Desi has an ultrasound

....and its a boy!

Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, that's not actually funny. :-)

No, a few days ago, I noticed that my ribcage hurt on the left side when I would turn my body at the torso. Not much, but I noticed it. Each day, I noticed it even more, and it hurt to lie on my left side too. I started getting worried and thinking about what it could be. It was right where my kidney is, so I thought I might have a kidney infection (thanks to Heather having one not too long ago, that was one my mind!) or a kidney stone. I didn't have a fever, but my intuition (or paranoia?) told me that something wasn't right. I don't drink enough water here, etc.

So yesterday, I forfeited my token of life to the archive to go to the American Medical clinic. Had my blood taken, peed in a cup and had an ultrasound. Turns out my kidneys are just fine. Turns out my back isn't. The ultrasound showed inflamation of several vertebrae in my middle back which was radiating pain around my ribs to where my left kidney is. This is not, thankfully a fully-herniated disk! I just need to take some pain medication for a while to reduce the inflamation, and actually to be more active. 6500 rubles later. (you do the math) Besides walking to the archives, I'm basically sedentary here, compared to everything that I did at home. Slumping over books all days is hazardous to one's health! Graduate students of the world revolt!

It still hurts, and will probably get worse for a little while, but Marina is actually trained in physical therapy and has prescribed back strengthening exercises for me. This woman never stops surprising me! She and I also had the exact same knee surgery and were comparing scares the other day.

(actually on Tuesday night, after a long day, Marina, Alina and I sat around with a bottle of Finnish liquer and stayed up until 3!)

In the meantime, my former landlord in Moscow is being a bastard, but that's another story!