Let it all out...ahhh that feels better

As I said to my coworker this morning when she handed me the cell phone..."how will we get through a five day work week beginning tomorrow after another holiday?" She mentioned the upcoming July 1st celebration and we discussed the serendipity of having three (count em 3) statutory holidays in our eight week contract, couldn't plan that if you tried.

Speaking of serendipity...yesterday was one of those moments where the universe aligned and this old nurse was able to say some things that have been coming for a while. As daughter #1 said...you've had time to think of the words. A bit of the backstory....the previous regional manager who received my resignation from the job share in September had promised to forward casual availability to me, but I never did receive any emails. Wasn't concerned as I was only looking for something in May anyway. I made a couple of inquiries and received first nothing and to the second, a curt reply "interviews are being held, staffing will depend on that" so I continued vacationing. In February my former job share partner sent a message saying that there was an eight week unfilled period mid May to mid July. I expressed interest as it was after the teacher daughter's Masters of Ed convocation and at least six weeks of it would work anyway (at the time a friend and I were tentatively considering the Rocky Mountaineer for end of June) and she suggested that she'd pick up the other two weeks. Perfect. I emailed the mgr and indicated I'd be interested in the contract and left it wide open as in "for whatever dates you need me". She replied "thanks, that's perfect" and advised she'd send details along. A few days later I received an email from her reading "the contract date is May 17 - July 12, you are expected to do these dates, do NOT take direction from the NIC in Sachs Harbour, I am the manager and I hire you and make those decisions!".  We were somewhere in South America I think when I read this and composed so many replies in my mind, then just simply....didn't respond. What can you say to someone who is that insecure? I emailed my friend and we rescheduled our train trip for September and advised some others I had planned to visit in July of the situation.  A few days later I chatted online with my job share partner and accused her of threatening the boss. She denied this stating she had simply offered to do a couple of weeks of that time to help out. Then she discloses that this insecure manager is finished the end of February - not even going to be in the position in May! Stepping down to go back to her previous position as she missed the patient contact....yeah right - can't cope and bailing was the thought which popped into my head. What a mean thing for her to do though. The saga continued with no confirmed dates or contract to sign. The end of March I finally tracked down an acting manager to confirm the dates as the shore captain originally had planned to accompany me and Aeroplan seats needed to be booked - in the end, not available - and she sent a copy of the May 17 - July 12 CSA (with an incorrect travel in date - so apparently the predecessor is petty but not detail orientated - which I corrected for them). So, I end up coming alone for eight weeks - not my original choice but here I am.

So now, you have the set up to my late Friday afternoon catharsis. The phone rings and it's my new, respectful, finding her way manager, who I've offered to extend a week for. She suggests that not only can I extend, I can move (maybe Monday) to Fort McPherson and suggests it's lovely, you can drive out so there's lots of services etc etc. Now....as she's stepped back to NIC, this is the home turf of the mean girl predecessor, it's busy with lots of social problems and I don't know the people or the culture. I would have to clean the apartment, pack my food and stuff and relocate to a community I have never had any interest in working in. I try gently to suggest that I'm too old and cranky to move and she continues with her pitch until it occurs to me that I am being offered a gift...the opportunity to share the destructive behaviour of the predecessor and educate the new executive as to what she's inherited and why us old nurses are 'once bitten twice shy' at this point. So I take a breath and calmly (no one listens to rants) tell her that...I like her, she's respectful, a good kid, she's trying hard and she deserves to know the details. I relate the backstory as above and there is mostly silence but a few murmurs as I tell her that us old nurses don't want to be lectured or treated in a condescending matter, we're not stupid, we understand who is in charge as we've done management positions and at this point in my life/career I don't have to take this. I accepted the eight week contract and moved my life around as I like this community, even after being treated badly by the previous mgr I offered to extend to be helpful and now you are asking me to move for a month to another community? In my 42 years as an RN I haven't been very good at saying no, I feel guilty, I think of coworkers and patients but...this request is not going to happen. I started my two small pensions a couple of years ago when I thought I was dying and didn't want the government to get it, so now I only want to work a few weeks per year. I have no interest in spending whatever working time I have left dealing with this petty behaviour. I'm going to help you out here because I like you and you're trying to do a good job and  tell you that there has been a lot of damage done by your predecessor, she has backfilled communities until December so I won't be working here this year again anyway, my former job share partner has no extra work, this also caused my coworker who lives in the community to not be able to work here - this isn't even good fiscal planning as a CHN from somewhere in Canada often costs $5000+ to relocate here for a contract and this coworker is flown to Inuvik - all because someone is trying to be as hateful as possible? Us experienced nurses are pretty low maintenance, all we want is to be treated with respect and do our job as well as we can. I suspect that you have inherited a major collection of angry staff if others are being treated like this. I'm in the situation where I can tell you about it as I REALLY have nothing to lose. I'm glad we've had this chat so you understand and if you want me stay an extra week and do those days in a small community on my way home...just email me and if I can, I will, if not I'll just say no and we'll both be ok with it...... good to talk to you, keep up the good work. She thanked me for my explanation as I bid her goodbye and I'm sure went to the bathroom to have a big ugly cry after that one. I felt great at being able to share the details in context vs just approaching her which sounds like tattling. My coworker was mesmerized with the performance...she's not at the same developmental stage...as I told her, I've been where you are and there are fewer bridges to burn now from where I'm standing...nothing to lose.

