Let's try this again...

Ok, so the nurse to accompany Matt is flying in as I'm typing this, which makes me very very happy...and we are scheduled to fly back all the way home on Friday...although I'm not going to believe that until my mom pinches me at the airport...I've been told that Greenland doesn't have a hospital, so if things go sour early in the flight I'm thinking London might be a possibility, or Halifax later on...sheesh...

Matt is feeling a lot better now too. The one positive side effect of all this - according to Matt - is the amount of weight that he lost - 35 lb to be exact!

Today I was even able to get away for afternoon to Munich (thx Daria!). It turned out to be a bit further than I thought, but worth the train ride. I didn't get to see much in the couple of hours that I was there, but it was sure beautiful...and on the ride back, I had a local complaining to me about the trains - haha - I guess I blend in everywhere I go!

We're making progress...

So, today the doctor approved Matt to fly home either on Thursday or Friday. His opinion was that a medical escort was not necessary as Matt's pain is managed by pills now and I could look after that, but there's no frikin' way I'm flying without a nurse after all that has happened - so, I'm in the process of sorting that out, luckily sounds like the insurance company shares my opinion, so hopefully we'll be home before the weekend.

Guten Morgen!

Well, Matt seems to be doing a bit better. His spirits are definitely up this morning after I gave him whole bunch of print outs about last night's Rider game! He's very well looked after here. Yesterday for lunch they even served his favourite - rolladen - but Debby, he said yours were better :) This hospital is pretty modern, they even have a helicopter parking as they fly in patients on regular basis right outside of Matt's window...and Matt finally was able to have a shower instead of a sponge bath!!!

Since he seems to be content for a little bit, I'm off to grab some authentic German lunch. There is a very pretty street near by here, called old town. There are restaurants set up right on the cobblestone roads...with many cute stores all around...

We still don't know exact dates of our flight home, but since Matt is doing better, I doubt he'll have the operation here. My guess is that we'll be heading back to North America sometime this week.

OMG

So, the nurse from Canada flew in on Thursday night. She got into the hospital as if she owned the place, it was pretty cool. She arranged a limo for us to travel to the airport the next day, and it seemed like things were falling into place.

Today we were suppose to fly all the way home, but unfortunately things didn't go as planned...Matt did not handle the flight well at all, his blood pressure changed significantly, he almost went unconcious and was in severe pain. Further travel was strictly prohibited (and actually cancelled by the flight attendant even before we landed). The ambulance took him from the plane straight to a hospital near by (a little town next to Munich, Germany). Within 40 minutes, they had 3 doctors look at Matt - one being a neurosurgon. He's currently all drugged up and very well taken care of in a very nice and well equipped hospital. They want to operate, but we need to check if insurance will cover the surgery, so we'll know more tomorrow. If they do, we'll stay here between 10 - 14 days. The nurse will be leaving tomorrow morning, but if we are travelling in the next couple days, another nurse will fly in to accompany Matt.

Luckily, I'm staying in a nice hotel, just across the street from the hospital...and patiently waiting for our luggage that I didn't have a chance to pick up at the airport obviously...

July 23 - I'M STARTING TO PACK!!!

Well, what a crazy journey this has turned out to be. It's been 4 weeks, but felt like 4 months to me and 4 years to Matt. Friday flight home has been confirmed. Matt will be taken straight to the General, so feel free to visit him. Although he's still in pain, he is showing small signs of improvement. He took a couple of steps with the doctor's help yesterday, and today he sat up for a few minutes!

All in all, I still say that this was the best worse case scenario...the kind people, familiar language and culture, beautiful Kiev and delicious food all made this easier for me (Sylvia) to deal with...

July 19

We'll be home on Friday!!! I spoke to our insurance agency and tickets have been reserved for Friday (they still have a wrinkle to iron out on Monday with regards to the medical escort). Matt will be taken by ambulance to the airport, accompanied on first class by the escort all the way home, and then again transported straight from the airport to the hospital. The doctors here recommend surgery, but Matt will get another opinion once we get home. Good thing is that we actually have the MRI with us.

