Lögberg-Heimskringla - 21.10.2005, Qupperneq 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 21. október 2005 • 5
Are you a
‘vila kisa’?
Agnes Bardal Comack
Growing up as a child in
the 1920s and 30s with
parents who spoke
broken English, I had many
Icelandic words mixed into my
vocabulary. I’d often be sur-
prised to find that my friends,
at times, didn’t know what I
was talking about. It seems
that after all these years this is
still happening.
My daughter was surprised
that her pediatrician didn’t
understand when she told
him her baby had been “gub-
bing” (gubba, “to vomit”). My
grandaughter actually called
her new husband a “gikkur.”
(So he told me.) In our home, a
gikkur was a weak-willed sis-
sy, although I see it translated
as “impudent.”
Then there’s a “luma.” You
don’t want to be a luma. It may
mean “a pancake,” but to us it
was a lifeless, useless charac-
ter.
I was stunned to hear my
daughter-in-law, who came
from New Brunswick, saying
to my grandson, “Quit being
such a vila kisa.” Where else
would she hear that but from
her mother-in-law? My mother
had absolutely no use for a vila
kisa. In my 1904 Icelandic-
English dictionary, the transla-
tion is vila “to wail” and kisa
“pussy cat,” in other words,
a crying cat. The expression,
which tells it better than any
Engish word, describes for us
a neurotic, whiny complainer.
My mother gave birth to
14 babies and suffered through
the death of three of them. She
probably received little sympa-
thy. As a result, she was a very
strong-minded, stoical woman.
Having eight daughters, she
no dopbt heard a lot of com-
plaints about menstrual pains
from what we then called “the
curse.” Her advice was, “Go
for a walk.” My daughters have
never forgiven me for handing
out this advice. To my surprise,
however, my granddaughters
tell me they were given the
same advice.
I recall the time my broth-
er, Gerard, had a stomach ache.
He never saw a doctor until his
appendix had ruptured. Poor
Gerry! Yearly check-ups were
unheard-of in those days.
One thing that would de-
mand immediate attention was
the sign of red streaks from an
infected area. I once was rushed
to emergency at the Winnipeg
General with red steaks up my
arm from an infected dog bite.
With no antibiotics in those
days, the treatment was to have
the wound lanced and then have
regular hot poultices applied,
while you prayed you wouldn’t
die of blood poisoning.
I rarely saw a doctor de-
spite the fact that 1 was prone
to fainting spells. I fainted in
church, on the streetcar, in the
dentist chair and once, when
we were celebrating my par-
ents anniversary.
We were in the Selkirk Lu-
theran Church where they had
been married in 1900. They
were married at 7 a.m. I would
guess it was because it would
have taken them so long to get
back to Winnipeg by horse-
drawn cart. There we all were,
with my parents up at the al-
tar while they renewed their
vows. I felt faint and Margret,
my sister, no doubt thought,
“There she goes again.” Mar-
gret gracefully stepped aside
so that I rolled down the steps
from the altar and hit my head
on the heating grate in the floor
below.
It wasn’t until during my
first few months in nurses’
training, after fainting over the
head nurse’s desk during the
reading of the morning report,
that I finally saw a doctor. He
found I was anemic.
PHOTO COURTESY OF AGNES BARDAL COMACK
Margrét Ingibjörg Ólafsdóttir, Mrs. A.S. Bardal, 1880 - 1960.
Not long before my father
died, he was lying in bed at
horrie. Mamma was obviously
pretty impatient with this vila
kisa under her care. Being a
fresh new nursing grad, I took
his temperature. I was shocked
to see it was 104 degrees Fahr-
enheit. Poor Pabbi!
There’s no doubt that I take
after my mother in her lack of
patience with a vila kisa. My
sister came to our cottage at
the lake one summer, and dur-
ing her visit she complained
of stomach pain. I finally took
her to the local doctor’s of-
fice where she received little
help. After seeing her lying
in bed for so long, I got the
bright idea that maybe if she
went jogging with me it might
move whatever was going on.
It didn’t work! I had to drive
her to Winnipeg.
Poor Margret! She under-
went emergency surgery. The
surgeon said it was the worst
case of gall stones he had ever
seen.
So, the question is, “Are
you a vila kisaT No? Good!
But take this.sage advice from
me. If your stomach ache
seems pretty severe, quit being
so brave. Go see your doctor.
Don’t go jogging. It could kill
you.
Halldórsdóttir
in Winnipeg
WINNIPEG, MB — Df.
Sigríður Halldórsdóttir of
Akureyri, Iceland was the
keynote speaker at the 2nd
Biennial Nursing Research
Conference hosted by Sigma
Theta Tau Intemational Xi
Larnbda and Eta Upsilon
Chapters, last week at Inn at
the Forks. The theme of the
conference was “Caring: the
Journey of Nursing Science,”
with 45 additional presenta-
tions by nurses related to the
theme.
“We were thrilled to be
able to welcome Dr. Hall-
dórsdóttir and her research,”
said Dr. Diana McMillan,
president of Xi Lambda.
“This conference brought
opportunities for nurses
from Canada, the USA and
Iceland to leam and build
community about caring.”
Dr. Halldórsdóttir com-
pleted a PhD from Linkop-
ing University in Sweden.
Her main area of research
has been former patients’
perceptions of caring and
uncaring encounters with
health professionals. She has
also studied women’s suffer-
ing due to breast cancer, an-
orexia and domestic abuse.
Recently she has been study-
ing psychoneuroimmunol-
ogy and its connection with
love and caring.
In addition to the con-
ference, Dr. Halldórsdóttir
spoke at the Icelandic Col-
lection Seminar Roorn at the
University of Manitoba and
at Sturgeon Creek United
Church on “Creating a Car-
ing Community.”
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