I phoned my job share partner at home - she'd had a very intense phone call with the manager (just previous to mine we discovered when we compared notes) where there was a lot of yelling, threats and bad words (her not the manager) when she was told there was no work. She went on to disclose some predecessor shenanigans and the call ended with the instructions that she should be found a community to work in by the first of the week or else!! Must've sounded as if we'd discussed our stories, but we hadn't yet played good cop/bad cop to a T. Needless to say...it looks like I'll be coming home on my original date and maybe with the cold spring/summer I'll leave before bug season... ha ha ha

This weekend I'm on call Friday and Sunday which really isn't too onerous and has contributed to

some more playfood being created. Had some issues with the banana looking like an ear of corn, but the candies for the dish are a go and will have to make some more to fill it up and some more donuts.
Tackling a taco now. Only a couple of weeks more and the grandchildren will be enjoying them. I took a beach walk yesterday and in the shelter of the cliffs it was pleasant....with my winter jacket, hat, and gloves on that is. I stared with incredulity at a bare footprint in the sand next to the ice cake on shore...I watch them playing in the playground in front of the apartment and they are in t-shirts...these kids are tough!

There had been plans for a campfire and potluck with washer games thrown in out at Mary Sachs today but...the weather didn't cooperate, perhaps summer has been cancelled and we didn't get the memo here? It's Oc, grey, windy and snowing today. Plans to reschedule next Saturday. I'll be on call that day as well so not likely to partake as the cell reception isn't great out there and it's a good 15 minute drive back to community which is a bit of stretch for a quick response. What if someone has an emergency request for antifungal cream? Yes, in the north there are remote locations and you must travel for some advanced services (as we do in the Maritimes) but I assure you that access to primary health care here is better - no waiting weeks for an appointment, just walk in and see the nurse. We handle the basics and consult/refer if we can't - so much for the NS physician who had a territorial rant in the provincial newspaper because someone in the NS Dept of Health dared to suggest that NPs were going to be an asset. I considered posting the question "is your emergency room closed this weekend?" but instead hit delete. However, I digress.  On one of the phone calls yesterday my coworker was sharing that she answered the cell with "health centre, nurse on call" and a community member identified themselves by name and community and asked if this was indeed the Sachs Harbour nurse? Yup, pretty sure we are only on call for this hamlet. I told her that she should have really messed with the mind and said "no this is Ulukhaktuk" and go from there. She stated that there was enough confusion to begin with and besides it was one of those conversational calls where you discuss a problem measured in months so didn't want to prolong it. Lovely home visit with an elder who described, dog sledding, living on the land and not knowing about store food growing up, that's how you make it to this advanced age for sure!

Speaking of food, time to reheat some of those ribs which were surplus at the BBQ. Ahh life is good.

It's Summer? Where?

boiling water for tea

need a marshmallow?

