Back From Siberia

[visaveteran1 33]

Just returned from one month in Krasnoyarsk. I had a great visit with my wife but I had one lingering issue...my stomach. It started when I got to SVO1 on the trip in. When I arrived at 6 am my wife met me and we went to her flat. Of course she had breakfast ready for me...a BIG breakfast. I tried to eat but it was a mistake. By evening I was in pain so Nadia called for a nurse to visit me (nice they still have home visits there). An EMT type practitioner arrived and checked me out...then told me i had to go to the hospital. Next thing I know I'm riding in a cold little ambulance and taking a long and bumpy ride to the local hospital. As i sat in the little van I was in a state of disbelief that here i was on my first night in Russia with my wife being taken to a Russian hospital for a stomach ache.

The hospital was pretty bad and there we many homeless men who had gotten drunk and got in a fight...bleeding from various areas of their bodies. I noticed a lack of sterile conditions and saw hospital staff handling bloody bandages without gloves. Wow! I wanted to leave asap. But I was committed and a nurse comes along and pricks my finger for blood and gives we a little glass bottle for a urine sample...without a lid! The staff started talking among themselves and my wife told me later that they didn't want to send me to the patients bathroom as it was too funky for a VIP American guest...so they ended up unlocking the staff bathroom and letting me use it. I would have hated to see the patient bathroom as the staff one was pretty nasty.

After a short time a young doctor shows up and talks to me in passable English. He tells me I seem to be ok but suffering from "gastric distress." He orders some meds and sends me on my way...free of charge! Wow...something free in Russia. I think they felt it was enough to have an American visit the hospital...a real novelty The staff is probably still talking about me. My stomach SLOWLY got better but I never felt a 100% well. I think it might be stress related because once i got home to the USA it magically went away.

The visit was good for me and Nadia because I lived as a Russian lives...not as a tourist. Instead of daily touristy stuff we did simple things like having coffee or tea at the nearby cafe or window shopping a the new shopping mall. We took long walks and enjoyed just being together in her warm and cozy flat. A few times i went to the local sauna which always makes me feel good. I grew comfortable with our daily routine and occasional fun outing like dancing at a nearby restaurant at night.

There's more to tell but I think that's good for now. The month flew by and I hated to come home.

Interesting Update: Just got our I-130 petition approval notice! A Happy Valentine's Day present from Uncle Sam! Just what I needed for an emotional lift at this time of missing my wife and fighting jet lag.

[KGSodie 0]

Thanks for the report, much appreciated. I completely get what you mean about living as a Russian (or as close as possible). It's very - real, authentic, soothing? One or more of those words.

[Don E 0]

Wow! Congrats on the NOA2!!!!! Wish that I could go through VSC......

[Chris Parker 11]

After a short time a young doctor shows up and talks to me in passable English. He tells me I seem to be ok but suffering from "gastric distress." He orders some meds and sends me on my way...free of charge! Wow...something free in Russia.

Going to the hospital is more dangerous than staying home sick...

But, you get what you pay for... !

[mox 298]

Congrats on the approval and thanks for the trip report. Glad it wasn't anything more serious. These kinds of things are a little worrisome while they're happening, but definitely a good story to tell going forward.

[Neonred 3,553]

Sean, sorry to hear about the problem you had.

On my first visit to see my now wife, she gave me strict instructions not to eat anything at SVO1, and not to eat anything on the domestic Russian flight. I listened to her about not eating in SVO1, but when I got on the Aeroflot Don flight I was getting pretty hungry. Shortly after take off they served the meal. I looked around and saw everyone eating.....my thought was "I want to be like these Russians" so I went ahead and ate almost everything including that sausage with the big chunks of fat. Then I arrive and she makes me a big dinner meal. Next day we are walking in town and I know I am going to have some trouble, of the lower GI type. I also discover most of the bathrooms in the restaurants and cafes don't have toilet seats.

Later that night, about 2AM I find myself REALLY sick and spending the rest of the night in her bathroom loosing nasty fluids from both ends of my GI tract. I am hurting and find minor relief laying on the cool bathroom floor in the fetal position and moaning. She comes in to see what is going on and immediately goes into hysterics. She thought I was dying, but then again so did I.

She was great and took such good care of me. I am sure I would not have gotten any better treatment in the local hospital. After a few days I was almost back to normal.

[eekee 182]

Sean, sorry to hear about the problem you had.

On my first visit to see my now wife, she gave me strict instructions not to eat anything at SVO1, and not to eat anything on the domestic Russian flight. I listened to her about not eating in SVO1, but when I got on the Aeroflot Don flight I was getting pretty hungry. Shortly after take off they served the meal. I looked around and saw everyone eating.....my thought was "I want to be like these Russians" so I went ahead and ate almost everything including that sausage with the big chunks of fat. Then I arrive and she makes me a big dinner meal. Next day we are walking in town and I know I am going to have some trouble, of the lower GI type. I also discover most of the bathrooms in the restaurants and cafes don't have toilet seats.

Later that night, about 2AM I find myself REALLY sick and spending the rest of the night in her bathroom loosing nasty fluids from both ends of my GI tract. I am hurting and find minor relief laying on the cool bathroom floor in the fetal position and moaning. She comes in to see what is going on and immediately goes into hysterics. She thought I was dying, but then again so did I.

She was great and took such good care of me. I am sure I would not have gotten any better treatment in the local hospital. After a few days I was almost back to normal.

i was sick my first two weeks in russia... spent one of those weeks in bed unable to even hold down water. the doctor told me it was due to mcdonalds, which i have been eating all my life. it was the heavy russian food which was giving me trouble, but you try convincing a russian doctor of that!

[slim 1,523]

HA! You guys are lucky!

On my way over I ate the caviar and other salty foods on the flight. I developed something like a large "dot" on my lip where it had dried out and it looked suspiciously like a cold sore. So here I was about to meet up with my fiancee that I hadn't seen for like five years and now I've got this big red scabby bump stuck on my lip. "How about a kiss, honey?"

I arrived a few days before her so I headed to the apteka to get some cream or something and they gave me a small tube. I was looking for something like a moisturizer or maybe some Karmex or Blistex. I pointed to my lip, grunted the word "Krema" and the girl picked up something and sold it to me. I had no idea what it was because I didn't take the time to read the whole thing. My Russian decoding skills were decent, but not to the point where I was curious enough to read the ingredients on a package of lip moisturizing cream. I started using the stuff and thought nothing of it.

When my fiancee arrived, I still had the little sore and explained to her what happened and how it was most likely just an allergic reaction or dry or something like that and not really a big deal. She didn't seem too concerned with it so we just went on about our business. Later that day, she went to the bathroom and sitting on the little shelf under the mirror she saw the bottle of cream. She picked it up, looked it over, and then turned to me and said, "which one of you has Herpes?"

[mox 298]

She picked it up, looked it over, and then turned to me and said, "which one of you has Herpes?"

LMAO! That's hillarious!