LISA’S CRUEL LIFE OF PAIN
Family in plea for operation for woman (35)
A DISTRAUGHT father has told how his 35-year-old daughter needs round the clock care and has been left in constant pain because an emergency dental operation has been delayed by two years.
Lisa O’Malley (pictured) from Marian Park suffers from Turner Syndrome and Scoliosis and as a result of the medication she takes has been left in severe and constant pain as a result of mutiple abscesses on her teeth.
‘Lisa is in so much pain that she doesn’t sleep at all so myself and my wife take turns staying up and looking after her,’ her dad Stephen stated.
‘We have been trying to get Lisa’s teeth done and get her some relief from the constant pain since July 2014,’ he said.
A local father has told how his daughter needs round the clock care and has been left in constant pain because an emergency dental operation has been delayed by two years.
Lisa O’Malley (35) from Marian Park suffers from Turner Syndrome and Scoliosis and as a result of the medication she takes has been left in severe and constant pain as a result of mutiple abscesses on her teeth. Lisa’s Dad, Stephen said her operation was delayed because she was deemed to be ‘ high risk’. She is now taking one of the most powerful painkillers on the market Oxycontin.
Lisa was scheduled to have surgery in the hospital in Dundalk in July 2014, however, her family were told by the operating doctor that because of her health complications the operation couldn’t be performed there and she would have to be referred back to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
‘We have been trying to get Lisa’s teeth done and get her some relief from the constant pain since July 2014,’ Stephen told the Drogheda Independent.
‘We went up to Dundalk at that stage for her to have the operation under sedation but when we got there the doctor examined her chart and said she was too high risk a patient to be done there and she would have to be referred tot he Lourdes.’
He said Lisa was subsequently referred to the Lourdes in January 2015 but they were told the dental lists were then suspended for five months and the operation had to be reschulded for October the same year.
However, Stephen said a mix up over the date and time meant the opearation once again didn’t go ahead.
‘When we rang up to find out what time we had to be there at, they told us five o’clock on October 9th and we took that as 5pm assuming the operation would be done the next day rather than 5am that morning which is the time they actually meant. That’s when everything went haywire and because of that we have been unable to get anything sorted out since,’ said Stephen.
He said Lisa has suffered with the tooth abcesses for more than two years and is on a cocktail of medication to cope with the pain.
‘Shes still complaining and because it’s going on so long and because she’s on so much medication, the medication is ruining her teeth,’ said Stephen.
Lisa also suffered a nervous breakdown some years ago, Stephen said, and as a result also takes anti-depressants and antipsychotic tablets which adds further to the damge to her teeth.
‘She’s deemed as a high risk patient because of her condition, she’s had numerous operations on her back for scoliosis but because of it there is a risk involved in her having anaesthesia,’ said Stephen.
‘We attend the clinic in Ballsgrove and they are doing everything they can to try and get this operation for Lisa but things are basically at a standstill. We’ve been told that when she does get some word she’ll be at the top of the list but there’s no end in sight because nothing is being done at the Lourdes at the moment. .’
He said that over the course of the past two years, he and wife Deirdre have been doing everything they can to get their daughter the help that she needs but to no avail.
‘She still has the abcesses on both sides of her mouth and she is in constant pain between that and also the other health complications she is dealing with, including the scoliosis,’ said Stephen.
‘ The only reason she is still here is because she is on a very powerful drug, Oxycontin.
‘I’m speaking out not just on the part of Lisa but on behalf of all the other disabled people in the area who are in the same position,’ he said.
‘Lisa is in so much pain that she doesn’t sleep at all so myself and my wife take turns staying up and looking after her.’
‘We have been trying to get her teeth done since 2014, she’s in so much pain that she doesn’t sleep at all so myself and my wife take turns looking after her’