As I enjoy the perk of an unexpected statutory holiday...today is National Indigenous Peoples Day (formerly Aboriginal Day) and even though my coworker and I are 'settlers' which I've been advised is the new term for those of us coming across the pond to colonize North America...we'll take it. We enjoyed a BBQ compliments of Community Corp on the beach with burgers, smokies, ribs and lamb over the driftwood campfire and pasta, potato, caesar and fruit salad with cake for dessert. Today being the first day of summer (solstice) it is largely unnoticed here as we enjoy 24/7 daylight and the big chill continues. Winter jacket, boots, hat and gloves are required for outside wear and it has snowed daily for the past week. Today was a tad bit warmer and the kids were barefoot on the sand and playing in the water brr... with lots of folks attending...from the youngest to the oldest community members. Nice to see people just to socialize and catch up vs they 'need' the nurse and the unexpected four day work week was a real morale booster. Just think...tomorrow is Friday. Woohoo.

 We again had the glycol heat pump turned back on to winter heat as it was so cold earlier this week. In fact we were wearing our jackets and wrapped in blankets on Monday to participate in a webinar on survivors of sexual abuse...an unfortunately necessary topic in the north where statistics say that reported sexual abuse is 6.5 times more prevalent than the national statistics. Sigh.

The greenhouse was planted last weekend and the health centre clerk who is involved in the process was telling me that one of the local guides/hunter was helping his partner (originally from Montreal) plant their plot. All was going well until a lemming got inside the greenhouse and the hunter "freaked out and went outside, sitting on his 4wheeler to wait for the girlfriend to finish" She continued on with the transplanting and said "you protect me from polar bears and I'll keep you safe from the mouse". On Tuesday night there was a problem with the plug for the heater and the seedlings got 'frosted' because at -8c and no heat source the eggplant and bok choy for example, really struggle. Will have to see what the final damage is as some plants will slow down, then regroup and take off again...our clerk is discouraged.

We spent a full day Tuesday participating in a telehealth session on the new NWT Mental Health Act which becomes law September 1st. The one thing we learned was that instead of Form 5 (involuntary admission) we will Form 2 a patient and that Form 1 is a statement of their rights, so we'll complete those two forms - this section took about 15 minutes to work through. There are 29 forms...yes, you read that correctly. Many deal with extending involuntary admissions, discharging patients, releasing patients back to the community etc. NONE of which happens in small remote arctic communities. If a person is a danger to themselves or others, nurses can (and do) with the RCMPs help involuntarily certify them and they are escorted out for help/custody as quickly as weather, mechanical and security escort allows. None of the other info was relevant, and only slightly of interest to the two CHNs here (and many other small communities on the telehealth session from across the territory) yet we were all tortured by mandatory attendance. Makes an old  nurse want to fill those forms out on herself. The main stage entertainment of the day was a physician in Hay River who sparred with one of the bureaucrats on the 'in the trenches' implementation of the legislation. And lets be clear...it will be the Dr/CHN not the civil servant who will deal with this at 3 am on a holiday weekend, be judged for their actions and subsequently not be supported by the bureaucrats if challenged through the courts by the patient/family. After calmly and repeatedly stating "I respectfully must disagree as this is not what will happen" there was small comfort for the physician being firmly told "your objections are duly noted and will be forwarded to the working group". Clear to those of us long in the tooth healthcare professionals watching the performance how this will roll out...

We had our busiest day of the contract yesterday with a total of seven patients seen which may not sound like much but if the previous high was four, the pace quickened. Most of the work week was spent dealing with medical travel, convincing patients to attend appointments, completing and receiving forms with medical travel, following up when patients do not in fact attend their appointments...why am I the one who is concerned about this? No one else is, even though all expenses are covered. When a patient who didn't wish to attend a post op recheck appointment complained that the hour flight to the regional centre, pick up by van and all inclusive stay at the transient centre was 'not comfortable' I said clearly "when I have an appointment at home in the city I drive three hours each way, find parking, meals and sometimes accommodation all at my own expense and no one makes the arrangements for me." I await the bureaucratic repercussions of my boldness, where I plan to quote Clint Eastwood and say "go ahead make my day". Today while I crafted, lounged and read, my coworker had three calls...one of which was by ringing the videophone into the apartment with an announced "broken leg" which walked in once I opened the door so...I called the nurse on call and went back to my crocheting.

Tis the season for final report cards to be issued and I noted a post on a neighbouring community bulletin board stating "the report cards can't be printed and it will be either hours or days until the technology can be accessed". I was pleased to see an update where they were presently being printed. The teacher daughter reported that she was in fact completing report cards for her grade primary class and had technical difficulties as well. Apparently my 18 month old granddaughter had 'typed' on her computer and she was unable to access the records at first, but discovered she had only reset the password. Whew. We discussed that she'd likely used 'PeteDog' as the new password as this is her canine companion who she bosses around, chats and reads to as a sibling.
 

