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...