So I’m in the last few days of isolation.
I don’t get asthma very often, and it’s unusual for it to be bad enough for me to require a puffer. In fact, my puffers had expired, so I’d thrown them out, while packing, and planned to get a new one before I left but I forgot.
There’s been a bit of smoke around, from burn offs, which had triggered the asthma yesterday morning and I didn’t have a puffer. I normally go medication-free (I can hear my nurse sister gnashing her teeth, as she reads this LOL) as much as possible but I was lightheaded and wheezy & felt a bit panicky, so I rang the wonderful Daniel who’s in charge here & asked if someone would mind grabbing a puffer for me. He got my card details and said they’d pick one up for me.
However, I got a call, not long after, to say that the pharmacy’s “out of stock”…WTF…of asthma medication? wow. That highlights what a burden I am on these small country towns, when I travel without being self sufficient. Long story short, I ended up speaking with the cops, about whether I could go to the local hospital to pick up a script for an alternative to the usual puffer. The answer was no, I can’t be allowed to leave my room, but the cop, without any sign of reluctance, stepped in to that role on my behalf and said he’d go and pick it up for me. He rang the hospital, got put through to a doctor, who I spoke with briefly, before the doctor agreed to prescribe the alternative puffer for me, which is in stock.
Interestingly, the doctor was openly resentful of my being in Norseman, when I’m from Perth, until I explained that my house is rented out, so I don’t have a house to return to. (Is it possible that not all people dream of being nomadic, like I do? I guess not.)
I gave this wonderful cop, my debit card, PIN number and my grateful thanks. By 4pm, the wheezy had stopped but I still didn’t have the puffer, because “the doctor hasn’t forwarded the script to the pharmacy yet”. I had complementary medicine with me, luckily, which helped.
Earlier, while the asthma was at its worst, outside my door were three cops dealing with the newest detainees – a young couple, foreigners, with long dreads, a gorgeous dog and a strong desire to argue about why the rules don’t apply to them. They are in the unit next to me. There has been lots of upset, raised voices, arguing and drama – it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened since the 4WD, towing a boat, drove through the car park, past my unit (….no, that’s all there was to that story…it drove through…I don’t know where it went, or who was driving it and I didn’t get to watch the reversing, which I’m still dog about).
I read, recently, that there are two types of people in the world – those who follow the rules and those who don’t. I reckon that’s probably true because you see non-compliant behaviour in toddlers, right through to the very old. It’s not like we all grow out of it. In trying to decide if I belonged to the former or latter group, I dithered, thinking that I’m a rule follower, which I am…usually. So, if I only follow rules “usually” that means I’m in the latter group. But I can’t think of a single person who isn’t in the latter group… and I wouldn’t want to live in a world where people don’t question the rules and rebel…even annoying, as it can be.
It’s been 24 hours since the asthma started playing up, but in the interim, I’ve learned a lot about how good people can be, when you need help. That cop, he didn’t forget me & my wheezy lungs. This morning he was back, to collect my debit card and PIN number, and not long after delivered my puffer, telling me it was “the last in stock”. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to him, for being the sort of person who does that for a stranger. Daniel has twice asked how I am, despite having a lot of folk to look after. He’s a gem. There are really good people in the world.
I will never leave the city without necessary medications, again, because I’m very conscious that I now have something that a local may need.
Diane Walker Travels 