Two days after surgery:
My lovely Svenska friend has kept me company on Skype video whenever she is not at work and I've never been too bored. Other time is spent writing, reading, and overall trying to be as productive as possible. Dr. Kulesh has told me with amusement on several occasions that most patients come for lengthening making bold claims about all the productive things they'll do during the lengthening/consolidation process and always end up just becoming couch potatoes, watching TV, and browsing the internet.
This is something that I want to avoid at all costs.
Other time I've spent talking with the nurses and staff whenever they come to visit me for administering medication, cleaning, and helping with my toiletries.
The young nurses are Anna, Ina, and Maria. None of them speak much English, but we've managed to communicate using iTranslate Voice and lots of eye contact and gestures. Maria is beautiful and especially communicative. She's only been in Saint Petersburg for seven days and I guess this is all pretty new for her as well.
The cleaning and cooking staff are more elder, but equally as gracious and interesting. Oxana does the cleaning and mostly helps me feel more human by providing face and body wipes, emptying my chamber pot (I've yet to use my bed pan yet and hopefully won't have to before I can walk to the toilet.) and setting up a system for me to brush my teeth and shave in bed.
Nina, the cook has pretty much shared her entire life story to me over the iTranslate app and she's been very affectionate and concerned about my well-being.
The chief of MEDEM clinic, Alexey, visited me today and said that my condition was very good. He told me that, if my condition remains stable, I may be able to attempting walking with support tomorrow.
The physiotherapist today didn't speak much English and, while he was nice, he was no where near as helpful as the lady from yesterday. In any case, I still remember most of the physiotherapy from yesterday, so I'll probably do it on my own.
I'd like to make an apology if you find this diary neither as entertaining or informative as some of the others on this forum. While I definitely hope this can provide all of you with information regarding the situation here in Saint Petersburg (and thus you are welcome to ask any specific questions you might have), I am writing this mostly in stream-of-consciousness and as Blaise Pascal once said to a friend he wrote, “I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter."
So please feel free to skim through the bulk of it and find whatever information you deem relevant to your own personal journey.
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