“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.”
Paulo Coelho
Here I am again. Sitting in Er Room 3 waiting for the doctor. I think I solved my health riddle.
Now I need a doctors’ approval on my diagnosis.
I will start at the beginning
1977 I joined the Canadian Armed Forces. I wanted the Air force but was talked into joining the Navy. I did my time in boot camp. And then off to train as a radioman at sea.
My ship was the HMCS Qu’Appelle. I was proud to have served my adopted country. I was born in Brasil, became a Canadian citizen in 1967 during the centennial here.
yup that’s me at the pointy end
My ship was built in 1962. It was insulated with asbestos as was the practice at the time.
By the time I served on that ship, it was outdated by warship standards. A decision was made to refit the ship in its entirety. That meant stripping the ship to bare metal and redoing everything and upgrading to newer equipment.
Since they didn’t have much for the 175 souls on board to do during that process, we were assigned to help with the refit.
This included grinding out the old insulation. We were not given any protection against the asbestos dust. In the military you do as you are told, nothing else will do.
I read stories now about sailors who got lung cancer just serving on their ships. For us doing the grinding, it is much worse.
I have been having problems with chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, even one incidence of confusion.
From the research I have done, all this could be contributed to the lack of oxygen. I don’t think my lungs are getting enough 02 to my body.
My mission today is just to get a supply of oxygen and maybe even have an arterial blood gas test.
I doubt I will succeed. I think the doctor on call here is one I met before. I severely bruised his ego on a visit here last year.
I had cut my finger on my table saw, down to the bone. I had a half-loaded trailer on my van. That I couldn’t remove. I had to wait till the next day to get to ER.
When I saw the doctor there. I said something that set him off. I had never seen him before, so I asked if he was a locum. A visiting doctor.
He got angry that I didn’t know that he was one of the regular doctors here.
After that, he refused to talk to me. My finger was not stitched up. Xrays were not looked at. It took many months for that hand to heal. I am sure that there were fractures.
My glove had caught the blade and my hand was slammed into the table of the saw by a 10-inch blade spinning at 60 times a second.
I am not sure the doctor I am seeing today is the same one. My memory just ain’t firing some days.
The one I saw today, was friendly and seemed to mean business and during the conversation, I even ended up giving him advice about some computer problems.
I didn’t get oxygen, I didn’t get the test I wanted to be done. I did get the promise of a pulmonary test in the near future We will see if that happens. This doctor told me that oxygen was actually toxic, I will have to read about that.
I was promised knee replacement surgery two years ago, a referral to a spinal clinic in Edmonton, a home sleep apnea test, a carotid examine and stress test, none of which has happened. Like I said some of those things I have been waiting for years. Sometimes free medical isn’t free, we pay for it, suffering quietly.
I just finished chopping wood I went out to take a pic and got a call from the respiratory clinic and before the appointment was made my phone ran out of battery power. I had a hard time talking I was huffin’ and puffin’ like an asthmatic Granny sitting in an all smokers’ bingo hall. My apologies to all asthmatic Grannies.
Not today’s load. Today’s was bigger
I am trying to call back but my phone needs at least ten percent or it won’t make the call. I guess a promise was made by a doctor and it was followed through, some of my faith has been restored.
Take Care and be safe
BP117/74 BPM 74
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