Spa at home

This weekend I embarked on a science project to combat the dry skin that I discussed in an earlier post. Employing the services of Google and the search criteria “homemade body scrub” I was rewarded with a plethora of recipes. I perused a number of concoctions that identified themselves as moisturizing, then rummaged around in the kitchen for some of the ingredients. I rarely follow recipes when cooking so clearly I intended to deviate in this instance, devising a scrub based upon what sounded nice and what I had in ample supply:

• Brown Sugar
• Coffee Grounds (from the random bag of decaf that we have for some reason and don’t drink)
• Honey
• Olive Oil
• Sour Cream

The internet informs me that coffee is invigorating and improves circulation as well as being an exfoliant. Brown sugar was for the obvious exfoliation qualities. Olive Oil sounded very moisturizing.

Honey was listed in a couple of recipes, as was plain yoghurt. Since I did not have any yoghurt I used the closest thing, hence the sour cream.

I used my scrub twice, once on Saturday and again on Sunday for good measure and because it clearly wouldn’t keep long. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the results, although the ensuing mess of coffee grounds all over the bathroom took a long time to clean up.

Tukisigiarvik Centre

According to my brief internet research this morning; Tukisigiarvik is a community-based organization funded from a variety of sources. The center offers practical support and assistance to Iqalummiut individuals and families with personal and family issues, health, healing, education, employment etc. The centre's two Inuit elder-advisors, teach the traditional skill development and give advice on Inuit values, customs, belief and practices – Inuit Qaujimajatunqangit – which form the basis of the helping and counseling services and programs offered by the Society.

The Centre is located just accross the street from the clinic which is the white building in the background of this picture. One of the recent projects that the centre has undertaken is qamutiq building. Presumably this project fits in the category of learning traditional skills and whoever was teaching did an excellent job as the level of craftsmanship on these 9 qamutiqs was outstanding.

Last week there were a number of sealskins drying on frames but I missed that photo opportunity.

Go Canucks Go!

The Vancouver Canucks have made it to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in seventeen years. I am not very good at being Canadian as I keep falling asleep during the games. In my defense the last round of games against San Jose were all on the west coast so didn't start until bed time. What is the correct term for starting a hockey game? Kick Off? Nope. Tee Off? wrong again. Maybe it is Puck Off? Like I said I am not very Canadian in this regard and I hope there are no hockey trivia questions on the citizenship test. We have to wait one or two more games for either Boston or Tampa to make it through as our opponents.

The melt continues apace and our front yard now comprises of a mixture of ice, mud and dust. When we got home from the Legion tonight we were throwing the ball for Sage out front. She did a big jump to catch the ball and momentum took her into a backflip and she landed on her ass in a big puddle of mud. It was hilarious to watch and we admired her for keeping hold of the ball even as the wind was knocked out of her. Johnny's short legs, long hair and a penchant for digging are a recipe for disaster in the mud. Despite our best efforts to towel them off our house is getting a nice coating of doggy sand. I may relent and pay $20 for a $5 mop to clean the lino and laminate flooring in the hallway, maybe a large washing up bowl to act as a foot bath when they come in too.

Poopy puppies

Blaine has been working overtime this past ten days looking after me on top of doing all the chores. This morning I woke up feeling a lot better so I celebrated Victoria Day by bringing my man a latte in bed. After our caffeine fix I left him working on his Plan Examiner final assignment and I took the dogs out for a walk. I didn't want to risk re-injuring my back picking up Johnny to lift him on the quad so I put them on the leash and we went for a conventional walk.

We walked down to the beach, where the melting snow has receded in places to show actual sand. Remember I haven't been outside for 12 days (save for taking a cab to the clinic and back), combined with the arrival of consistently mild weather  it was like I emerged into a different world. So much snow has gone, there are streams where I was riding the sled and huge great boulders where once it was flat. I really hadn't appreciated how much snow there was on the ground.

The mild weather was a delight, I wore only track pants, a Tshirt and hoodie topped off with gloves and a hat instead of the usual snowboarding pants, Canada Goose jacket and fur mittens and hat. We strolled along the beachfront and were having a lovely time until they took off and disappeared behind some ice. I called them over and they sheepishly re-emerged covered in shit and stinking to high heaven. I did not go over to investigate what they had been in, the stench of the crap on the dogs was making me gag. They got beaten and taken straight home where they were chained up outside like the other dogs in our neighbourhood. to be nice we provided some cardboard and a piece of carpet to lie on and some water to drink, then left the stinking horrible beasts out there to think about what they had done. They ate their supper outside then came back in for a bath and straight to bed.

the May booze order

At the beginning of the month we placed an order for 16 cans of Guinness, 3litres of JD and 3 bottles of wine. After a week it had not arrived so I called LCBO (the liquor store in Ottawa that I order from) to see what was going on. I was told that they were out of stock on the JD but should be getting some soon. The following week I received a phone call to say that the 3l bottles had been recalled due to a problem with the glass bottles. You can only import what is on your permit so I had to substitute it with another 3l bottle of spirits, I picked Canadian Club and they said it would be shipped out the next day as the shipment for that day had already gone.

