat and shoulder. The put me to see a nose and mouth specialist for my throat and what ever she prescribed seem to make things worse and I got a terrible cough on top of the continued sore throat. Also, on Saturday they found a lump in my shoulder and decided to do a upper GI inspection of it. Still to this day, I do not understand what the GI track has to do with the pain in the shoulder, but the doctor wanted it done.
So on Wednesday, I headed to the Clinic again for this minor surgery. When I get there, they asked me if I took my medicine last night and I asked what medicine. They told me the one to clean me out for my colonoscopy. I told them we were doing an upper GI, NOT a lower GI. So after a few minutes of discussion on this, we start talking about my stomach. The doctor wants to know what is wrong with my stomach and I tell him NOTHING, it is my shoulder and please do downstairs to see the family doctor that wants me to have this done to make sure they are going to put the scope up/down the right hole and if it is even necessary. They decide it is.
Putting me under was no problem but I do continue to wonder about this place as it took the nurse two sticks to hit my vein in my arm and for anyone that knows me, knows I have huge veins and I usually get the trainee nurse so she can practice since they are so big after I make a fist. Who knows, maybe she was a trainee, but it took two times to hit the vein. The last thing I remember is the doctor telling me I could adjust the mouth piece so it was comfortable and then the doctor handing me a gaze as a tissue because I was coughing after it was said and done. Actually I was coughing before, but that just added to it.
They give me some porage for breakfast since I had been fasting all morning, not what I wanted but at least it was something. After a little while longer, they take the iv out and tell me I can get dressed. I had to use the restroom so I asked where the toilet was located and the nurse takes me to the check out counter. After asking several more times in both English and Russian, I finally start pointing to my genital area and say, bathroom, toilet, watercloset, etc. She finally understands and takes me to the bathroom. After I get done, she walks me back to the check out and I tell her I want to see my doctor before I leave and she keeps pointing me to the checkout counter.
This was all happening in the waitroom area so I call Denis over and ask him to translate that I want to see my doctor and in a clear voice, she said, "I understand, he does not need to translate, just wait here." So why in the world if she understood, did she keep taking me to the checkout counter?!?!
The doctor tells me he has both good news and bad news. The good news, the shoulder problem is nothing more than a gangular cyst, which sounds a lot worse than it is and it appears to have dissolved itself although it may come back and if it does, we will look at it again. So after all of those ultra sounds (2) and x-rays (6) on Saturday, it is nothing. Now for the bad news, he asks, is your stomach okay? I tell him yes, why does everyone keep worrying about my stomach when it is my shoulder that hurts. Well, during the endoscopy, they found a red inflamed area along the lining that concerns them. So they have me on some neutralizing drug to reduce the pH of the stomach and told me to stay away from coffee, cokes, spicy, very hot and very cold foods. I will be on this for 10 days and go back for some more tests. He also told me to be very sure of the food I eat because with the neutral pH in my stomach, I will be much more likely to get food poisoning. I am thinking, I am in Russia, is there any safe food????
I was tired when I got home, but seemed okay. I went to bed at 8 PM and when the alarm went off, I could not get out of bed I was so tired so I called a few people to let them know I would not be in. I was running a temperature about 100oF, coughing and sore throat. I felt like it was strep but I know usually you do not have coughing with strep so I am not sure what hit me, but I slept until noon. I got up, ate a little and went back to bed until evening. I again, got up to eat a little something but went back to bed and slept most of the night.
This morning, I felt a little better, but still had a fever and was tired. I think I could have made it to work, but decided to just stay home and rest so after my second nap, I finally got some strength back and the fever is gone. I am not 100%, but I am much better. The sore throat is gone, but I am still coughing. Although it is pefect weather outside (lower 70's and sunshining), I am going to stay home and rest. I hope I am back to my full self by Sunday.
If that was not all bad enough, my ATM stopped working. I must have gotten it close to a magnet or something because it could not be read at the ATM machines. I did not realize this, but my visa put a hold on my card because of the large charge on it from the American Clinic and then the Hard Rock from Saturday so I could not use my visa. I thought I had a back up plan with my SunTrust acocunt, which does not have much money in it, but enough in case something like this happened, but no, it would not work either. I have called them twice and we still can not figure out why that will not work, but I am stuck here in Russia with money, but way to access it.
I was able to get ahold of my visa card, but that was a challenge to as they wanted me to verify my last transactions. That part was easy, but when she asked for the amounts, in dollars, I went throught the roof. I told her the approximate amounts in rubles, but she wanted me to convert. I told her, I was not a bank and did not track the current exchange rates like I sure she has at her fingertips. So after arguing with her for a minute or two, I finally convert it for her to have her tell me those are not the exact amounts, but close she accepted them. I was truly ready to kill someone at this point. I understand why they have these type safeguards, but when you need money and can not get it, I became very frustrated.
Back to the water, I can not see how this country with all of its money and supposed knowledge and science can accept going a day or more without water. How sanitary is that???? Okay, enough complaining, I am heading back to bed to get some more rest.
Oh, how can I forget my massage from Sunday. Dasha and Michael keep raving about this lady they found for massages and she only charges 300 rubles (~$12) and with the way my shoulder was hurting on Sunday, I asked Dasha if she could go with me to get things going and then she was welcome to leave. Dasha was more than happy to help so we met at the "sauna" where the lady works. Dasha takes me to the "women's room", I can read that much in Russian now adays and I ask Dasha, should I go in there? She says, yes, this is where her massage palor is located. What I did not realize, she has a small room before you get to the lockerroom, but I am still thinking of a nice massage palor, but it looked more like an old country doctor's office with the typical Russian windows so there was plenty of light in there (not what I like when getting a massage). No one said the women was good looking, but in my mind, I thought she was going to be a little younger and pretty good looking, oh no, she was older and larger! She also wore a ton of perfume, which is also not what I think of when getting a massage.
Dasha tells me what I am suppose to do and where to put my stuff. I start to get undressed behind the curtain but could see Dasha in the mirror. Dasha and this lady are talking and Dasha asked if it was okay to come on the other side of the curtain, I look at her through the mirror and say, what difference does it make, you can see me from where you are as we both laugh, which also means anyone walking by can also look into the mirror and see everything so not very private. She gets started and talks and talks and talks and talks. It is all about all of the problems she is finding with my body, but keeps talking. I am thinking this is just the warm up part, but she never stops. After an hour, she tells me I am done and I owe her 900 rubles. I drop my jaw and look at Dasha. What happened to 300 rubles? This was a deal because she massaged my right arm, head, back and chest, which is normally 1500. What she could not explain is that would also be 2 hours of massaging so I was not happy and Dasha was all embarrassed. It was not like ~$35 was too expensive, it was just the prinicple of the matter. I paid her the money, but gave her no tip and told Dasha, I would not be back.
Have a great weekend. It is also amazing, it is 10:30 PM and it is still daylight outside. The sun is setting, but still bright outside. We have another month to go before the days start getting shorter! Blog with you later.
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Margaret
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WOW
What a week! What fun to read about it too. Thanks for sharing!