Dr. Brueck's mission in Siberai - Day 9

This the ninth day in Dr. Brueck's Siberian medical mission.

July 5^th 2008

We had our usual morning breakfast and bible study and singing.

Once again we were off to the village of Butrakhty and once again we saw many, many people, we saw more people than I could have ever imagined. We had a late lunch and then it started to rain. By the time we got back we had dinner. Grisha and I went back to the room and had our evening cocktail of Coca-Cola light.

I would always tease the girls that were staying at Wolfgang's house that we were staying in a hotel that was thirty stories high and we had the penthouse suite. It was far from it but it was fun to joke about our situation and circumstances, it helped make light of the situation.

In any event we got to bed and opened the window only to be hit with the cacophony of barn yard animals doing the usual serenade.

Dr. Brueck's Siberian Diary - Day Six

This is day six from Dr. Brueck' s Siberian diary.

July 2^nd 2008

We got up and I dabbled in the shower ever so gingerly, trying to avoid the cold drops of water as they fell on my body in the bath tub. After cleaning up and shaving in cold water we meandered over to Wolfgang’s house where we gathered for Morning Prayer, breakfast and a little briefing.

Today we were going to be traveling to a small village called Imek, Wolfgang told us that a woman in the village was bringing people to us. We prayed that people would come and listen to us but we also knew they may be afraid of the strangers that invaded the small village.

The day before I was walking back to my sleeping quarters and I passed 2 women and being my jovial self I smiled, waved and said hello but there were no smiles from them, you’d have thought that I was the Grinch who stole Christmas. They just kept on walking right by me with non smiling faces as if I didn’t even exist.

So it was possible that the people would stay away but we prayed they really would come and let us serve them and pray with them. The lady who invited us into her home was Irena. She has been having a weekly bible class with Wolfgang. The pictures that I took say it all and I will let the pictures do the talking.

We waited for quite a while and we thought that no one was coming to meet the strangers and the Christian doctor. Soon there were 1 and then 2 and then they were stacked up outside. I thought it was grand central station.

In the makeshift exam room, and I do mean makeshift, we began our work. The medical problems were many and many of the stories were sad. High blood pressure and alcohol were the two biggest problems on the list.

One little grandma came to see me and she was so sweet and so short maybe 4’8 and she really had no medical problems. In talking to her she just said she was lonely and just wanted to talk and have some companionship.

She had 2 sons and 2 grandsons and one son died from suicide and her husband had passed away from alcoholism a while back. It was so sad that all she wanted to do was talk for 5 to 10 minutes so we shared some time together and at the end, Grisha, myself and this little lady prayed for one of her grandsons who was in a cult, the other boy had made a suicide pact and followed through with it and the other boy didn’t.

Such tragedy. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she told me the story, it was at that time that we prayed and bowed our heads and it was a very sad and humbling experience.

We took a one and a half to two hour lunch break but unfortunately I couldn’t eat. It was to “messy”. The rooms we were in were mildewed and there was a strange meat on the table like nothing I had ever seen before, I had to be adventuresome on this one.

Trust me, I didn’t eat a lot but I did try it, it tasted like liver and I saw these little white bones sticking out of this porcelain bowl and I was curious as to what it was. I asked everybody what it was and a lot of Russian words were exchanged back and forth and I finally had my answer, it was badger. This was the first time I had ever had badger and I won’t be rushing to Publix to pick up some badger meat any time soon.

After lunch there were more people who came and the afternoon was full. One lady by the name of Olga had chest pain by her breast. Through Marsha, my interpreter she wanted to show me and on her right breast she had a large fungating breast cancer, she was only 53 years old. She said she was going into town the next day for chemo. I told her to definitely go and I prayed that she would go and get the necessary chemotherapy.

Dr. Brueck, plastic surgeon in Russia - Day 3

This is day three of Dr. Brueck's Siberian Adventure.

June 26^th 2008

The train trip to Saint Petersburg was less than relaxing; my bed was a tad short. Below Grisha and I in the birth were a young mother and her daughter. Not being too comfortable and exhausted as I was I didn’t think it was fair to our 2 lower birth traveling companions to subject them to a painful auditory overload of a Brueck sawmill in the middle of a hurricane. I didn’t want them to think less of us Americans.

I arrived in Saint Petersburg in a sleep deprived stupor but I was pumped up to see the city. Not sure for what I had heard Saint Petersburg was truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I was certainly not disappointed they were right, the city was beautiful, and I have to say it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Many of the buildings we saw were undergoing renovations. It was truly a special treat and experience.

Thursday night was also special because European cup soccer was on. Grisha and I spent a good portion of the morning trying to find our hotel. We must have walked 50,000 miles to find this little hotel that was stashed away in a building through a doorway. It was called Nebsky express hotel. When we got there we made reservations to come back later that evening to have a place for the soccer match.

Everywhere in Saint Petersburg there were Russian flags and people were cheering and it was really an exciting opportunity. The game was going to start at 10:30pm which is a great time for the Bru because I’m usually in bed by 8:00. We had to pay 600 rubles and there are about 23 to 24 rubles per dollar and that was just to reserve a seat.

There were vendors everywhere selling flags and banners and celebrating the Russian success in soccer. There was electricity in the air to say the least. I was hoping that Russia would go up 6 to nothing in the first couple of minutes so I could competently declare the match over and head off to bed but no such luck. The first half ended 0-0 ugh!!!

When it was 3 to nothing Grisha knew it was over so we went to our rooms and by now it was 1:00am and it was still light outside and so of course since I had stayed up that late I had a second wind because in 2 to 3 hours it would be my normal time to awaken.

Not only was I up because of the day light, my comfort pedic mattress was less than ideal. In essence it was nothing more than a 2 inch mattress that had a sheet over it, but I was excited because the room did come with a hot shower so I was thankful for small favors. I probably slept for 2 to 3 hours only to get up Friday morning and begin the next day.

June 27th will be posted tomorrow.