{"id":470246,"date":"2026-06-01T06:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/470246\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T06:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:26:14","slug":"i-survived-some-serious-health-scares-with-humour-gratitude-and-cardboard-bedpans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/470246\/","title":{"rendered":"I survived some serious health scares with humour, gratitude \u2014 and cardboard bedpans"},"content":{"rendered":"

This First Person article is the\u00a0experience of Linda Gerritsen, a plane crash survivor, double amputee and social worker from Riverton, Man.\u00a0For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see\u00a0this FAQ.<\/a>\u00a0You can read more First Person articles\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Some people collect stamps or teacups. Apparently, I collect medical specialists.<\/p>\n

In eight days, I acquired a cardiologist, an ambulance ride, a hospital stay and \u2014 perhaps most traumatic of all \u2014 a cardboard bedpan.<\/p>\n

It started innocently enough, with a cardiologist appointment in April.<\/p>\n

I went in expecting a routine followup from my echocardiogram. Instead, I learned that part of my heart wall is thickened.<\/p>\n

According to the cardiologist, this is usually caused by high blood pressure. The problem is, I don\u2019t have high blood pressure. Apparently, my heart prefers to be mysterious.<\/p>\n

Somewhere in Canada there is a warehouse full of proper bedpans waiting to be rediscovered.- Linda Gerritsen<\/p>\n

Now they are testing for kidney issues and something called amyloid protein. (In simple terms, it\u2019s normally soluble proteins in your bloodstream that become insoluble and deposit abnormally in tissues and organs.)<\/p>\n

There will be a nuclear heart scan and eventually an MRI \u2014 although my doctor gently informed me that “eventually” in Manitoba can mean a year and a half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also explained that part of my heart is “lazy,” which I found oddly comforting. (Finally, an organ in my body that reflects my personality after supper!) The lazy heart wall is causing fluid in my lungs.<\/p>\n

So now I wait. Waiting is its own kind of illness. Your imagination fills in the blanks while your body keeps reminding you that something is wrong. But apparently my week was still lacking entertainment.<\/p>\n

A few days later, my left knee developed a small infection. My husband, Maarten, spent three days squeezing pus out of it before deciding perhaps this was beyond the qualifications of an industrial software engineer.<\/p>\n

\"ALinda Gerritsen, left, poses with team members on a mission trip to Mexico, weeks before her health crisis began. (Submitted by Linda Gerritsen)<\/p>\n

My family doctor was away in Scotland, so I went to a walk-in clinic. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic and asked if I had any allergies.<\/p>\n

“No,” I answered confidently, “I don\u2019t think so!”<\/p>\n

Famous last words.<\/p>\n

That evening, I took the pill while eating peanut butter and honey for supper. Within 30 minutes, my hands became itchy. Then my legs. Then everywhere. I even had to take off my artificial legs because my stumps were itchy (a sentence I never imagined writing).<\/p>\n

Then came the vomiting. Then came the passing out. According to Maarten, I lost consciousness three times before the ambulance arrived. Suddenly I had an IV, an EpiPen injection, heart monitors, oxygen monitors and several very serious people moving very quickly around me.<\/p>\n

At the hospital, my oxygen levels had dropped to 89 per cent and my blood pressure was alarmingly low \u2014 although apparently that is normal when your body decides medication is trying to kill you.<\/p>\n

The doctors, nurses and health-care aides at Gimli Hospital were wonderful \u2014 truly wonderful, kind, attentive and patient.<\/p>\n

Cardboard bedpans?<\/p>\n

I do have one complaint. What happened to normal bedpans? The sturdy metal ones or even the turquoise plastic ones. At what hospital meeting did someone decide cardboard was the future of human dignity? Not sturdy cardboard either \u2014 thin cardboard. The exact same material as a Tim Hortons takeout tray for four coffees.<\/p>\n

In the first attempt, it completely collapsed beneath me. On the second try, the nurse doubled them up and I hovered cautiously above them like a nervous helicopter pilot trying to land in bad weather. By morning, half asleep and barely conscious, I flattened another one and promptly soaked both myself and the bed.<\/p>\n

Their solution? A “Linda-sized” adult diaper. Oy vey.<\/p>\n

It turns out there are moments in life when you really miss 1970s medical equipment. Surely somewhere in Canada there is a warehouse full of proper bedpans waiting to be rediscovered.<\/p>\n

I am not emotionally prepared for this stage of life.<\/p>\n

Ironically, breakfast the next morning was perfect. They somehow produced a completely gluten-free and dairy-free tray with Chex cereal, almond milk, gluten-free toast, peanut butter, banana and coffee. I was overjoyed!<\/p>\n

I think about all the people who keep showing up.- Linda Gerritsen<\/p>\n

After one final conversation with the doctor \u2014 who recommended my GP refer me to an allergist \u2014 Maarten picked me up and brought me home.<\/p>\n

Home care arrived for breakfast and lunch as usual. My maid of honour visited that afternoon and sat with me while I rested. Since then, life has become filled with appointments, caregivers, specialists and schedules.<\/p>\n

Tuesdays I attend an adult day program. (I call it “kindergarten for seniors.”) I do crafts, eat lunch with the ladies, etc. Wednesdays are chiropractor days. Thursdays I join an online webinar taught by a rabbi in Israel (who actually phoned to check on me after my hospital adventure).<\/p>\n

And somewhere amid heart scans, allergic reactions and collapsing cardboard bedpans, I shared my story with CBC Manitoba about surviving a plane crash years ago. They later interviewed<\/a> both me and one of my rescuers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes I look at my life and think, “Could we perhaps have one normal month?”<\/p>\n

But then I think about all the people who keep showing up: Maarten calmly calling the ambulance, nurses adjusting blankets at 1 a.m., friends visiting, home care workers arriving every morning, and yes, reliving the plane crash, decades later, and thinking of all the people who prayed for us.<\/p>\n

Life is exhausting right now, financially, physically and emotionally. But somehow, in the middle of all of it, grace keeps appearing in small and ordinary ways: in a husband who stays calm during a crisis, in nurses who tuck blankets around freezing patients, in visitors who sit quietly beside your bed, and even in a breakfast tray that finally gets your dietary restrictions right.<\/p>\n

I still do not know what the heart scan and MRI tests will show. I do not know how long the waiting will last. But I am learning that even difficult weeks can hold moments of absurd humour, unexpected kindness and deep gratitude.<\/p>\n

Even if they also involve cardboard bedpans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This First Person article is the\u00a0experience of Linda Gerritsen, a plane crash survivor, double amputee and social worker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-470246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}