So, even with Matt's current condition - he is very concerned about the ROUGHRIDERS - I know they play again soon, so could someone PLEASE e-mail or post an update so I don't have to dig around on the internet as to what happened..haha...once a rider fan - always a rider fan!

As for me, it's day four of cold showers - something broke down in the neighbourhood and the entire surrounding area (including hospital) doesn't have hot water - but at least we still got water! I'm constantly getting asked for directions, a pen, time, and yesterday at the computer - a guy with broken englished was asking me about how to type a Ukrainian letters, then after asked for directions. After I helped him out, he asked me to read something (now I read as slow as 1st grader), so he was very shocked to find out that I didn't even speak Ukrainian haha He was from Denmark - that's what I love about Europe - the mix you get in here is so cool!

There is someone that I haven't thank for yet on there that deserves great recognition - my parents. I just want to say that I know your phone bill is going to be huge this month, but please know that it is worth every penny! I would not have been able to pull thru this without your double dose of daily phone calls.

July 18

So, just when we thought Matt was doing a bit better, couple days ago, he stood up and something popped in his back, causing unbearable pain. He got pain medication shortly, but since then has been too scared to move around, and it seems like we're back to the start. In the mean time, our insurance company has been working for us - talking with doctors and such - and are hoping to fly us out next week. There is a nurse flying in from Canada to escort Matt back(which takes so much pressure off of me!!!). They are looking at the best flying arrangements, so no date has been give yet. This puts Matt in bit of better spirits.

Hospital staff has been great - Matt is now known as Hercules haha His buddy has been stopping by every day, with ice cream or goodied that his mom prepared for Matt! Like I keep saying, the people are unbelievable!

But it's not only Ukrainians that are so wonderful - the Canadian couple that lives here and had me over to their house for supper earlier, invited me on a boat ride/supper with their friends yesterday. There was 15 of us, supper was delicious, company very fun and scenery fantastic - I was finally able to snap some photos!!! (but I can't put them on in this particular internet place). It was just the break I needed to re-energize!

July 15

No much new to add...Matt is getting better, although he still can't sit, stand or walk. We are starting to look at flights home.

For those of you that know Matt, you'll be very surprised to know that he's so bored in the hospital, that he actually finished reaking a whole book!!!

I've been trying to walk to places as much as I can, knowing that the stay here is coming to an end. I still keep getting asked for directions, and once I was actually able to help some people out. The way I spoke must have been very poor, as one of the people said "oh, she's not even from here!", but they took my advice anyway. I've bought myself some shoes, a red pair actually...maybe I can just click my heels 3 times and come home just like Dorothy :)

Again, I can't stress enough how much Daria has been helping us, she's like an angel watching over us all the way from Toronto!

Saturday, July 12

Not much has changed with Matt. He does seem to be in less pain everyday and you can tell he's got more good moments.

The adoption went to a rapid stop, and due to Matt's condition, we have not discussed any further plans. We just have to get him home safe.

I on the other hand, had another lovely break from the hospital. The Canadian family that invited me earlier for supper, took me with them to get groceries at a larger supermarket, as well as fresh market. The smell in the street market was fabulous - all the fresh flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, smelled like walking through a garden. I stocked up on things that I haven't eaten since I've lived in Poland! mmmm Thanks again guys! We even found an extension piece to charge up the dvd player, but unfortunatelly it's buzzing to a point of concern...for fear of getting zapped @ 220 V...we'll just have to skip to books :)

So, there's never a dull moment with Matt's buddy in his room. Both of his parents came over today insisting that Matt see another "doctor". After painful translation and arguing, I decided it would be just easier if I went to see this guy to be polite to them. Well, it turns out that this "doctor" is a healer...the way that it was explained was that Matt had a curse put on him by a witch back home and needed this healer to take it away...very very interesting...for 2,000 grywna, we will not do that. Very nice of these people though...