I've continued on with the crafting in an attempt to use up my yarn before departure. The pieces of pie have proven a bit of a challenge but cute when completed. I made sure to do a chocolate with whipped cream (my favourite) pumpkin (the grandson's fav) and cherry (Grawmp's fav) and although lemon meringue is always popular...not sure how to master the meringue....Today I figured out how to make spaghetti and meatballs from a picture - Pinterest is bad for not having the patterns, only a photo or *gasp* a paid pattern (against my spiritual beliefs to pay for craft patterns).

Had a chat with the life partner today who had pocket dialed me and then insisted I'd called him. We discussed his greenhouse which is flourishing with zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce etc. and he assured me there will be lots of produce still remaining when I make it home. I told him about the eider ducks on the sea ice, swimming in the crack - apparently they nest all around town and stay the summer as no one hunts them. Likely the same ones the shore captain and his gunning buddies shoot in front of the house in NS in the fall.

Baby it's cold outside....

My apologies in advance for the formatting...there are gremlins in the system I believe...I've tried several times to correct the spacing and it made teeny tiny print...so we're just going to have to live with this version....

Well, another week into the contract and past the half way point now (that is if I leave on the scheduled date – haven’t heard anything on the extension as the manager is away with labour relations) as it’s been over four weeks since I said goodbye to the kitties in the middle of the night. From this point on, the time will move even more quickly…if that’s even possible….

I’ve been minding the distance this past week as my youngest daughter’s 57 year old mother in law who was only diagnosed five weeks ago with advanced lung cancer, was palliative and then passed away. She was a kind, giving person who loved her family fiercely, handled her fate bravely, left much too young and gave back to her community, so will be missed by many. Yes, I know it’s a completely different diagnosis and scenario but….there is survivor guilt for those of us fighting the good fight as well as the helplessness of not being there to help as you see your child and her husband having to do such difficult, grownup tasks. They managed the situation with maturity and grace, honouring her wishes in a way which she would have been proud of. I’m thinking they will welcome the space and anonymity now of the urban life vs the rural area where everyone wants to express condolences and speak of the deceased. I found that so difficult when returning to work as a homecare nurse after my father had passed away…the patients were his cohorts and they all wanted to say they were sorry and speak of him. With time I welcomed the stories (many of which I hadn’t known) as a great memory, but those first visits were tough.  At the end of a very trying week my baby girl had her 29th birthday but I'm not sure how that happened as I'm only 29 myself....

I am writing this post in a document and expecting to have internet access at least by later in the day to post it. The server/satellite access was likely the reason I fought with Picaboo yesterday to upload photos for a book in order to use my voucher….Picaboo was the victor and I saved the organized pics to a flash drive for a trip to the library at home I think. At this point we have no network access on the system (and 30 minutes with musak from Yellowknife radio (where it is incidentally 26c today) in my ear is my limit for being on hold with the TSC helpdesk – why do they name themselves so, you would think they provided assistance?) as they were providing a security patch over the weekend so perhaps ran into troubles. A second phone call and I reached the TSC tech on call who after some clicking and muttering, confirmed that yes there is no external internet access across the territory, only the government system of email and EMR – so at least we can see and enter patient information. He put a ticket in to the geeks above him for as he said…a heads up that the calls will start coming in.  Temporarily this morning I couldn’t send texts although that function has returned and of course I can use my data for online access. I've been keeping track of my data usage as I wasn't sure I needed to temporarily add on to my 3GB plan as it's much cheaper to add 1GB than be billed for it, but if my calculations are correct, I’ll make it under that limit by the bill date. Good thing I downloaded my eBooks yesterday online. 

Perhaps it’s atmospheric conditions as the weather is nasty here, it snowed a lot Friday night and it's

been windy and -1c with snow flurries since (today's report says snow grains, whatever that is). The greenhouse here was being

planted this weekend and thankfully the heater is working so the seedlings didn't freeze. Nothing close to the wonderful greenhouse and gardent photos the shore captain is proudly texting me. ....will have zucchini next week he says, hopefully the 14 plants in various stages of development will ensure some for me when I arrive. 