I just phoned First Air cargo in Ottawa and was told that it is still sitting there, as it has been since last Friday. Apparently it will probably ship in the next couple of days as they have been really busy and are catching up. Humph. I am particularly annoyed since I had selected the bottles of wine to go well with a nice BBQ steak for Blaine and I to have a date night steak dinner and bottle of wine. He is now duty chief until we go away so can't drink half a bottle of wine, and my back hurts so I am grumpy which would not make for good date night. Ah well I guess that when it does arrive I can put it aside for a celebration after we return from Europe.

more about Healthcare

The doctor who saw me at the hospital asked that I make an appointment to see him in 10 days time. On Tuesday morning I telephoned the hospital and left a voicemail with appointments, they called me back at 4pm and I stated my request. I was informed that the doctor's schedule had him in Pond Inlet that week and they don't have any appointments until May 30 anyway. We had a frustrating dialogue in which I repeated my request and she got more and more rude and her grating Newfoundland accent became even more pronounced and irritating. I should say that as a rule I am not bothered by Newfies but she had a particularly nasal whining voice that was exacerbated by the accent.

I learned that there is not always a doctor available for same day appointments, this week the service would only be available on Wednesday and Friday. For the rest of the month there are only two days on which a doctor is available for appointments, May 26 and May 30. May 26 is already booked with "patients who are coming back to see the doctor" she said this as if it made them more important than me which I found confusing since I too fit in that exact category. She then gave me a lecture that "we are not in the ER you know, the clinic is in the old hospital" informative as this may be I still cannot see the relevance.

Her recommendation was that I wait in line at 8:30 on Friday and get my appointment time, then come back for my appointment. Sure that sounds just fine. I can barely stand up straight, can't sit upright, haven't left the house for a week because I am in so much pain but I'll just pop on up. I have to admit that I got so upset by the whiny-voiced cow that I hung up in frustration.

Blaine is going to go up to the clinic on Friday morning and get my appointment time. Not sure how I will get there though, clearly walking or driving the quad are out of the question but I am not sure that I can get in and out of a taxi, which are mostly beat up sedans, plus they drive like idiots. We may just have to defy city rules and have Blaine drive me there and back, also he can then pay attention to what the doc says. Between the pain and the drugs I am not so good at taking things in.

I did learn that lots of medical supplies came in early this week. My booze order is still sat on the tarmac waiting for its turn and I was informed by the First Air cargo staff that there are other much more important things to ship up like food and medical supplies before personal liquor orders. Really? I have to disagree, you are charging me enough freakin money, now ship it up already! Fortunately we took receipt of a care package so I was able to supplement my meds with a couple of G&Ts last night, most welcome indeed.

Healthcare in Iqaluit

This week I am in the unfortunate position to be blogging about my first hand experience as an end user of the healthcare system. I use the term unfortunate because of the pain, not because of the system.

Last Sunday we were out on the ice enjoying the fresh dump of snow by spending the afternoon zipping around on the snowmachine. The light was very flat and it had been windy so the once smooth road on the ice was hard to see and covered in snow dunes. Blaine failed to see a particularly large dune and we flew over it , landing with a bang that jarred my lower back. It wasn't painful at the time and we carried on with our day, including coffee at the fire hall because you can drive the snowmachine right up to the front door.

Back at home I was pottering in the kitchen when my back just went so I put myself to bed with some drugs. Monday morning it was not too bad so I drove the quad to work but had trouble sitting down for long at my desk. Gerry made me an appointment with a Registered Massage therapist, the soonest one available being 1pm on Wednesday. Tuesday morning I could barely get upright but after an hour of gentle stretching (much to Johnny & Sage's amusement) I got moving and walked slowly to the office. Wednesday morning it took me so long to get moving that I didn't get to work until 0945. My boss mentioned that to reclaim the massage on our healthcare plan you need a doctor's referral.

