Rain!

Yes, we had rain yesterday and it has appeared to have lasted most of the night, although not in any heavy downpour way.  It's good to know that it has been a bit rainy over most of the province and not just in the city.  Things are starting to "green up", and I even saw a rabbit eating the fresh new green grass, in the yard yesterday evening.

My reaction to the vaccine has lasted a little longer than expected.  Wednesday morning I was not in good shape and we called Health Links to see if this was just a bad reaction to the vaccine or maybe something more serious.  Toward the end of the conversation, after talking to three nurses ( in ascending order of rank) we were told that if we didn't take me into St. Boniface emergency, she would send an ambulance to take me there.  She said that she was worried about a "slow bleed".  She also said that she would be sending them a report about our conversation. So off we went.  David promised me that we would go out for dinner after he picked me up.

David dropped me off, just before 2:00, as he was told he couldn't stay.  We noticed 7 ambulances waiting out side the ER. I didn't get into the initial triage until about 2:45.  The waiting room was packed, and extra chairs had been brought in. As will often happen in such a situation, the people talk, and after awhile, develop a sense of comradery.  There was joking, but as well, a few miserable souls who refused to take part.  There were even cheers when one of the friendly group was called in, or when the drink machine in the corner actually produced a drink in response to cash.  When I was called for blood work, we discovered that I had been sitting next to another woman named Patricia.  We go to chatting and I found out she was a retired nurse, now living in Lorette. W had several concerned conversations about things we were seeing. My blood was taken in a major hallway just to the side of the ER.  It had been sectioned off, with screens, so as to allow free passage, but to also several allow small areas of privacy for patient care.  Finally, about 9:00, I was called for assessment and treatment.  I was taken to the usual small room with a bed, overbed table and a low stool, along with mysterious equipment attached to the walls.  No chair.  About 10:30, I was assessed by a nurse and a medical student.  Shortly after, I saw a doctor and the medical student again, to repeat several of the tests the student had done.  They went away to confer, and then the doctor on the next shift came in, and told me that they were sending me for a CT Scan. After a long time a nurse came to say that she had to start an IV for the CT Scan.  More waiting, and finally the fellow came to take me for the scan.

This next bit was the worst, most horrifying, part of the whole evening, and I'm talking about the trip to the scan area.  It was some distance from the area of the ER I had been, through several different hallways, none of which appeared to have originally been patient areas.  Every single hallway was full of either temporarily put together treatment areas or beds of patients.  Both sides of every hallway had full beds.  The space between the beds was barely sufficient for passage, and several times my chair was pulled to one side to allow patient treatment. It was almost a vision of Hell. Even pictures from foreign countries appear better than what I saw. No privacy, no washrooms, no where to change or dress.  Many of the people I saw were in bed, in street clothes.  The scan went well, and when I was back in my room, and the doctor returned, I told him how distressed I had been at what I had seen, and he commented that I had certainly "lucked in", in getting into the room I had.  He also commented about me telling my MP, as they had, and nothing had changed.  Anyway, I was discharged about 2:00am, twelve hours after entering.  Evidently I'm to expect a referral to a neurologist and a referral for an MRI.  I was also told that they had decided that my house was safe to return to. (??)

We didn't go out for dinner, but rather just home to a couple of pieces of cinnamon toast, which, by that time tasted wonderful. Yesterday was just a quiet day at home.  Today is laundry day, but, again, I can see the laundry being spread over two days.

Otherwise, not much going on around here.