Day 291:

Walking to my appointment, I was head to toe bundled. Tatiana Ivanovna led the way to the local hospital, a long cross shaped building made of wood plank. Had I been going by myself, I would have never known it was a hospital. We entered through a door which entered immediately into a long narrow hallway. The hall was lined with closed doors and single hanging incandescent light bulbs hung from the ceiling. Stray dogs wandered the floor, which was dark and slick wet from the tracked in snow. The paint, white on the upper half and a green (which makes me think of scrubs, separating curtains and liver-shaped vomit trays) on the lower half angled down the sloped hallway.

I followed Tatiana to a room, where she talked with a nurse. They had me go into another room, creamy white and sunlit, and lay on a bed. Sunlight through windows was such a unique and longed for experience in that Arctic winter world. Tatiana stood by me and chatted with me, then disappeared. She and a doctor returned and began asking me questions about my health.

I had been in Nar'yan Mar, Russia for a couple weeks and had become more and more ill. After a long series of questions, the doctor left me with a nurse who took my blood pressure (by hand--no fancy digital equipment), temperature with a glass thermometer, and my pulse with a stop watch. I was then escorted to a lab, a big room with several cold war era microscopes and beakers. On one wall was a large steaming device, into which a man in a white lab coat and hat was putting trays of test tubes. On the big sturdy tables that lined the room, were metal racks filled with blown glass test tubes, others with tall narrow test tubes. For the life of my, I cannot remember the device used to draw my blood. I just remember that it was certainly not a one time use needle. What I do remember is watching in shock and terror, and that they sealed the end of the tube with a cork (not kidding).

A few days later, the doctor called and told Tatiana that I was dehydrated and a touch anemic, otherwise, I was fine (just scared to eat or drink anything in Russia). Carefully, I ate more soup Tatiana's reindeer borscht, and tea. Eventually, I had more energy and could stand up without feeling like I wanted to sit right back down again.

This morning, I woke at 6:30 and went for my swim. There was little time, which was good because I had little energy. Later, I made an appointment to see my doctor.

This afternoon, as I was standing at the counter, drinking water, I blacked out. I really didn't want to go down again, so I grabbed the counter and held on for dear life. But all the blood had left my head, and my knees went weak. I went down, hitting my arm on the table as I went. Though I was never unconscious, I was shaky and woozy for hours afterward.

Needless to say, I missed my bike ride this arvo. I think I will continue to lie low until I get this thing figured out. Reality is that I just need to listen to this body of mine. And set some getting to bed earlier rules for myself...

Still writing, still loving it and figuring it all out. Had a good chat with Cori today! Love you, sister!