Friday, July 11 - MRI

Ok, so today was the day that Matt had his MRI done - you'd think that would be uneventul, but ofcourse there's a story to go along with that...so the MRI machine is not in the hospital, we had to rent an ambulance to drive him there and drop him off again at the hospital as he wouldn't be able to get into a car, or even sit in it. This time, the ampulance was up todate with the times, trouble is, Matt's a big dude...it took 8 people to move him from the stretcher into the ambulance stretcher. Sad part is, they had couple older nurses helping, as well as patients and he almost slipped in between the two beds in the process as his foot got caught in the middle...but, he got into it ok...so, we arrive at the MRI building, and the facility is very new and they can't take the stretcher in there, not to mention to the actual MRI machine...what to do...they ambulance guy looked fit and tall, but only about 150 lb (compared to Matt's about 250 lb)...so, he decided that the only way to get Matt from the ambulance to the MRI was to carry him - yup - Matt sat up and this slim guy pulled him out by arms and carried him on his back! I didn't know if I should take a picture or try to hold Matt up - turned out to be quite the strong dude...so, once we got him in the building, we sat him down, but by then Matt's in so much pain he can't sit, so now we've got him spread out on 3 chairs laying. There was more man working in the MRI so that managed to get him set up there. Matt said he felt extremely clostorphobic in there and almost freaked. And then guess what, the slim but strong ambulance guy carried Matt back to the ambulance on his back again, but walked in another door, so now Matt was in the ambulance, head at the back, where the big door opens. The MRI results were available with in 15 minutes, and considering, they were reasonably priced. So, we get to the hospital after what felt to Matt as a very bumpy ride...and once again, he had to be moved. By this time, his buddy was waiting and eager to help out. So, they are pulling Matt out of the ambulance (head first remember) and the first set of weels comes out, but the second one doesn't and they drop the stretcher feet down!!! Matt seems to be ok, but it looked really really bad. This time, it only took 4 stronger individuals to move him over.
So, the MRI showed what was suspected, he has a herniated disk, which means we're coming home, but when is unsure at this time. Doctor just said today that he wants Matt in the hospital for another week (July 18th). We have been in contact with the insurance company, so they have our case started. Since medical evacuations are based on live and death situations, we'll hav to stay here until Matt is able to sit the two shorter flights (over sees he'll be able to lie down in 1st class). So, that's where we're at. He is feeling a bit better, but the news of him staying in the hospital another week got him down a bit. His buddy is this weekend, but already promissed to visit him and play more bridge with their ukrainian playboy cards! (T is ace, B is jack, Ukrainian D is Queen - takes a bit of practice to keep things straight especially when you're learning a new game!)

So, now that we have a plan set out, we both feel a bit better. Situation sucks, but we at least know what we're doing. I can't emphasize how much help our adoption agency has been through this unfortunate situation. They drove me around to pay all the bills, everytime they stop by they bring a goodie bag for Matt - they really seem like our parents of Kiev - and also great thanks to Daria in Toronto who has done a TON of work for us not related to the adoption. They really do work from the Heart - very appropriate for their company name! Thanks Daria!!!

Bit of info on Kiev...although I haven't seen much so far, and propably won't under the circumstances, I keep taking a detour here and there, and it is such a pretty city. Their parks here are so well manicured and kept up, with the odd cafe in the middle. The people are always very well put together, and ladies -you'd be amazed at all the shoes that the women here wear - all high heels - I have to get a pair before we leave - they are works of art!

Well, again thanks for all the comments and e-mails, I read them all and tell Matt all about them. One of you was asking about the e-mail address again, so here' it is: mattsylvia2008@live.ca

Thurday, July 10

So, there's been some translation and clarification - Matt will have his MRI tomorrow. The doctor doesn't recommend him going home anytime soon as he's still in that rough of shape, and the doctor is worried that by going home, Matt might move more, and hurt himself more. In addition, the polish speaking gentelman got released, and his buddy will be leaving soon too (which may I add, actually helped Matt shave this morning). The kindness of this people here just blows me away!

We brought a dvd player, but unfortunatelly the charged battery only lasted for 2 movies, and it cannot be recharged as the converter doesn't fit the plug in because it's set in deeper in the wall. My ipod and a book will have to be sufficient for Matt to pass the boredom (along with my visits of course).

Date...??? I'm starting to loose track...

