THE WOMAN'S DOCTOR

     It'a been a few days since I wrote anything. The primary reason for it is that I have been very busy. I'm ashamed to confess, I've been busy watching the episodes of a Russian TV show The Woman's Doctor! My sister sent them to me, and I don't know if I should thank her or yell at her. The show is not even that good. ER or Grey's Anatomy have so much more drama and substance. But The Women's Doctor still sucked me in. Although, after fifty or so episodes (I am stuck on the couch because of my tendinitis) I really began to appreciate the American medicine!
     First of all, the hospitals seem to be gravely underfunded in Russia. "You have to go to the pharmacy and buy the disposable gloves for the doctor" - says the nurse. "Here is the list of the medications and the food that your wife will need. Please buy and bring them". "The toilet bawl was broken in the patients' room. I asked them for money to replace it." Wow! Things got really bad there!
     According to that show, almost everyone takes bribes: from a receptionist to the Chief of Medicine. Everything exists on the system of who knows who. The known gangster comes to the hospital with his wife and is able to threaten and influence all of the staff. Am I naive  to assume that things are different in the United States?
     Another thing is the attitude toward alcohol. The doctors drink and offer drinks to each other during their shifts. They get totally plastered during their shifts too! But that's not the most shocking. The doctors offer cognac or even the medical alcohol to the patients! I am from Russia, but I would never imagine this kind of behavior!
     What makes me want to watch it then, you ask? The tales about women.The amazing strength that they show in their struggle to have and bring forth healthy children. The touching and tragic stories of their lives. I seems that there are also a lot of what my children and I, in the attempt to avoid cursing, call "the dogs of the female persuasion". More than in the U.S.? I don't know. Perhaps. The good, the bad and the ugly, remember? 
     Anyway, here I am, watching. Last night, woken up by my husband for the third time, while he was on a quest for entertainment, turning on the light, banging the door, turning the volume on the bedroom TV up (probably to hear it despite my snoring), I got up and went out to the living room to see some more of the Women's Doctor. Today I feel like different parts of my body are trying to declare independence and break off to go their separate ways. And I absolutely deserve it!