Woman ‘in utter agony’ waiting over year for op
A WOMAN who has been waiting 14 months for surgery to heal a chronic back problem has no idea when she will get an operation.
Catherina Tobin, 54, first started to complain of pain in her lower spine six years ago, having had two discs removed on separate occasions when younger.
Ms Tobin, from Co. Westmeath, said she was told that she would be put on a waiting list for surgery in June 2015 after having nerve study tests done.
At the time the mother-of-one was diagnosed as needing decompression and fusion surgery of the L4 and L5 vertebrae in her back at north Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.
However, she was later informed by the hospital that she has been on the list since July 2016, and she has no idea when she can expect her surgery.
She told the Mail: ‘When you’re in constant pain like this it’s inhumane. I’m in utter agony, my medication has been changed because the last lot stopped working.’
Ms Tobin worked as a florist until three years ago and she is now in ‘excruciating pain’ with numbness in her left leg, toe and bottom.
‘I can’t stand too long, I cannot sit too long, the only side I can lie on is my right, but I can’t sleep.’
‘My problem is if I had €17,000 my operation would be done within three weeks privately,’ she said.