More photos of Newfoundland

Newfoundland...me love

Since Bruce and I sold our house, we decided to spend the summer in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.  We spent the weekend of June 14th, celebrating my sister's 50th birthday, in Keene NY  It was a mini family reunion. On June 18th we meandered our way to Sydney, Nova Scotia, to catch the ferry to Newfoundland. It is a six hour crossing to Port aux Basques, NL. Once on land we drove to our first campground. JT Cheesemen Provincial Park. Bruce hooked us up and I started dinner. Out of the blue, I got horrendous gas pains that got progressively worse. I started throwing up until nothing was left to throw up but my body insisted on trying. I thought it could be food poisoning from the roast beef sandwich we had shared on the ferry, but Bruce had zero symptoms. I usually don't go to the doctor or hospital until on my death bed, so I guess I felt close enough to go. Bruce brought me to the hospital in Port aux Basques. Who should greet me but the one and only doctor from Brooklyn. He called me the lady from NY. Here I was put on an iv drip that took them three pokes to get into a dehydrated vein. They gave me morphine and something to stop the nausea. On a scale from one to ten, I thought the pain was a ten. A lab technician was called in just as she was about to go to bed, to get blood work from me and someone else. I spent the night here and the next day had a chest x- ray. That was fine and was told I need to have a CAT scan, which they don't have. I would have to take a two hour ambulance ride to the town of Corner Brook. We were warned of the expense and I asked the doctor if we could drive up. " I wouldn't suggest that". I imagined thousands of dollars and when the cost was under that, it was a relief. The administration was afraid to tell us! LOL!! The NY doctor also wanted me to see a surgeon. Bruce wasn't comfortable with this hospital because there was only one doctor, and said we weren't going back. At two o'clock the best ambulance crew in Newfoundland ( and they even said so) took me for the two hour ride over bumpy Newfoundland roads. They apologized and said it doesn't get better. It did hurt now and again, but that morphine is a wonder. On the way up Mark gave me a water tower size container of liquid to drink for the dye used with a CAT scan. I hoped I could hold it down. I managed to drink what was needed. At one point the sirens went off and we went sailing through road construction. I thought Keith would be so jealous, I got a ride in an ambulance. With the SIRENS blaring!!! So Mark took a picture of me and emailed it to me. It's not pretty but fun to have. Darn, Keith was in an ambulance a few years back after getting hit by a car. When I arrived at Western Memorial in Corner Brook I was under the CAT scan ten minutes after arriving. The surgeon then examined me. She gave me a rectal exam and that pain is a ten and the cramps have moved down to a seven. She said I have a UTI. I had no idea. They changed the iv because the vein blew out. Which is common. More blood work and waiting for CAT scan results. They decided to control my nausea, they would put a tube up my nose down my throat into my stomach to suck out the stuff. Instant relief. But the pain of shoving a tube up the nostril is now my new number ten and the rectal exam is an eight. The results of the CAT scan showed I had a partially blocked lower intestine. She felt that the tubular litigation I had thirty years ago stuck to the intestine and caused a kink.(adhesion) They also saw fibroids, which I've known I've had for years. Because of this I was to see a gynecologist. The Gynecologist came and asked questions and found nothing unusual in my history and didn't think the two were related. The intestine just moved next to scar tissue from the previous procedure. She still wanted to check the endometriosis. This involved inserting an instrument with a razor on it and running it along my uterus. This pain was rated ten because it was the longest two minutes of pain I ever experienced and I cried. The nose tube is now a nine. The one procedure they wanted to do on Tuesday was to tap my stomach to see what the fluid was. Since everything is improving, my iv is out, my nose tube is out, and I am now on solid liquid diet ( i wasn't allowed to eat for days) I may not have to. The surgeon gave me exercises to make the kink go back to normal. She said the kink is like a garden hose. The nurses here are so sweet and the surgeon is down to earth and seems to know her stuff. I just hope never to have a relapse. This is the first emergency visit I've ever had to a hospital. Hopefully, I will be released on Tuesday if not sooner. My roommate is Monna and she is a moaner for sure. After being with her for a week she is finally speaking English to us and the staff. I feel well enough now that I put her socks on and got her water. It wasn't cold enough so I got the nurse to do it. LOL!! She pouts a lot. All is well now and after touring NL for six weeks we are getting ready to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia, so we can explore there.  We planned on taking the ferry back from St. John's on the east coast, which is a 14 hr ferry.  During this past week a ferry on the west coast became grounded.  They took the ferry from the east coast to the west coast to help ferry to Nova Scotia.  So now we have to drive back west to catch the ferry. 

We've been in Newfoundland for six weeks and saw a lot of interesting things.  It really is very pret ty here and so peaceful.  The people are so friendly!!

River at Cindy and Pat's House

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw a couple of moose and ate a mooseburger

Albert Einstein: