Storyline: Atlantic Canada, Take 2
July 5
This morning we head north for the most advertised Newfoundland (NL) attraction – L’Anse aux Meadows. Black and grey tanks dumped at the Port au Choix campground, a couple of sandwiches from Foodland across the street and off we go north, battling the winds. But aside from the winds, nice weather. It is very bare: a small fishing hamlet here or there (although most are registered as towns even if the population is no more than 200 people), a gorgeous view of the waters and the surf, blue skies when fog lifts. Lovely drive. And as everywhere in Newfoundland if someone is behind Doranya we find a spot to pull off and let them go. And then it’s only us and the beautiful views.
Our next campground – Triple Falls RV Park – is near St. Anthony. We checked in, selected our spot (“Select your site” has been a theme so far), connected the water and electricity to the pole to mark that the spot is taken, left the doormat out too, and then drove to St. Anthony, to see iceberg alley.
It was busy! St. Anthony is pretty big for the standards of northern NL, and driving through it resembles driving through downtown of any big Canadian city. On a mini scale of course. It is all the tourists around. The local population is just over 2,000 people. It is the main service centre for northern Newfoundland and Southern Labrador and is located at the far north of Western Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula.
We managed to find a parking spot near the lighthouse. The only visible iceberg left – it’s a bit late in the season, after all – was quite far away. And despite the busyness there wasn’t much to see and do. After walking around, we had a late lunch at the only place by the lighthouse. A bit disappointing, but tomorrow is another day. We headed ‘home’ to the RV park. Alex connected Doranya to the water and electricity and then we sat to relax and plan the next day.
It was dinner time, but we had just had lunch at around 3pm. It also was drizzling. We sat inside for a glass of wine and a relaxed evening. Or so I thought before I looked at Alex. He seemed quite flushed. When the kids were young, I used to put my lips on their foreheads and knew when they had a fever. I did the same with Alex. “You have a high fever!”, I said. “No, it’s just the sun and windburn I don’t feel I have fever.” (After all we had walked several kilometres on a sunny day into a 30-60 km/hr wind the previous day – A.) Well, we carry a thermometer. It showed 39.4°C! (102.92F)! We also carry Covid rapid tests with us. “You should do the test!”. Two of three were positive and one invalid. They say that if two rapid tests in 24 hours are positive, they are accurate, but if negative one never knows. In this case all was clear. High fever, a small tickle in his throat (which he says he’s had for the last two days). And we are in the middle of nowhere. Just google Triple Falls RV Park near St. Anthony, Newfoundland. Quickly disconnected and I drove back to St. Anthony.
Took us a while to find the hospital. In the dark we couldn’t see any parking around it so Alex backed up Doranya uphill right on the grass in front of the emergency entrance. I’d tell this to the receptionist later just to hear “Don’t worry, it’s OK.” (I wonder if she’s simply afraid to communicate with me. After all I am in contact with a Covid patient.)
The place looked empty by our urban Ontario standards. The nurse walked us to a room, took Alex’s vitals and then we waited for a doctor. I bet this poor young fellow had never had such a complicated case as Alex’s. He listened to Alex explanations: he has the CLL which jumped to the CSF (“CSF what?!” I could read on the face of the doctor) and at certain point of time his vocal cords were paralyzed, and he was fed via G-tube inserted into his stomach. Yes, if you don’t know what I am talking about you are not alone. The young doctor on duty seemed perplexed too…. But got the “immuno-compromised” message. He then explained that they do nothing for Covid. But because Alex is immuno-compromised, he qualifies for Paxlovid, an antibody drug. They’ll have to do a blood test to confirm he has Covid and then they’ll fax it to the pharmacy. We should call the next morning. All this is good, but we are in a camper van, it is dark, I don’t want to drive over 10 km back to the campground, and we have nowhere else to go. The nurse is telling me if we want to stay in St. Anthony, she’ll give us a list of hotels where we can self isolate. They’ll bring us food and so… The beauty of provincial health care system. One never knows the rules from one province to another. Apparently in Ontario one has to self-isolate for 5 days, in NL for 7 and in Nova Scotia not at all. I ask her where can we park for the night. She points the parking lot across from the hospital, the Grenfell Historical Society Museum. “No one will bother you there”.
It was just after midnight when we parked and crashed there. The next morning, we called the pharmacy. The pharmacist confirms all the medications Alex was taking and says he’d call back after checking on drug interactions. Interesting, shouldn’t the doctor be checking all this before sending a prescription to the pharmacy?
Half an hour later we’ve got a call. Unfortunately, they can’t give him Paxlovid because of interactions with his targeted therapy and anti-arrhythmic drugs. Oh well. So, we wasted a night and the results are the same as if we didn’t go see a doctor. Alex tells the pharmacist that we are heading south. “If it gets worse, we have many health centres on your way. Stop by the nearest one” is the pharmacist’s advice. Sounds like “if you need a ventilator, they may have one somewhere on the road”. Because what else could be done.
And so, we head south. I’ll never see L’Anse aux Meadows. And we are just 12 km away from it!
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