LESSONS IN GRATITUDE

Learning to appreciate what’s truly important in life

- Mark Bell

I work at the Canadian International School (CIS) in Vietnam as Vice-Principal of the elementary panel. Our school has been closed since January 27, when we ended a two-week holiday for the Lunar New Year (Tet in Vietnam). By then, COVID-19 had taken a hold on Wuhan, China and the Vietnamese government decided to close all schools in the country for a period of 14-days. As of today (April 1), Vietnam is under a new 15-day quarantine order; the borders are closed and so are the airports, for inbound flights.

On Saturday March 14, I boarded a plane (fully masked and gloved) destined for Toronto to seek medical attention for herniated discs in my cervical and lumbar spine. In Vietnam, neurosurgeons had deemed I needed very invasive surgeries to correct the spinal issues I was having. After hearing the diagnosis, I decided to return to Canada for a second opinion and to seek medical attention from my own doctor.

While in the air, the rules in Canada changed! Not only was I not going to be able to see my own doctor, there was no way any neurology specialist was going to see me either, and the MRI and X-rays I carried with me from Vietnam would remain in my suitcase unseen.

Canada was now beginning to shut down as well, almost eight weeks behind where we were in Vietnam.

When I landed in Vancouver, I was not asked any questions even though I had just arrived on a flight from Southeast Asia— from Vietnam through Taipei (Taiwan) to Vancouver. I asked an airport worker in Vancouver if I could see a Health Canada official to explain my travel trajectory. The worker handed me a paper with the phone numbers of various provincial ministries of health and I was told to contact any of these numbers in the event that I felt flulike symptoms.