too much excitement for one week

Forget the revolution. I slept through most of it. (Though it will probably resume after the long Easter Holiday.) After posting last week's blog, I finally began feeling like I needed to visit the doctor. Every fiber in my body had begun to hurt, and I was so tired I could barely cook for myself. I was afraid that I might have mono. I got to the American Medical Clinic--complete with CNN, imported leather chairs and florescent lights--got an XRay and some blood work done, and learned, much to my shock, that I had a severe bacterial infection and two opportunistic infections! They immediately hooked me up to an antibiotic IV and let me out only after 27 hours. (As they stuck the needle in my hand, I cringed, only to be chewed out by a mean Ukrainian nurse: "How you have babies, you no like needle?" "Me no babies," I responded.) Not fun, let me tell you! But I feel lucky: the care was good, heroic friends visited me in the hospital and saw that I was taken care of afterwards.

Spent the last five days on bedrest (Easter? What's Easter?), and just had my follow-up; the doctor assures me I'll be fine. In the meantime, I'll begin working on packing. I'm going to leave this country for a more sanitary locale--probably Germany--once I feel well enough, and hang out there for a while to make sure that everything is fine before I head on to Russia.