what you don't know can hurt you, after all

 get off the bus at the 'col-hosp' (short for Collective Farm) stop, head down the sandy trail along beside the old collective farm buildings and head out 'over the river and through the woods'. Well- I guess there are no actual woods but it's a bit up and down the swells and skirt the creek and past the cows or horses and through the field. It's the trip out to Svitlana's.

 I've heard about it for more than a year now and was really glad to finally get to go. In fact, we go every week! Fall has been warm and mild and (mostly) sunny so this has mostly been an easy hike. It's about a mile back to S' mom's house.

See T? See what she's doing? Splitting wood.
While she was splitting wood...

 ...the cat was resting up from a tough day in the great outdoors (all the white on her body is smudged with soot- because she likes to hang out in funny places...) and I was making 'млинці' ('mlyntsiy') or crepes- super yummy and filled with cottage cheese mixed with egg and sugar). They're heated up and served as dessert- often with a generous serving of sour cream over the top although I prefer them without.

Unfortunately, the whole thing ended with the above pix this time. :( (ps- dontcha just love that needle? We asked for a flexible iv port for me because I have a hard time with needles... but there was no such thing. So- it was 2+ hours with this beast. I turned my head the other direction and just drifted off to sleep... thankfully.)
So- what happened? The wood-burning stove that heated the 2 rooms we were sleeping in wasn't vented properly. Our rooms filled with carbon monoxide. We both had headaches before falling asleep...but didn't think a lot about it. At 2.30, I woke up with a headache so bad I thought I'd be ill... so 'tried to navigate' to some pain pills... and could barely stay on my feet. Collapsed back onto the bed in a cold sweat then shakes and swirling head. Thought I'd pass out and didn't want to be alone so whimpered (literally) and T heard me, thank goodness. She'd had a similar experience 2 weeks prior in the same room so when I told her what was up and that I couldn't walk, she came barreling in and opened my window...then could hardly get back out of the room. She managed to and convinced me to follow... took us outdoors where we just 'were' for awhile. S heard us and came to check on us and got very scared. Took us to her side of the house, put us to bed there. Checked on us in the am- Are you girls alive? ;) (We were but with splitting terrific headaches.) T **called a doctor acquaintance in town who told us to come to the hosp and he'd de-tox us. Of course, that meant walking the mile back out to the road (the walk was beautiful with a heavy frost melting (or dew) and lots of spider webs clinging to plants with the sun shining through them... but I got zero pix), waiting for the bus and then riding 1 1/2 hours back to town. I slept nearly the whole way. At the hosp, the dr ran around getting meds (he went off campus somewhere for some of them)- usually every patient has to procure everything (s)he needs for any procedure so we were very grateful this dr did our running for us- then took us upstairs to the outpatient section, got us a couple of nurses... and now we're to the last 2 pix up there. The only treatment they have for CO poisoning is pushing fluids/i.v.'s and making your kidneys really work. After 2 hours- we were racing each other to the bathroom... well- not really. I was finished first so got first dibs. One of the symptoms of CO poisoning is having to urinate frequently... along with a headache the night before, I'd had to run and run and run to the bathroom...if that EVER happens again, I'm going to be sleeping in the yard!
After all the i.v.'s and some resting, we collected our stuff from the dr's office. He sat us both down and gave us a good talking to. I think that was the first that I really began to take in what had happened... and what nearly happened. Later, as people began to find out and ask questions and shudder- it hit home some more. Yesterday am, after our time together- more questions. One of the young girls looked at us, all pale, and said You know that whole families die of this don't you? (Yes, we do.) Another told about some neighbors near her in-law's dacha- recently 4 adults died; only a baby survived- because it was in a separate room and the door to that room was shut tightly.
To say we're grateful, thankful, happy to be alive is the understatement of the year.
The doctor said we'd feel like sleeping a lot and should just do it- so we have. Really, we feel better. But still sort of tired- which I'm guessing is partly from the sheer shock of it all. And- today I've had the weird after-headache again- feels like a tight band around my head with some prickly spots on my scalp.
We go back to the village tomorrow and had initially planned on staying the night- you know, get back on the horse that threw you and all that... but there's company there so we'll just come back into town... and I don't think either of us is all that disappointed.

**while T called the dr, I was outside losing the rice and pumpkin cereal I'd had for breakfast... And- did you know that chickens will eat anything? Yep. Even that. They gathered at my feet and just had a feast. *shudder*