There are no GPs up here. You can go to the clinic in the old hospital building at 0830 and wait for a same day appointment or phone for an appointment, I was offered May 26. You can go to the emergency room. Or you can make an appointment with a Nurse Practitioner at Public Health which is just at the end of our road. I secured an appointment at 1500 which fit neatly after my 1300 massage. A one-hour massage set me back $140 and brought some relief. The nurse prescribed me some drugs so I dropped off the prescription at North Mart and went home to lie down. Blaine picked up the drugs for me and administered them and put me to bed.

Thursday morning I was able to move more easily and drove to work. I was very good about getting up and moving around every 20 minutes but was still in a lot of pain. Taking my jacket off the coat peg at lunch time almost made me cry and I shuffled to the fire hall for my lunch and put an ice pack on. The ice helped and I went back to work where I resumed my 20 minute seated, 10 minute standing routine. At 5pm I left the office and drove home to get supper on as Craig and Linda were coming over at 6:30 for a curry feast.

Blaine walked in the door a couple of minutes after me to find me pacing the living room distraught and unable to get comfortable. Suddenly I was overcome with the most incredibly painful spasms in my lower back. I have a very high pain tolerance, my tattooist Jay will vouch for me on that, so for me to be screaming out loud this was some serious pain. At 5:20pm after a couple of minutes of non stop spasms I collapsed on the floor on my back with my knees pulled to my chest. Blaine administered the drugs that I was prescribed the day before and held my hand as I writhed and screamed. He tried desperately to find me some relief, feeding me ice cubes and Hydromorphone, stacking pillows under my legs, stroking my hair and telling me distracting stories.

At 8pm we admitted defeat and phoned for an ambulance. There is no 911 in Iqaluit, you dial 979 4422 for fire, ambulance and bylaw, 979 1111 gets you the RCMP. A-shift arrived and set about getting me onto a clamshell to get me out of the house, the poor guys did a great job of being really careful and trying super hard to not cause me anymore pain. Inevitably there was some screaming but with some muscle and clever improvisation they kept me in my fetal position as they carried me down the stairs and across the ice field that forms out front doorstep. The roads are currently more pot hole than tarmac and Travis did an amazing job of driving the ambulance around the obstacles. Blaine rode with me in the bus and had little Blaine follow in his truck, Walter took my vitals and other paramedic stuff. The ambulance ride costs $800 and is covered by my extended heatlhcare plan at work, as are my prescription drugs.

I was carefully wheeled into the hospital where the doctor kindly had the nurse inject me with some drugs before he attempted an examination. My pain had not subsided so I got another shot, this time some more  hydromorhone which eased the pain somewhat, but not enough to facilitate the use of a bed pan so I had to have a catheter. Back spasms and a full bladder are not a good combination so the relief of finally being able to pee was phenomenal. Sometime around 10pm I was able to slowly lower my legs until I was lying prostrate for the first time in almost 5 hours. The doctor examined me and, satisfied that the injury was muscular, announced that his goal was to get me ambulatory which involved writing out a prescription for lots more drugs. My first attempt at sitting upright resulted in me almost fainting so I lay back down and we resorted to using the hospital bed to slowly elevate me into a seated position. Wisely agreeing that caution was the best approach, Blaine got me into a wheelchair and pushed me to the truck where he carefully helped me in. Back at home Blaine carefully arranged me in bed (with a complex arrangement of pillows to keep the pressure off my lower back) where I quickly slipped into a deep drug-induced sleep.

I am writing this on Sunday morning in a semi-seated position on the couch. I spent all day Friday in bed, Saturday I alternated between bed and the couch. Last night in bed I was able to roll onto my side by myself whereas on Friday night I had to wake Blaine to roll me. I still cannot get up or sit down unaided, Blaine has to lift and lower me and fetch and carry every little thing. I am eternally grateful that my husband is so strong and so gentle, kind and patient - thank you baby :-)

The days are a little mixed up, I think it was on Friday that C shift delivered a bouquet of tulips in a pretty vase, thank you boys.

Surreptitiously photographed by Polarman

Iqaluit has its own superhero. His name is Polarman. He wears a wresting mask. Today I was out on the quad with Sage to take my weekly photograph of the square. I took the photo and then spoke to Blaine briefly. When I turned around I saw Polarman across the street, he was taking a photo of me on his cell phone. I guess we do make an unusual sight.

When I downloaded my photos I noticed that Polarman is in the background of this picture of Blaine and Johnny.

You can learn more about Polarman here http://ronwassink.blogspot.com/2010/10/polarman-is-iqaluits-super-hero.html