Part II –In which Grisha learns the real meaning of the word болен as well as many other fun medical terms.

Read Part 1 first if you haven’t yet.

As I said we returned around 5 and I was tired and decided to take a nap. I couldn’t sleep, however, and around 6 I started to feel sick. Ok, very sick. I will spare everyone the details but I will say this was the most sick I have ever been in my entire life and, though it sounds silly to say now I definitely was laying in bed at times thinking that this was how I was going to die, in Russia, in Arhangelsk, in the Taiga of all places (weird to think in Russian –I’m almost positive I conjugated the verb “to die” incorrectly. Sigh).

So while I was busy not retaining any water, food, or medicine, and heating the entire hotel with my forehead, our Coordinator, Megan was constantly checking on me, giving me different medicine to try and trying to think of what it was I might possibly have come down with. We went through a bunch of different possibilities and kept coming back to the river. But this seemed unlikely since no one else fell ill and a lot of other people drank the water.

One of the most interesting medicines I tried was called “Activated Charcoal”. They have it in the U.S. to and its basically charcoal that you take and it binds to anything not good in your stomach so that you don’t end up digesting it. Scientifically speaking its incredibly interesting and it kept me interested, but maybe that’s only because I saw so many of the tablets.

When it was clear that nothing we were trying was working Megan was able to get the hotel people to call a doctor (keep in mind, we were in the Taiga so hospitals weren’t an option. And, even had we been in Arhangelsk, well, its difficult to explain and understand- coming from a country where the hospitals always have all the newest medicine, good doctors, clean needles, etc – but the hospitals in Arhangelsk are not exactly where you want to go. But we were able to get hold of a doctor who went around making house calls etc. I was thrilled at this as I am currently reading Doctor Zhivago and when he arrived I wanted more than anything to call him Zhivago but I decided it may not be the best thing to do.

So the doctor arrives and inspects me and he’s not completely sure what I have but he says most likely it is an intenstinal infection, virus, что-то (something). He ruled out грип (like the flu) which is quite strong and super contagious so this was good. He then said the nurse would give me two shots, one to bring down the temperature and one for antispasmatic purposes. This was a very interesting experience which I will take some time to detail:

The nurse comes over to me with one of the needles and says something to me in Russian which I don’t fully understand but I figure she wants to give me the приривка (shot) so I start rolling down my right sleeve.

She’s on the left side of the bed and starts saying «Нет, нет» (No, no) and repeats what I didn’t understand the first time.

“Oh” I realize, “I’m an idiot, obviously she’s on the left side, she wants me to unroll my other sleave” so I start to do this too. Unfortunately this action is again met with the now too familiar «Нет, нет» followed this time by an explanation with hand movements.

And then I understand.

So I turn over on my stomach, half glad my Russian wasn’t good enough to understand what was about to happen until the last possible moment, and half hoping that maybe I still hadn’t properly understood and she was about to give me a shot in my leg or something.

But I had understood perfectly and luckily I hadn’t seen how big the needle was.

A little while later she gave me another shot and started to explain what to do and I said “Еще раз, да? Хаха Я знаю что делать, я уже мастер сейчась!» (the grammar is off but something to the effect of “Again, ok, haha I know what to do – I’m a master at this now!”)

After the doctor visit I began feeling better and was finally able to sleep which was good. Unfortunately our group of American students needed to leave the next day and end what was supposed to be a 5 day stay there since it was still unclear what I had and we didn’t know if anyone else would get sick. As it was another girl, Вера (Vera/Virginia) in our group also got sick, luckily not as bad as me, but still not good.

So at this point me and Vera have two options as we head back towards Arhangelsk on the 4 hour road (remember how bumpy it was on the way there? It was no different on the way back. This was interesting and nowhere near as fun as the first time)- we can see a doctor there if we are feeling very ill (we were both feeling a bit better already) or we can fly into Moscow the next day and go to an American clinic. Despite my fear of Russian planes we chose to fly into Moscow.

There’s not much more to tell, well there is but I am tired of writing. It was Wednesday when we arrived at our hotel in Arhangelsk, we couldn’t get tickets until Friday and by Thursday I was feeling quite a bit better so me and two other girls in our group walked around the city, went to a fascinating museum, and walked across a frozen river to an island (pictures were taken). It was only after I got back that I realized I probably shouldn’t have done so much but it was a good time. Then yesterday we flew out to Moscow at 7 in the morning, went to an American clinic, got medicine and tests done, etc and then took a train back to Yaroslavl. Now I am sitting in my room in Yaroslavl and taking the weekend to relax and recuperate.


Oh, an interesting side note, we obviously know I had some type of poising or virus from the water but like I said we just don’t know what exact virus or disease. And Megan said there is a small possibility it could be Dissentery which would be extraordinarily cool to say I had so I’m crossing my fingers for that result. But we’ll see. I’m feeling much better now (infinitely better compared to Monday/Tuesday) but now I’m off to go eat some lunch and do some work. Hope everyone is happy and healthy at home!

До встреча

-Гриша

PS:! Big news! This morning I called and talked to a guy who lives in Moscow and who has a band and he wants me to do an English translation for his website. I am so psyched. Apparently I will be paid for this was well which is cool. And he knows other people who want the same thing –pretty soon I may have my own business here!

PPS: I forgot to say how now, for at least the next week or so, there are certain foods both Vera and I can’t eat. These include: Any and all milk products, fruit, anything fried, boiled, broiled, lemon, eggs, and various other things as they will hinder progress of the medicine, aid the organism, and make my stomach танцует (dance). This means my diet will be consisting mostly of bread, water, pasta, meat, and чай (tea)- here’s to carbohydrates!!