Medevac to London

It has been a crazy 2011 already.  January is normally a quieter month for me work wise but with Ukraine being as large as it is (400 volunteers) there is never a dull moment. We finally (after more than one year) received approval to move to a new building, which will happen over the next six months and have been busy hiring new staff and replacements for short term staff.  Interviewing is a very long process - luckily I think I am done in my unit for some time now and hope that we will have no more changes until August. 

January has been busy as I described above, but that did not stop my body from ignoring my need to work hard and instead my spine fought back and won!  I sought treatment from our amazing health unit at the Embassy and was doing physiotherapy but unfortunately it wasn't successful and pain grew to a new height that I was on a plane to London 30 minutes later. I want to thank all involved for helping throw clothes and necessities into a suitcase and try to calm me as we drove over the bumpiest roads to the airport. 

The crazy part was that we (me and my medical accompaniment) were approved business class so I could lie down since that was the only position I could tolerate but when we loaded the plane business class was no better than economy except for service.  It was a very painful 3 hours to London. We could have waited for the SOS flight but it would have been another 24 hours and I could not handle the pain a minute more.

There is always a first time for everything in life- my first time to ride in an ambulance was out of Heathrow airport to the magnificent Wellington hospital.  The ride was not as comfortable as I would have expected but I was just happy to be on my way to relief. I cannot express how amazed I am with the staff that work at the hospital and the care I received. I had spinal surgery within hours upon arrival and was back in my hospital room almost pain free recieving amazing care.

I am now at the Grosvenor House for the next 13 nights and will do follow up with my surgeon on the eighth of February and hope to be cleared by the Medical unit at the Embassy to travel back to Ukraine on the 10th.  The Medevac Team at the Embassy are so wonderful!  My amazing team, that are truly the greatest people you could ever work with, sent flowers to my hotel and I sit at the desk and stare at them remembering how lucky I am to work with such amazing people. 

You can reach me via the hotel at +44 (0) 20 7499 6363 Room Number 334. 

My poor Nika (my baby cocker spaniel) is in terrific hands with my housekeeper staying at my flat while I am away.  Luckily she was finally able to be groomed and bathed since I was unable to bend to bathe her and my staff are so wonderful to give me updates on how she is doing.  I know I am crazy - I was worried more about my dog than finding my passport to go on Medevac.

Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts during the last few days.  I can say I feel amazing compared to a week ago!  Now time to go buy a few shirts to survive the next two weeks.

All of the clothing that I have for the two weeks in London plus a coat.