Olga's Home Page

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On December 22, 2004 writes HEIDE:

We are nearly there!

   The date is set, we have an appointment at a Berlin hospital Jan. 17th at 9 o’clock in the morning. This and the following days Olga will undergo several medical checks and the doctors will work out a plan for long term treatment and rehabilitation. 
   During this week Olga will also meet two therapists from the sci-ART rehabilitation centre in Pforzheim who will come to Berlin specially to make a therapy offer. The clinic is offering up to 6 weeks of therapy without cost. 
   Accommodation is booked and paid for by good friends in Berlin. Olga and her father will stay in the "Diakonissen" guest house not far away from the hospital.
   Another friend has offered to help with the air fares. Olga and her father Artemyi will arrive Jan. 15th, so they will be able to settle down for a day before the probably very exhausting time in the hospital. I am in close contact with Olga and her parents to arrange all the details of their stay in Berlin. I will pick them up from the airport and I will stay with them until they leave again on Friday, Jan. 21st. I am looking forward to meeting them and to spending some rewardig time together. 
   So I do hope that the visa will be issued in time. I have sent all the necessary papers, invitations etc to Olga’s father who now is applying for the visa at the German Embassy in Moscow.
   I would like to thank all people who are helping to make this trip come true. 
   I am sure that then Olga will know that there is a lot of hope for the future.

                Heide

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On January 05, 2005 writes OLGA:
   We're getting ready to go to Germany. We already have tickets, and we are supposed to get visa next Monday.
... We are also packing out stuff to move to our new appartment. It is somewhat sad... All of a sudden a lot of books that we haven't used for ages show up and we have to get rid of them! This is horrible.
Currently I am reading a book of American Humor, in order to expand my knowledge of English. It if funny, I was taught very classical English, and in real life it's all different...

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On January 05, 2005 writes RENDT:
   The news from Olga is that tomorrow they will be going to the German Embassy for the visa and that they have decided to travel by train. That will be more convenient for Olga and Artemiy.

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On January 10, 2005 writes OLGA:
   Well! We just got our visas! Evetythingh OK with the tickets, now we are getting ready! 
   On the top of everything, my parents have to submit grant reports on the 14th, so everything is hectic and busy.

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On January 14, 2005 writes OLGA:
Tomorrow, Jan.15th, 2005 we are off for Germany! We will travel by train to Berlin.

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On January 13, 2005 writes OLGA:
   We have good news: coming Sunday mother is going to receive the keys from our new appartment, so next week they'll start to transfer things over there. Apparently my dad and I will return from Germany to the new place!
Also, today an orthopedic shoe-maker was here to take measurements of my foot. Hopefully by the end of February the new shoes will be ready!

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On January 16, 2005 writes RENDT:
     So after weeks of preparation, Olga is finally on the way. Together with  her father Artemiy they left Moscow by train. After experience with similar long trips with Olga, Artemiy was certain that the longer journey time would be made up for by more comfort and convenience for Olga. They will travel across Poland non-stop to arrive the following day in Berlin.

     In Berlin several friends will welcome them at the train station and transport them to the private accommodation that has kindly been made available. Then on Monday, an appointment has been made with the chief surgeon of a Berlin rehabilitation clinic. This specialist consultation will offer advice on how to proceed with finding treatment for Olga. 
     The first opportunity for further treatment will hopefully be explored in the following days if staff from an orthopaedic rehabilitation clinic in southern Germany will come to Berlin to meet with Olga. Rehabilitation will be necessary whether Olga needs further surgery or not.
     By the end of the week when it will be time to get on the train back to Moscow, a treatment plan should be available. Meanwhile, it will hopefully have been possible for Olga to meet up with old and new friends.
Good luck, Olga!
 

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On January 22, 2005 writes OLGA:

The story about our voyage to Berlin.

     In the second to last week of January, my father and I went to Berlin to visit a Berlin hospital for a medical examination. This trip was organized by Rendt and his mother Heide Gorter with the financial and organisational support of several of their friends. Heide helped us a lot during the trip and was indispensable indeed. Unfortunately our trip was flash-like, from the 16th to the 21st of January. 
     We went to Berlin by train and although it takes longer than the plane, it was better. Because the very last days in Moscow were so stressed (my parents were rushing to present the final grant report, we all were rushing to move to the new apartment and so on), that we (my father and I) slept all the way until we came to Deusseldorf (20 min from Berlin). My mother had almost fainted on her returning home from the train station (after all the stress). To say truth I can hardly remember how we crossed the EU border. There is only one thing about the train construction that made me feel proud of my homeland, although it is rather funny: our cars are much more comfortable for any long-time
voyage. Unfortunately they are much dirtier. 

