What's been happening

A few days ago (on Wednesday) I suddenly started hating Russia and everything here. I coincidentally lost my appetite. At the same time I felt an urgent need to eat, so I forced down some food--as much as I could. That night I had a stomach ache that was keeping me up but I finally fell asleep. Then Thursday I woke with the same stomach pain. I dealt with it in the morning but in the early afternoon I approached my manager and asked about medical issues--in case the stomach thing worsened. He suggested I talk to the company medic, which I did. The medic took my temperature and felt around my abdomen and said he thought it was nothing serious, but that I should take my temperature that night after dinner and give him a call just so we could make sure it wasn't appendicitis.

As it happened, the front desk didn't have the thermometer they were supposed to and I was feeling rotten when I called the doctor. So he came and examined me and told me we had to go to the hospital. There, another doctor (?) examined my belly once again and I was given a shot of something in the butt. They also took blood and ran a couple analyses. The first was a chemical assay that came out normal and the second was a biochemical assay which showed a couple of markers (my liver enzymes) with higher than expected levels. The doctor there said it may be nothing, but wants another test done to rule out hepatitis.

The hospital was niceish. Some repairs were underway so it felt a little in disrepair. But I didn't have to pay a cent and I get the feeling that I never will. It was also poorly lit and weirdly laid out and some older gentleman was holding a tube up his nose and coughing/vomiting up fluid in the hallway while he waited for the initial examination room to open up. I had brought my laptop along (but forgot my camera), so these photos taken from my webcam will just have to do.

On Friday I went back to the company medic and he contacted his superiors. And we decided to just wait the weekend while I took some meds (Omez and Mezim--both of which I know nothing about) and see how it turns out.

Today I slept til noon and haven't eaten anything. The pain has lessened, but is not gone. I'll let you know what happens. Hopfully it doesn't involve more Russian hospitals.