Everything was going along swimmingly, the bottom was done, Greig was working on the woodwork and I was busy sewing up a new stack pack, when two days before launch things weren’t so good anymore.
During dinner with the crew of Mowzer, I experienced some pain in my chest so everyone thought it would be a good idea to go to the hospital to get it checked out. Greig ran next door to Sidney’s house (the owner of the apartment building we were staying at) and asked for a ride. Thank goodness he was there, as we would have not known how to tell the ambulance where to come and we did not have a car and even if we did, we wouldn’t have known where to go. Sidney was a life saver…literally!

After a brief visit to the emergency room, which was dated, but the staff were very professional and a couple of tests, I was admitted to St. George’s Hospital. I was wheeled over to the main hospital and taken to the women’s ward and given a bed where I would spend the next week.

The good: The staff were very attentive and the doctor’s very knowledgable. It was a teaching hospital so there was never a lack of attention. They were able to get me healthy enough to fly home to Halifax and for that I am eternally grateful.

The bad: The food was skimpy a best, one breakfast consisted of a piece of dry bread (no butter, jam, or pb) some lettuce, and some shredded carrots. At worst, there was one night where they had forgotten to feed us dinner at all. It wasn’t until I asked that some food was brought in at 2100. It came in take-out containers and wasn’t too bad compared to the other meals. When Greig took me to the hospital that first night, we didn’t bring much with us. It wasn’t until the next day, when he was allowed to come back and bring me my toiletries and PJ’s. What he did not bring with him and the hospital did not supply was the following: No towels, no johnny shirt (yes I slept in my clothes), no top sheet for the bed, no pillow, no water, and worst of all no toilet paper! So when Greig came to visit I had to send him back home again for all the things most north americans would take for granted.

The ugly: The hospital and the equipment were very dated, and there was limited technology. There was not enough equipment for each patient, so there was only one rolling table to share among six patients along with blood pressure cuffs, pulse sensor, and stethoscope. This may not have been a big deal, except the lady I was sharing with equipment with, died of Hep B within an arms length of me one evening. During my stay, Greig had to personally hand deliver my blood samples across town for testing. I also had to be transported to another private facility for tests. They would not move me to the test facility until Greig had gone down to the clinic and paid for the tests in advance. The only way to summon the nurse was to yell down the hall, as the call bell consisted of nothing but a wire with a frayed end. Ugliest of all, was that I couldn’t put anything in my side table because it was crawling with bugs. I’ll try to upload a video of it on Lequesteau’s FB page.

Total cost for week in hospital, a ton of tests (including a CT scan), an ER visit and a ton of drugs: $1,500 CDN. You wouldn’t get that in North America!

After a brief sojourn in Halifax, we have returned to Grenada with a bunch of Christmas presents, pasty white skin and best of all a clean bill of health. Launch is scheduled for this Tuesday coming, so back to a crazy work schedule to be ready on time.