The Spa Treatment

I have had many experiences in the last six months. Most recently I have been able to add being sick to the list. While in Kiev for a children’s conference I developed a slight head cold. It was not a big deal. However, within a few days of arriving in Vapnyarka, my cold grew worse, into nothing more than a common head cold. I was taking medicine I had brought with me and began sucking on cough drops on a regular basis. However, I couldn’t avoid going unnoticed by the people I live with. When they offered to help get rid of it, I agreed to undergo cold treatments I had never experienced in the States.

First of all, tea and honey will not due. Butter was added to my cup to help coat my throat. Surprisingly, this was not that bad. It was only the beginning.

The second treatment went something like this. I sat wrapped in a blanket with my feet in a large bowl. Hot water was added to the bowl. The blanket was wrapped around the bowl to lock in the heat. When the water cooled a little more was added. This ritual continued for probably an hour. After about thirty minutes of the treatment I had started to sweat. Nina, my motherly doctor, said this was good. Beneath the glow of my perspiration my face was red. As crazy as it seems, it wasn’t that bad. The soaking of my feet was like getting a pedicure. Once I my body was heated, my feet were dried and socks put on immediately to keep the heat from escaping. It was to bed I went, to curl up under the covers. Basically, they had given me a fever. (If you try this at home, you should know, as Nina told me, do not take your temperature during or after this treatment, it will be a little off.) It was a restless night as I struggled to be comfortable in my heated incubator. To my great surprise, by morning, I was feeling much better, aside for a little cough and congestion that remained in my lungs. My head was clear and I could once again breath.

If you try this treatment and like it, you may enjoy the second treatment I participated in. In order to get rid of everything left in my nose and lungs, I placed a towel over my head and leaned over a pot of steaming water. Breath in the steam and cough up the phlegm is the theory. In the boiling water was potatoes and soda. This somehow helps in the process. By the time I was finished not only were my lungs steamed but my face as well. It was like having a potato facial. I am yet to determine if it has actually done anything for my skin.