May 9th - Victory Day in Russia

On May 9, 1945 the surrender document was signed by Germany, thereby formally ending WW II between the USSR and Germany.  In 1965 the USSR designated May 9th as the Victory Day holiday.  They now have a very large parade on this day that runs through the Red Square that is intended (and succeeds) to show the military might of the Russian Federation.  I have to admit, the showing is quite impressive.  Follow the link below for more information on what the parade was all about.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/376993.htm

We had intended on watching the parade from home, as it was invite-only at the Red Square (can you believe they left us off the list???).  Unfortunately, we ended up watching it from my private room at the American Medical Center.  The short story is that kidney stones hurt like hell and apparently I had them.  It hurt enough that I actually requested (ok, begged) Olga to call an ambulance because at that point the pain was so severe I was not sure what was going on.  

My worst nightmare was coming to fruition....'IT'S POSSIBLE THAT I MAY HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY IN RUSSIA'.  Don't get me wrong, to this point the medical care that I have received here has been very good, but I'm not giddy about going under the knife in in a country where I can understand the language, let alone in a country that I'm lucky to catch every 5th to 10th word!  Keep in mind that at this point I was looking at worst case scenario....i.e., this could be a hernia or worse yet, my appendix.  

The guys showed up in the ambulance and my loving wife says 'Oh, you're going to love these guys', as they are walking up to the building.  How's that for love and support....I believe I will remember that in late June around the time that our daughter is scheduled to arrive.  As they entered the apartment I understood...they definitely had a Russian look to them and they spoke no English (here is where it really pays to stay on the good side of ones Russian-speaking wife!).  Within minutes they assured me that it was only kidney stones and provided me with a very nice pain killer...YES!  After they phoned the AMC to ensure they had room for me they even gave us a ride in the ambulance so we didn't have to suffer through the Metro.

The stay at the AMC was quite uneventful, although I have to say the accomodations were very nice.  I had my own room and they fed me very tasty food.  I had my first ultra sound.  The guy that administered it is the same man that has done several of Olga's and I'm sure he was confused when he saw us enter the room and I jumped up on the table!  I spent the night and they released me the next morning after my second ultra sound came up clean.  All's well that ends well!