     So Sunday morning we came to Berlin and still had half a day to have some breath, to look around and to relax a bit, to chill-out. Next day we attended the hospital. I was examined by its head, the orthopaedic surgeon, and a woman, a hand surgeon. To carry out the examination an X-ray (very high quality one) was done there. Also in the course of this observation I was presented with a perfect orthopaedic device to fit over my knee and to help me to walk. [This was provided free of charge by the freelance orthopaedic technician himself]. And I was prescribed with Magnezia against leg spasms. The doctor said I'd need the palm surgeries first, with a corresponding physiotherapy afterwards. Of course that has disappointed me a bit because I was looking forward to the knee surgery first. It seems to me that the arms could be left aside, the knees should go first for until it can't bend I doubt I could stand up and walk properly.  

     But the following Wednesday I was visited by another specialist, a physiotherapy specialist, Juliana von Carlovitz. She said she would show me the needed way next time I would come there. Well, let's see, I still don't understand, but she is experienced. 

     The next day we spent walking around and did sightseeing. We went to Unter-den-linden, saw Humboldt University, the Berlin new opera building and a bridge over the Spree river. Two things made me astonished: in comparison with Moscow there are much less advertising and much more graffiti. And some of that was at the third or forth floor level! So the people doing it are not lazy at all! Another thing that I've noticed is that in comparison with Russia there are only few sex-anxious images, if hardly any. 

     Well, our journey was so flash-like that I can hardly recall any Thursday events except for father visiting some shops purchasing some things for my mother, and organizing our return tickets. There were some problems with a Berlin car on the 22nd of January - so to avoid visa problems we changed train booking for the 21st. Now, while I'm writing it I have just recalled that my old friends Maja and Ingo visited me on the day I had arrived. We were speaking about various things and about the White Sea biological field station in particular. I hope they were persuaded in some ideas. It would have been better if we had met once more for it, but that Friday I left to Moscow. Although in Germany there was now snow, it was just raining most of the time. But Moscow met us with a snow storm, as this city usually does with foreigners (ref our military history). So it was just like "welcome home". The next morning I was watching the latest news programme - and everything was back to the usual life - the "vacation journey" was over. Nevertheless it was nice. 
(with corrections by Rendt)
 

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On January 23, 2005 writes HEIDE:

(An extract from Heide's e-mail to Susan)

     ...You might have heard already from Juliane your colleague in Berlin, how successful her physiotherapy session with Olga was. She might have told you also what a special person Olga is und with how much humour she is enduring her fate. For me it was a very rewarding time. We met many caring people, and the doctors and assistants at a Berlin hospital were very helpful and their medical examinations and advice for further treatment and possible operations was very important to Olga and her father. 
     Olga came to Berlin with great expectations and when Juliane worked with her for a short time, it was a kind of instant success which made her smile - I took a photo of this happy moment. Artemyi and I were fascinated watching Juliane work with Olga. And although she was a little bit exhausted after three turbulent days in Berlin she was able to walk a few steps. Olga felt good and she knows now that she will be able to regain a little more independence. 
     Juliane said a treatment in your clinic is definitely worth it. We all thank you very much. Now we will have to think about a date when she can spend 6 weeks with you - maybe in summer or autumn? The preparation for such a trip will take several months, considering also that we need to find more sponsors. Next week I will be flying to New Zealand and stay there until mid April. But also from there I can help a lot. [...]

