Returning from the Big Land

I’m flying out of Goose Bay as we speak.  I’m on a little plane, full of French Canadian hunters, on my way to Halifax then Vancouver via Toronto.  This efficient trip makes up for the milk run of last time.  I’ll be at YVR by 4:30PST which is as best as I can ask for as I fly 4,000 miles across this great country of ours.  I’ll miss hearing “it’s a nice day out there eh me luv?”  Every. Single. Day.  Boy do people love talking about the weather here.  Just when I got a hang of the accents, or most of them, I’m leaving.  People from Black Tickle remain the most challenging for me and I still needed to ask them to slow down up until the day I left.

 

Overall my Labrador experience was awesome.  The kindness and generosity of the people I met made up for my frustrations with the inefficiency and in my opinion some of the archaic hospital practices.  The hospital has so many staffing issues and they bring in so many locum nurses, yet there are no full time lines available.  It’s pretty broken and I don’t envy the higher ups.  There are however positions available in the small native communities up the coast.  One nurse who agreed to a two year contract said she was getting a 40K signing bonus for committing to the two years.  She would be living in Nain, a northern community of 1,000 people so she probably deserves the money.  I heard on many occasions that the expired food in Goose Bay grocery stores gets sent to the northern Native communities, and that fresh fruit and vegetables that come in sell out in a matter of hours.  This obviously compounds the problems of the population that already has a lack of health care and self care. Poor diet is a huge reason why the hospital services so much hypertension, bowel issues, obesity, pancreatitis etc.  I guess it was naive of me believe that basic fresh food was available to all Canadians and it’s something I won’t take for granted again. 

 

I had no deliveries this last month at all.  I was pretty much a medical surgical nurse but actually liked the change of pace.  I did many skills I haven’t done since nursing school and got to work with patients of all age groups.   I miss working with the elderly.  I always like hearing about their lives, where they lived, how many children they had etc.  They are almost always open and willing to talk and you quickly appreciate their stoic resilience.

 I met some great friends during my two months and I hope that one day our paths will cross again.  My favorite story is of the girl that got bit by a bear.  Her and a friend were driving on way to a fishing weekend (because girls in Labrador are badass and go on fishing trips), spotted a bear on the road and stopped.  The bear came up to the car and started sniffing at the window.  She rolled her window down a little to pet its snout (because really, when else would you have a chance to pet a bear), and before she knew it the bear jumped up, put its paws on the window and pulled it down.  She used her arm to block the bear and it bit her.  She reinforced it wasn’t a vicious bite, it just kind of mouthed her.  She bonked it on the nose, it released her arm.  The best part of the story?  She went on with her fishing trip.  Badass I tell you.  Bad. Ass.  She’s disappointed the scar isn’t more dramatic and I can’t say I blame her.  Needless to say she was on a significant course of antibiotics when she came back.

 

When this same girl invited me up to her family’s cabin I jumped at the chance.  I knew I’d be safe with anyone that survived a bear “attack”.  Many people in Goose Bay have cabins near the lake and they are whopping 5-20kms from home.   Once we got there the only thing funnier than the three of us girls trying to start the generator  was the three of us chopping wood.  Wow is that ever  harder than it looks.  There really wasn’t any need to chop more wood, I just thought it was the right thing to do as I was in the Labrador woods at a generator run cabin.  I spent about 20 minutes on the same piece with little progress and my friend pointed out we were trying to chop pieces that were already spiit.  Right.  I’m blaming it on the axe.  It can’t be my technique nor my weak back.  How come the hot lumberjacks on Grouse Mountain make it look so easy?  Anyways, we had a great night with pizza made in the propane oven, cozy from the woodstove, lots of wine and laughs and it was one of the highlights of my trip.  Thanks M! 

My time is flying by.  I can’t believe I’ve been off work three months.  I’m going to be home for only 10 days and leave on October 28^th for my next adventure.  I’m doing two 6 week stints in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, two degrees north of the Arctic Circle!  I secured the position after a gruelling 45 minute phone interview. The interview challenged my medical surgical and pediatric assessment skills that I’ve been out of touch with for some time.  Thank you Andrea, Sarah and Heather for the tips! From what I hear there is a lot of autonomy as a nurse in the Arctic so that is something I am looking forward to.  In the 10 days at home I need to get outfitted for the -30 weather and buy a Costco sized bottle of Vitamin D to help with the almost constant darkness.  I’m pretty nervous about these next few months.  I think more nervous about the lack of daylight than the cold which is hard to believe.  Inuvik is on the ice road (as in Ice  Road Truckers) so the winter time is apparently when food is MORE accessible, not less, as the ice road is frozen and trucks can drive to town (pop. 3,500!).   I’m staying in a hotel with a kitchenette as the nurses residency is full.  There is no oven other than the toaster type so I’m going to be eating a lot of soup I think.

I figure if I can handle a winter in the Arctic Circle I can handle just about anything.  Someone in Goose Bay was saying how brave I was for taking this year off and travelling/working.   I don’t think I’m brave so much as not afraid to be scared and I think there’s a difference.  Being scared of something is more of a reason to do something, not less.  I’ve never regretted doing anything that I was scared to do.  At the very least you grow from the failure.