T3H Blog

Of course, leave it to me to visit areas of the world where even bottle water has to be purified and not catch a thing, but then visit Canada to windup in ICU for a week after being infected with Campylobacter jejuni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campylobacter_jejuni). This nasty bacterium resulted in gastroenteritis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroenteritis), which led to diabetic ketoacidosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_ketoacidosis). If that was not enough the strain of spending nearly two days vomiting and being afflicted with the worst case of diarrhea – ever, gave me a mild heart attack, hence the week in ICU instead of a nice relaxing vacation in one of the most beautiful region in the world with family and friends.

Nevertheless, some good came out of this. In the emergency room, I became a case study for a young intern and his supervising doctor. The last case ketoacidosis case the doctor had been over 15 years ago. As for the intern, well-let say it was a lesson he is not about to forget anytime soon. The rest the ICU doctors, nurses, and support staff were great, all without exception. I do not recommend it. However, if you are to be sick while in the southwest-central Quebec, the Centre Hospitalier Régional de Lanaudière (CHRDL) in Joliette is a very competent facility – but an expensive one if you do not have provincial insurance. A small ICU room runs CDN $2800 a day. Not that it is comparable, but I have staid in some of the best hotels in the world where VIP suites do not come anywhere near this price. Surprisingly, medical services are rather inexpensive and CHRDL accepts VISA.

Note: there is no Internet access available…