Heide Gorter 
 

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On January 23, 2005 writes RENDT:

Update from Rendt

     I have just heard back from Olga about the trip to Germany that we managed to organise for Olga and Artemyi, her father. They had an exciting trip and below Olga recounts the story.  
     Of course all that could be done in such a short visit was to do some thorough examinations. It will be disappointing for Olga that that did not magically resolve anything, but the diagnosis has offered some steps forward. In essence, so I understand for the time being, this will be intensive physiotherapy for rehabilitation. This is offered for at least 6 weeks by a clinic in Southern Germany whom Dr Peter Tinneman, previously from Merlin, recommended Olga to. It was thanks to him also that Olga was introduced to the Charite hospital in Berlin. 
     Next Olga should have some surgery on her hand so that she can move more than the three fingers she can move now. Looking at the excellent surgery that was done in Moscow, the doctor recommended considering going back to the same hospital. The knee surgery however brings more risks and is perhaps not the best thing to be done for the time being.  Instead Olga will need a lot of physiotherapy to maintain and improve her body.
     My mother Heide would be better able to add more stories from the trip to Berlin to post here on the website since she spent the week with Olga and Artemyi. But since she is travelling to Italy, back to the north, then to Southern Germany, Indonesia and then to New Zealand in the next weeks, she will probably not have much time to do this.
 

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On January 27, 2005 writes HEIDE:

   It is a week today that I said good-bye to Olga and her father Artemyi at the train station of Berlin-Lichtenberg. The two Johanniter ambulance drivers carried Olga into the compartment, and wished her all the best for the long journey ahead. They returned once more for some luggage left behind on the platform while we all rushed into the train exchanging some last farewells. These two young men were the last of a long row of caring and extremely helpful people we came across during these few days in Berlin.

   It struck me how we were welcomed at the hospital. Jessica Schallock the doctor's assistant, whom I knew from many emails we had exchanged preparing our visit, welcomed us in the morning and stayed with us the whole day during all the medical checks and consultations until we finally left the clinic in the late afternoon. The doctor (chief surgeon of the hospital) himself had organised everybody possible to have a professional look at Olga as she recounted in her report already. 

   That was Monday, on Tuesday we were visited by Mrs. and Mr. Volker, friends from Berlin who had arranged the accommodation for Olga and Artemyi. In spite of the atrocious weather today, we went out to do some sightseeing. We walked along "Unter den Linden", the famous Berlin street between Brandenburger Tor und Alexanderplatz with many well-known addresses of which Olga definitely wanted to see the famous Humboldt University. Mr. Volker was the perfect guide and was able to answer Olga's constant and very interesting questions. I am still sorry that we did not manage to get Olga into an Irish pub which she would have loved to do so much. But in the afternoons after appointments, talks and visits, she would be too tired to go out again. After so many years in a quiet room in the 5th floor in a Moscow house the hustle-and-bustle of the city was overwhelming.

   For this sightseeing trip we went by Metro. Most stations in Berlin have a lift and the platforms are level with the train floors, but lifts can break down and then there is a problem. Of course we were faced by that one time. However when I asked the workers there how long we would have to wait for the repair to be finished, they simply came up, lifted Olga out of her wheelchair and carried her two long stairways down to our U-Bahn. They hardly accepted a thank-you.

   On our way back home from the hospital we thought we could manage without the Johanniter ambulance and instead could take a cheaper means of transport. However, the only taxi which could take us had a lady driver of about 60. But we needed strong men to carry Olga into the seat. No problem - she managed to call some passing young men to do the job. I do not know if I would be so trusting into all these hands and arms carrying me, but Olga has a rich experience also in this. And not only that - everybody seemed to like her at first sight, or word, or smile. 

   So it was no wonder that also the last day was a full success. In the morning a friend named Alina came to meet Olga. She had a lot of practical advice for future plans and also helped to find the right shop for comfortable clothing Olga needed and which she could not get in Moscow. Alina is Ukrainian and it was such a relief for them to speak in their own tongue for a change. Alina left only short time before Juliane von Carlowitz arrived to do some physical exercises in order to find out if a treatment in Pforzheim would be useful for Olga. I wrote of this fascinating meeting in a mail to Susan [see below]. 

   Here I find myself using the word "useful" which I had heard so often from Artemyi. Every night he concluded with characteristic understatement that the day had been "useful" in a certain aspect and during our last evening he summoned up, that the whole visit to Berlin had been extremely "useful". 

   Speaking of people I must not forget Artemyi and Vera, Olga`s mother at home. I think only somebody like me who has spent a few days so closely with them can imagine what they are performing for Olga each day. They have dedicated every minute of the day and their whole future to her. And the most beautiful thing to see is how Olga is appreciating and recognising what they are doing for her.

   An extremely "useful" trip - to borrow the words of Artemiy - and much more, especially thanks to all the people who met and encouraged Olga on this short trip to Berlin. Thank you to everybody.