Speaking of small critters, my regular dog walker (who is clearly an animal lover) has gone to do an internship with an animal rescue centre called Hope for Wildlife www.hopeforwildlife.net and apparently she'd been bitten twice already by a squirrel - sure hope she comes home with more than seven fingers. Last weekend I looked out the window of the apartment and there was a huge sik sik (marmot) which I swear was the size of a small racoon calmly ambling around the bottom of the steps. Not hibernating yet and they apparently like to come inside so have to be watched. Rodents!
Personally, there's lots of effort required to keep up with the humans, let alone animals up here. As my cultural experience continues it occurred to me this week that when I ask patients about their symptoms they often give me what I consider vague answers, so I probe more concretely. For example "how long have you had this pain?" and the answer might be either "before" or "long time" to which I would say "a few minutes, days, weeks etc" as any nurse would and for this I receive the 'how stupid are you?' look and a quickly chosen number. So yesterday I asked two of the clerks the meaning of each and they were quickly definite in their answers that 'before' meant 10 - 15 minutes ago and 'long time' meant about a week to ten days previous. Could've knocked me over. I will have to add this to my translation of "where is your pain?" which a mother might say to a child "whare does it hurt - by here or by there?" The instruction 'you could' prefaces many statements such as "you could take it off" if referring to a sweater or "you could read?" meaning 'read that'. When I say "what is it like?" I might receive the reply "just like but not really" which I assume means 'sort of'. There is frequently the assertion that someone is 'trying to' as in "she's trying to catch a cold". Meaning, it's about to happen, or she's coming down with it" because no one would 'try' to do that.
A lady came in for an appointment a couple of weeks ago for one issue and as she rose to leave she asked about having her bilateral tubal ligation reversed. I told her that I doubted this would either be funded or successful but I would check with the boss. When I asked, the nurse in charge flatly said "no, that is why they're told it's permanent and to be sure - the government won't pay for the travel or the operation". So I conveyed this message to the patient and she went on her way. The next week my coworker mentioned that she'd been in requesting a pregnancy test as she had symptoms (even though she'd had the BTL) and my colleague obliged by dipping the urine and saying "no, of course you're not pregnant" to which the patient brightly said "oh well, we'll just have to keep on trying then" and left. My nerves.
Nunavut residents as a group are a fertile bunch with the youngest population in Canada having 57% under age 24 years. Over the weekend I had a lady in with her adopted 14 month old, she told me she was visiting the community to see her grandson and named him. We chatted about the baby he was fathering and I said "that will make you a great grandmother" she was pleased to learn the English name for the title. Something made me ask her age and she said "56" and I said "I'm 57 and I'm okay with waiting for grandchildren" and she said "you're old". Well, by definition up here I sure am. Mind you I read the latest TB Guidelines and they speak of elderly Canadians defined as age 55 and older. How rude.
A few call nights ago (they are beginning to run together now) I had a phone call from a woman saying that her grandmother was unable to move her leg, was in pain and needed to be seen. Now when she named the patient I had an instant mental image of the short, rotund, limited English language elder the patient was. I attempted to coach the family through getting a chair, helping her to the Honda etc. to no avail. The granddaughter insisted on speaking to the nurse in charge and ultimately we made a house call - no ambulance or even first responders here. The elder had a knee which had 'locked' and was on the couch unable to straighten her leg or weight bear. We arrived with the SUV, the foldable stretcher (I made a return trip for the straps which I didn't realize were separate) and supervised the transfer to the equipment with the eight strong young men who had been summoned by the family. As I looked at them I realized that one of them was packing a baby (meaning carrying it in a packing vest on his back) of about six months. A few moments later the little one was bouncing in an exersaucer which had appeared and she and the three month old in the bouncy seat were being watched by the youngest infants sixteen year old mother. We coordinated the patient transfer out the door, down the steep stairs and into the back of the SUV. I was instructed to drive to the health centre and I did so slowly as the patient lay quietly alone in the back, my boss said "are you okay?" and she grunted "yup". I was horrified to think what would happen if I took a corner too quickly and tipped her over. When we arrived at the ramp of the health centre the crowd of young, strong men ( tried to not think of them as pallbearers) had materialized and were milling about as I backed up. They quickly retrieved the human cargo who was inside the centre before I had the vehicle back in the garage. We gave a pain med and xrayed the leg which had a happy ending as it spontaneously unlocked (of course while I was on the phone to the Doc on call) making my coworker ecstatic. Just the usual problem of no footwear to go home with when you've arrived on a stretcher and I scampered upstairs to get my boots but they were too small. She was pleased with the offer and her daughter translated the "I know where you live" retrieval joke to her. I told my coworker that I was pleased to have a dress rehearsal of a house call as there was no major bleeding, stopped breathing or unresponsiveness involved as would likely be the case with something more sinister.
I had a FaceTime chat with the life partner who is struggling with preparation for the upcoming lobster season and all the angst that goes locally with putting all your eggs in one basket (or one industry) as many can't stand the pressure. He is diversified and so deals with various sectors but marches to many drums. He had gotten involved with the measuring for tonnage of a vessel for sale as a local trouble maker had told the buyer that this should be done. To quote the shore captain as he described the family this guy comes from "if they didn't start it, they're right in the middle of it". Sounds like he's having the kind of week I am here. I managed to put 9 4-0 prolene sutures in a finger this week in about half the time it would have taken me last contract and managed a very effective ring block, if I do say so myself.
Tonight I made a cake with chocolate icing as one of the staff is moving to an office in another building - any excuse - for tomorrow. Bit harder to get the motivation to bake when you no dishwasher but I am using up the supplies. And just for the record, when you notice the price for 2.5 kg of flour, no I did not buy the flour here. Not sure how many will be around to share it if the major snowstorm outside doesn't moderate. It's as any workplace, if you take baked goods, they will disappear.
It's a sort of freezing rain/snow combo that it is being whipped around with high winds. Reminds me of a Nova Scotia blizzard but that kind of forecast is months away down there. Three weeks from tonight I'll be storing my 'stuff' and getting ready to make a run for it. So glad that work is 'down the stairs' when I look out the window. No kids out there causing problems tonight. I'm guessing the
security guard is drinking tea in the 'office' and not worrying about wolves in the dark. The construction crew will have their work cut out for them tomorrow if it is safe enough to get up on the metal framework. Sure hope that crane isn't over on its side when I get up.
Time to take the apartment phone to bed, in case I have to back up my partner, and get rested up for tomorrow.
