Some photographs of the hospital, so you have a picture of where I am ….

As today was a day off while all the various samples were analysed, I went into Moscow to the Victory Museum, which is their WWII museum. This was sobering and spectacular at the same time, the majority of the exhibits were in Russian only but this focussed my attention on the intent rather than the words.

“]

The two sculptures, of lost, fallen comrades and the sorrow of women and men at the losses during war, were two of the most poignant I’ve ever seen, in simple but grand settings.

For me, as I couldn’t read the captions and have little interest in the details of war, the visit was more to a monument and art gallery in a way. Rows of tanks, guns, planes and trucks …. nah …. but the Hall of Sorrow and Memory was beautiful, the statues and the building itself, the contrast between the brutal exterior and the ornate interior, beautifully detailed dioramas even if I couldn’t understand the words. All this made it well worth the time.

---

Of course, the obligatory photos of the Metro ! Amazing how clean and lacking in graffiti a place is where the transit guards carry guns. A few more modern stations today, we rattled past a few grand-looking stations on the Metro but I was pretty tired by that point and ready to get home after navigating trams and the Metro and walking rather a lot.

Strange how a hospital can feel like home so quickly, but it helps that there are people I know here, I have a basic but comfortable room, and am surrounded by people undergoing the same treatment for the same illness. The food, no comment.

Today was the stem cell party for three people, who got their stem cells infused today; it’s a simple but moving ceremony where the patient is helped by Dr Federenko to throw the dry ice, in which their stem cells were stored, down the corridor to symbolise rebirthing their immune system and throwing out the defective cells. Then there’s cake and juice and general gossip, it’s a lovely marker of a great change.

• Uncategorized