Home !

Now that I am home and have seen  and spoken to family, I can conclude my blog about my last few days in Kharkiv. I didnt want to worry mum & dad while I was so far away. You see, I had a big fall on the ice as I was walking home on New Years Day! One moment I am walking on fresh snow, the next, I am flat on my back as both legs slipped from under me. My left leg went further left than it should have and something did not feel right at all. Sasha tried to get me up by pulling me from the front, but that was too painful, so he tried to grab me under the arms & lift me & he too fell over ! (Sasha, I will not forget those few days, thank you). We finally manage to get ourselves up & I get back to my apartment in a very sad and sorry state.

Not a shot I wanted to display, but you
get an idea of the swelling. The one on
the right is huge compared to the left.




The next day, Friday, given it was a public holiday & I didn’t want to disturb anyone all I could do was lay in bed. My knee was badly swollen and bruised. The following day, I thought, I have to get some help. Who do I call when I need help & who has a car to get me to a doctor? Inna! Unfortunately Inna is out of town and wont be back till after 5pm. OK I thought, what do I do now? I remembered reading somewhere on the PM intranet site about medical emergency assist for PM employees (SOS). They have contact numbers all over the world.... except Ukraine! So I try and call Britain but cant get through. Next port of call...Australia... and it was so good to hear the Aussie accent. Sorry Parker, the phone bill is going to be big, but I figured this was an emergency.

This lovely guy from Sydney takes all my details and after about 15 minutes I am talking to a doctor who asks all the relevant questions and suggests that given the time of year, there would most likely be a long wait at a Kharkiv Public hospital & this would be more stressful for me. They would speak to their Russian SOS counterparts and find a suitable practitioner in Kharkiv that I could go to.

Now I am starting to feel that I am getting somewhere and I think the shock has worn off. Next I get a text from Anya (PMU), saying they are trying to find a doctor and will be at my place around 5pm. Hmm, help is starting to arrive. Somewhere around this time, Lada, Urii and Sasha lob at the apartment to help me with a few things I need to get done, buy food, take rubbish out etc). The phone rings, and it is SOS Russia (speaking English). We have found an orthopaedic surgeon in Kharkiv. He can see you this afternoon for a consult or tomorrow for a consult and x-ray. “Thank you very much, but I do not have access to anyone with a car, so I cant go today. I have friends coming over later this afternoon & I can discuss with them if they can take me tomorrow. I will call you back tomorrow”.

Next thing I know my bloody awful sounding door bell goes off & standing behind the door is Inna, Anya, and Anya’s sister Marcia (remember the Sambucca night?)! They all come in & bring Christmas presents and we discuss a plan of attack. I have told them I have spoken with a doctor & I can see a doctor tomorrow if needed in Kharkiv. Anya and Marcia leave as they are meant to be visiting family and Inna leaves saying that she will visit a pharmacy and get medicine. Half an hour later, Inna arrives back with anti inflammatory pills, cream and bandage. I go to bed but get very little sleep.

Saturday. I get up & somehow manage to have a shower. The swelling has gone down a little, but it still very sore if I twist or turn. I can however, bear a lot more weight on it and its not too bad if I walk in a straight line.
This is good news as I want to fly out on Monday. So I start to wander around the apartment very carefully trying to get some more movement. The phone rings and I have my SOS people from Russia on the line. How am I doing & do I want them to make an appointment to see the doctor. I explain that I have more movement in the knee & I really don’t want to bother anyone again given the time of year. I think I will pass on the doctor but will you give me the OK to fly home on Monday? We go through all the questions again, how much can you bend the knee, how many steps to the plane, are you flying economy or business class etc. It is decided by my Russian friends, that if I get as much assistance from airport staff as possible, I can fly home! This is the news I wanted to hear & thank you PM for the business class flying policy!
So I keep doing all the right things, ice the knee (plenty of that in Kharkiv), take anti inflammatory and try and get the swelling down as much as possible.

Sunday. The word has got out about my fall and the calls start to come in. Dima calls, Michal arrives back from Poland and comes to visit. Between Dima and Michal, we arrange for the VOLGA to come right to my front door to pick me up on Monday to take us to PM. (Mishka and Dima you are truely beautiful, caring people)   Anya and Inna text & we arrange Inna to pick me up the next day & take me from PM to the airport. Things are starting to look up.

Monday. Michal arrives and grabs my bag and we hop in the lift and meet the VOLGA inside my apartment block.  It is extremely icy still so I am grateful of the door to door service. Unfortunately, the VOLGA cannot go inside the PM boundry fence, so Dima & Michal walk me, very slowly, to the building. Finally 1pm arrives and Dima suggests that he comes to the airport with me to help me up steps & get from the car to the terminal etc. What a lovely man. We take to long slow walk back down to the security gate where Inna meets us and says there is no need for Dima to come as she has arranged help at the airport!

At the airport, Inna stops right at the front steps, asks for my passport and gets out and starts talking to a man. Next thing I know, this guy comes around and helps me out of the car and into the airport and sits me down. Hmm, great service! Inna comes in after parking her car and she and this gentleman are chatting away & every so often, he walks away with my passport and comes back. OK says Inna, lets go! We go through to check in and everything is organised for me. My seats through to London are booked and I have my boarding passes.  Next, I say good bye to Inna, and this gentleman walks me straight past all security checks and straight past customs and sits me down in the waiting lounge. He gets my passport stamped and I am home and hosed (do you want me to translate home and hosed Sasha?) Inna has organised with a gentleman very high up at the airport for VIP processing for little old me through the airport!!
All I have to do now is get onto the bus that takes me to the plane, take a short walk from the bus to the plane and get up six steps & hope the plane can take off on the icy runway!

Some thirty hours later, I arrive home! I cannot thank everyone enough for the assistance they provided to me in the last three days in Kharkiv. Dima, Michal, Sasha, Urii, Lada, Anya, Marcia and as always, a very special thank you to my angel (she doesn’t think she is an angel, but she is to me), Inna !

Dima

Michal

Masha

Sasha

Urii

Lada

Anya

Inna






Its 5.30 am as I write this blog. My body has not adjusted to the new time zone yet so I cannot sleep. I am sitting here having a coffee, (water from the tap), and Vegemite (black gold) on toast with melted butter....... Wait for it Kharkiv, Vegemite is coming on my return! The birds are just starting to sing, I heard the possums fighting just a moment ago and the sun is coming up against a background of blue sky! How nice it is.

How is the knee? Well the swelling continues to go down and I have managed to get a physiotherapist appointment for today. I couldn’t get a doctors appointment till next week. So I will let you know how I go. I am feeling happier with it as the days go on so hopefully no major damage done, just bruising and a very bruised ego!

I have seen or spoken to all of my family and spoken to or had texts from friends. Hehe... It is quite cool +13 degrees....... but not cold compared to where I have been the last 3 months! My friends are experiencing minus 6 today! Melbourne will be +28 and into the high 30’s by Sunday! Today I will buy a newspaper and sit out in the sun and get some vitamin D and enjoy the warmth. A BBQ this weekend to celebrate my birthday with family.

xm