So, Matt had an X-ray, and now the Doctor thinks that he has a raptured disk. This will be confirmed by an MRI, which is yet to be arranged. He is getting better, but at snail's pace. He still can't walk, stand or sit. If this is what they think and a long recovery process is advised, we will be flying home after the MRI. Since Matt has to be at all of the adoption appointments, at this time, we cannot proceed further, just waiting for more information every day, and making our decisions based on that. One bit of good news that we did find out was that this condition is different than what he was originally diagnosed with in Canada, therefore our insurance will kick in!

The internet place I'm using right now, it's actually underground. You walk under the street to cross to the other side, but it actually turns into a mall, with couple of levels, a food court and this huge internet computer place. It's so modern and shocking. I can't believe the environment contrast between that and the post-war hospital!

I finally had a lovely break from the hospital yesterday evening. Our adoption agent from Toronto had a contact in the Canadian ambassy and told them about our situation. The wife of the head of immigration called me, and invited me to their home for supper!!! How sweet was that?! Now the funny part is that her husband, the one that works for the Canadian Ambassy, is actually from Regina. What friendly and nice people. This evening was just the break I needed to re-energize myself. They even send me home with a care package of some magazines, goodies and a bottle of wine - which I really really needed by now. I still can't get over all the strangers that are playing such influencial roles in our lives. Thank you all!!!

Ps: I have more people stopping me to ask for directions...I think that's so neat!

July 8

Not much has changed. Matt's not too much better. They did an x-ray today, for which we're still waiting to hear results. Depending on those results, they'll do an MRI. He's still getting pumped full of drugs and wanted me to post on here that: "his butt feels like a f... pincushion!" At least he's in the room with some good people. The other day they were playing Ukrainian bridge until midnight!
I on the other hand, am still running back and forth between the hospital, our appartment and the grocery store. Nothing too exciting to report. They sell beer in little kiosks here, I almost bought one last night. Oh, and apparently I fit right in as I had two Ukrainians ask me for directions yesterday! I understood what they were asking, but just didn't know where the streets were.
Our adoption appointment for today has been cancelled, and our agents are in the process of trying to reschedule for July 16th with the hopes that Matt will be able to walk by then. So, we'll see.
Please drop us a note if you get a chance, it's always nice to hear from home in a situation like this.

July 6, Sunday

Back to the hospital. Matt is still in pain. Doctors say that they think the's got a pinch nerve, but they will do an MRI and an X-ray tomorrow to determine more as he's been in too much pain to move him around until now. If this is more serious and surgery is required, we will be flying back to Canada. That is the absolute worse case scenario. From what I understand, this is a painful process, so I'm staying in a positive frame of mind, and take one day at a time. What sucks is that because Matt had problems with his back before we left Canada, we might not be reimbursed by our insurance for any of it.

I found another internet connection thru the young guy beside Matt. Talking to all these guys has proven to be helpful. For example, our agency provided us with a cell phone, and this young guy switched over to english for me! It's rather hard to figure out a cell phone in cryllic! He also told me about this closer internet place!

Well, I'm back to the hospital. What an adventure this is turning out to be!

July 5, Saturday

So, I rush back to the hospital early in the morning...our agent picks me up to give me a lift even though the hospital is a 15 minute walk from our appartment. Like parents, they prepare a goodie bag for me to take to Matt. He's all drugged up and seems to be doing better. In fact, he even found a friend. A guy beside him is in his early 20's and shares everything with him! I'm not sure how excatly they communicate, but that definitelly eased my mind! So, I stay there as I'm expected to feed Matt and help him out (not enough staff). I notice that in the goodie bag is also one set of dishes, and good thing...they wheel the food in the hallway and everybody has to go and get some on their own dish! Then you wash the dish, and wait for the next meal. Crazy, but again, everyone is super nice and helpful. The bathrooms here scare me, in the hospital, the seat is actually off to the side, you put it on as required, and you're expected to have your own toilet paper...wow...Our health care system is so so so different.
The guy beside Matt keeps feeding him all the goodies that his mom brought him, and they both chuckle, although I'm not convinced that they always understand each other. The hospital food is a hit and miss, so I ran out at lunch to pick up more snacks. It feels like long day. Turns out one of the patients in that room also speaks Polish, so now we're getting somewhere. The young guy speaks Russian, then the Polish guy translates to me, then I translate to Matt. It's actually not that bad, all things considered. I went home early that evening, as at this point, I'm competely exhausted!