 My trip to the COOP on Friday yielded milk with an expiry date of June 23rd which is truly impressive here as well as the not so impressive small container of $8.99 blueberries (this included the $1.04 nutrition north subsidy) and $3.49 grapefruit. I was
assured by the clerk that dragon fruit seen here to the left is delicious but…at $7 each I decided I’ll sample those at southern prices, mind you in hindsight a better deal than the berries. As I was waiting in the checkout line I offered to let a local person ‘go ahead’ as I had more items. Now, at home if I saw someone buying yeast, raisins and sugar I’d suppose they were making raisin bread…in the north you suspect …home brew. It takes a while for the fermenting so no hazard to my on call (this) Saturday. 

The work day continues to be quiet and yes this is a setting where a nurse actually dares to say the Q word out loud. One of the phone calls last week was this question “do you times it by 2.2 for pounds?” which I confirmed, this led me to believe that someone was entering the fishing derby. Did have a phone call asking if the nurses could do an injection for trigger finger? “Umm…no, that is definitely not in our scope of practice, the physician does it” To which the patient replied that “yes the Dr did it before, but I just wondered if you could, you nurses do everything” Despite the vote of confidence in our abilities, I assured that the Doc was just making it look easy, there are lots of nerves and blood vessels in the joint and it was best to have the qualified healthcare professional do the injection as losing the finger wouldn’t be convenient. The patient agreed and then disclosed a duty travel trip to Inuvik on Monday… ahhh, the point of the call – to see if I’d advise it was worth a walk in clinic visit “yes, go see the Dr there, if not we’ll put you on the Dr list and it may be a couple of months before we have a clinic here again”.  The EMR, although I will never think of it as a close friend is less of an enemy to me and I can usually manage the routine functions. 

 When the most exciting event in your work week was cooking two hams (I am known as the ham nurse here) slicing and delivering them to the school on Thursday afternoon for the Kindgergarten graduation and feast…you know life is good. The community turned out to see our two graduates march to Pomp and Circumstance (makes me teary every time) and receive new bikes for graduation presents. Prizes were handed out to various students from the school population of 11 – the only boy attending school received the male athlete prize and was pleased with his odds. Our most senior elder said grace in Inuvialuit and we feasted on turkey, ham, salads and more. 

Although I am well compensated for my work and expect to have deductions from my pay, being a nurse there have been VERY limited occasions when I relied on the unemployment system as in a 12 week maternity leave in 1984 and sick EI in 2016. I realize that I live in a system which is socialist based but…when I read this post online… EI reviewed the hrs and its still the same.630 hrs to qualify. 20000.00 insurable in 20 weeks or less gets u max ei of 547.00. more details to follow shortly…. It makes my blood pressure rise to think I am funding the camping vacations of those in the Maritimes who have planned this as seasonal workers grrr. 

Travel sites have been popping up with ‘how to travel to Cuba without resorts’ which is pretty much what we’ve done for 20 yrs now. This one isn’t too bad but I took the opportunity to correct the statement of inability to access internet in the casas as we had this service in both Cienfuegos and Trinidad. 

https://www.tourradar.com/days-to-come/what-its-really-like-to-stay-at-a-guesthouse-in-cuba/ 

https://www.gadventures.com/blog/cuba-no-resorts-needed 

One of the tours was advertised as a catamaran tour to the ‘south coast’ and made it as far as Cienfuegos…hardly what I’d call the south of Cuba. Sure could use some of that warm right about now…

 And since we’re discussing travelling, here’s a link to an app you can download to find a bathroom worldwide but…I’m guessing it wouldn’t work in Cuba if American based but I plan to test it out in other areas for sure:

https://www.smartertravel.com/2018/06/12/find-a-bathroom-app/ 

Crocheting play food continues and the box I’m taking home is stocked as well as a Stantons food

order. Hopefully the kids enjoy playing with them as much as I enjoy making them. I am planning to take them as carry on considering the time I've spent. I also created two hats for a former coworker who is adopting a baby boy and one is a polar bear hat with a nod to her Inuk heritage, the other plainer in case they're not as fond of ears on hats as my grandchildren are. I'll mail it on my out to them in Dawson City. So, I've had busy fingers.

 

Tonight at the edge of the snow flurries over the sea ice there was….a beautiful rainbow. Can’t say I’ve seen one in the snow, in June before…