Welcome!
Apartments in Ukraine are made with either brick walls or concrete. Apartments with brick walls are generally warmer. The apartment where I lived for 6 ½ years was made of brick and was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Now I live in a concrete apartment and the month the heat is turned off in the spring and before the heat is turned on in the fall is rather cold. This fall was no exception. The heat was to come on October l5th, which it did for all my friends whom I know…but not for me. Four days later I had heat from 2 radiators. One radiator was in my room and one in the living room but it was not enough to heat the room. The next day the other radiator in my room came on so with the door closed, I could be warm as long as I didn’t have to eat or go to the bathroom. But for the next 3 days the other radiators still didn’t come on. My neighbor complained to the utility department that all his radiators weren’t working and he was told to have them repaired. So by Saturday, I woke up asking God what I was going to do if my radiators didn’t work. I felt like giving up, but as I touched the kitchen radiator that morning I felt like shouting… I had heat. I ran to all the radiators and finally they were all working. I am sure that it is hard for Americans to imagine what it is like to not be able to just go to the thermostat when it is cold and just turn on the heat. Here you must wait for October 15th for it to come on and then it is one temperature…about 75 degrees. Needless to say the day my heat came on we had a heat wave and I thought I would die. I finally broke down and ripped of the weatherproofing of some windows to cool off. BUT I had heat!!!
But of course before I had heat, I had the sniffles. Shortly after I had heat, I came down with the flu and I have been fighting a cough and cold since. Unfortunately I can’t go to the orphanage. (I know the workers are desperately looking for my pampers and the babies are waiting for me, but I can’t go if I had even a sniffle much less a cough.) So I have been staying home trying to get well. Unfortunately my cough continues to linger. Also I had started doing Physical Therapy on an elderly lady who had a stroke 1 month before. She hadn’t had therapy all that month. She was sent home to be in bed but if she had been in America, she would already be getting movement back in her arm and leg and be able to help get in and out of bed and sit on the side of the bed. This lady cannot even move her arm or leg.
I often wonder what Physical Therapists do here. When people hear that I am a Physical Therapist, the average person says, “Oh you do massage.” Doctors say, “Oh you are a doctor.” (because I was trained in America.) But I don’t know what the P.T. did in the orphanage. The children were 2 years old when I first came and they were mostly lying in a crib. Within one year of my involvement, they are all sitting, most of them standing in the crib and walking around the crib and a few are on the verge of walking independently. If I was there everyday, they were be even further along, but I am only there 2 days a week if I don’t have a cold or an allergy. So what does the therapist do who is assigned to them? Good question.
This elderly lady with a stroke is the 2nd woman that I have helped with a stroke. I saw both of them one month after their stroke and both could do nothing. Fortunately the first woman that I worked with is independent with walking and getting around. Unfortunately she had a lot of spasticity in her arm and she didn’t get use back in her arm, but she can get around. This lady that I am just now seeing appears that she will do well and should get the use back in her arm and leg but why didn’t she get therapy in the hospital while she was there or home therapy? It is beyond me. By the time I am finally over my cold and cough it will probably be 2 months without any help. Please pray that I will be able to help her to get independent again.
So please pray that I will finally be over my cold and cough.
Tomorrow is my 10th day of antibiotics. I am staying home as much as I can because I really want to get back to the children and to help the lady. Maybe I will go to the orphanage next week and see if I can see the children if I wear a mask. Also please pray for me as I work with Olga who has the stroke. Thanks.