Well, this is how our weekend begun!

July 4, Thursday

Hi All,
I know you all have been anxiously awaiting for an update, but unfortunately I have bad news to report. As I mentioned before, Matt went for a massage the Wednesday before our trip which caused him back problems. He managed to squeeze 3 chiropractor appointments on the Friday and Saturday before our trip. He was still sore, but unfortunately things kept getting worse and worse. Last Thurday, it got so bad that Matt couldn't even roll over when he woke up, not to mention get out of bed. We both struggled to get him up for 6 hours, but when he stood up, the pain was unbearable and he just fell face down on the bed where he stayed for another 5 hours until help arrived. That morning I contacted our translator, who contacted our agency, who arranged for a former army massage-physio-therapist to come. She didn't arrive until 4 in the afternoon, at which time, advil and tylenol did absolutely nothing. She worked on him for 2 hours, even though she gave him more drugs, Matt was slipping in and out of conciencess. We all were worried and called for the ambulance. Once they got there, the apartment turned into a zoo. We had our agent in Toronto on the phone, actually two phones translating stuff back and forth (as our local translator went away for the weekend), we had my mom on the phone looking into coverage for our insurance, Tyler was a ton of help as he provided information about the chiropractor that he also happen to know, and as if that wasn't enough, our agency also contacted Canadian Ambassy who recommended a english speaking doctor from the British ambassy. Thru out this whole time, I was basically switching phones and talking to everybody I just listed several times. When I glanced into the room, Matt was getting injections in butt and arm....none of which seem to help. What a mess!!! At this point, I didn't care how much coverage we had, we had to get him to the hospital. They were tossing around the idea of kidney stones and heat stroke on top of everything as the medication they were giving him was not helping. So, off to the hospital we went. They did make Matt suffle his feet standing up, as they couldn't carry him out becuase one ambulance guy had back problems and the other one was about 100 lb soaking wet. Anyway, the guy with the back problems took off his backsupport belt thing and put it on Matt. Once we all crawled into the Ambulance from the 2nd world war, I ended up buying this used back belt-thing as it seemed to help and to provide some stability (I'm sure he ripped me off, but at this point, who cares!) I do have to mention that after our agent in Toronto hang up, I had to keep struggling with the language. So, we get to the hospital, and it looks like the 2nd world war was over, and here we are - back in the 40's. Doctors and nurses were super nice and seemed compentent, but man, the building and everything in it was old! Anyway, they checked him over,and took him to the 3rd floor in an elevator. Because the elevator was small, I had to take the stairs. As I'm passing the second floor, there are two nurses pushing a bed. Out of curiosity, I looked at the face of the patient, which was tightly covered, I look back up at the nurses and they are wearing masks...I held my breath, the whole time I was passing the dead body...in the room, Matt got hooked up to an iv and put him in a room with 3 guys. I left the hospital late that night with our adotion agents - they took the role of my parents here in Kiev. They were absoutely fabulous - one always stayed with me and the other one with Matt. I don't know what I would have done without them, and all the work that our Toronto agent did. I don't know how to thank them! That was a HUJOWY day, as they say in Ukrainian!

July 3 - Appointment Date

Today we had our appointment where we were offered four portfolios of available children to look at and pick from. We only had an hour for the entire process. Unfortunatelly, the portfolios shown had very sick children, ones that would not even pass Canadian government standards. We actually left the meeting this morning with one portfolio in hand. We picked out a 32 month old girl to look at in an orphanage 10 hour train ride away. We had to wait the rest of the day to receive approval, but in the mean time, our agency found out more information which proved to be unfavorable, as the little girl was sicker than indicated in her file. We had to spend the afternoon cancelling our request and signing up for a new appointment. We just found out a few minutes ago that it should be sometime Tuesday. Although we're disappointed, we believe that everything happens for a reason and we're looking forward to our appointment on Tuesday.
So, now we'll have 4 days taking in the sights of Kiev and enjoy ourselves.

July 2nd - Update on our Friends

Hi All, we've got very exciting news to share - our friends Carla and Tyler are expecting TWINS!!! Unfortunatelly, that means that their trip to Ukraine is cancelled. We are very happy to know that we've got such good friends that are willing to travel all this way just to spend time with us and make our time here more comfortable. That support is amazing. With them having twins, we only hope we can offer them as much support as they have given us.
It is still early here, so we're off to explore...stay tuned...

July 1st - Canada Day

So, Ukraine is 9 hours ahead. Even with sleeping on the flights, it was hard for me (Sylvia) to adjust. The first night, I slept from 10PM - 2AM, then again from 6AM - 12PM. Interestingly enough, Matt also slept from 10PM...but he stayed sleeping until noon the next day...as per usual. haha
One thing we found out today is that you never leave without your umbrella - weather changes here extremely fast. When we left our appartment it was blue skies, and by the time we got 1/2 block away, it was pouring on us. After an early afternoon start, we hooked up with a couple that we met in Regina 3 months ago - Kathy, Daren and their now 2 kids. They are just finishing their adoption and are flying out on Friday. We met their new 6 year old boy, Maxim. He's very adorable, and took to Matt right away. They showed us some fantastic places to eat - as well as told us where to find INTERNET!!! They are now our heroes! haha
In the evening, we all headed out to the Canadian Embassy to celebrate Canada Day! It was quite interesting...the special guest was a Mountie out of Kindersley, SK. Free drinks, food, and entertainment all evening made for a good night. We also met up with 3 other couples from Canada who were also adopting. 2 were out of Toronto, and they also deal with the same agency as us, and another couple was out of Saskatoon - small world eh? Coincidentally, all 3 of these families had their appointments and were able to fill us in on more details. After receiving all this information, we are feeling a bit more confident.

We finally found INTERNET!!!

Sorry for the delay - we've been having trouble finding internet. It wasn't as easy to find as we were lead to believe. So, let's catch you up...

June 30
We arrive in Kiev without any trouble around 5 PM. We got off to a good start as all of our luggage arrived and getting through customs and immigration was a breeze. We were told once we got through customs, to look for someone holding a sign with our name on it. Sounds easy, right? not so...Once the door opened, there was hundreds of people holding up signs...all of them lined up like a mob, leaving only a little path between them all to walk through. We felt like we were walking in on a red carpet, all that was missing was flash photography. I (Sylvia) managed to find our name so I grabbed the driver and headed for the doors, not realizing that Matt was still stuck in the mob. In the mean time, the driver said "no english". Matt caught up with us and we got in the car, and drove in silence. (Just to fill you in, Matt hurt his back 3 days before we left. His Sacro-Iliac (SI) joint seized up. He had 3 chiropractor appointments in the 2 days before we left. As good of work that the chiro's did on his back, he still has lots of pain everyday. He's in a lot of pain in the mornings but with walking slowly gets better through out the day). Anyways, we drove for about 10 minutes at about 170 km/hr and I was the only one with a seatbelt on...apparently they are not required. As soon as we drove into Kiev itself, (the airport is located outside of the city) it reminded me of Poland. We kept driving...in silence...until we arrived at our appartment in a very nice neighbourhood. There, we were greeted by our landlady, our facilitator and our translator. After ironing out the appartment details, the landlady left us with explicit instructions to water the flowers and not burn down the appartment??? We then sat down with the facilitator and interpreter to review the adoption process once again. Although this was a very important discussion, the whole time we were sidetracked because of our interpreter - a gentleman and polite man, who looked and spoke with the same accent just like the actor in Borat.
After that, we were left on our own. By now it was around 8PM. We desperatly tried to find internet but were unsuccessful, so we went back to the appartment and ate some of the sausage we bought.
The appartment we're staying in is 55 Euros per night and it was built in 1930s. It is decorated with old paintings, decoratively painted 20 foot ceilings, and tons of interesting knicknacks. We assume that the lady lives here and moves away when opportunities like us come up. It has a very large living room, bedroom, full kitchen and bathroom, as well as 2 balconies.