Eight painkillers a day while she waits for op
A MOTHER told yesterday of her teenage daughter’s reliance on eight painkilling tablets a day, plus anti-inflamatory drugs, as she waits for life-changing surgery.
Tracey Kennedy from Raheny, Dublin, and her daughter, transition-year student Chloe, were among angry parents and teenage scoliosis suffers protesting outside the Dáil yesterday demanding that spinal surgery waiting lists to be tackled.
Scoliosis is a crippling, progressive curvature of the spine. But the waiting list for surgery at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children has increased this year despite it being identified as a priority by Health Minister Leo Var- adkar. There are currently 174 children on the waiting list for surgery at Crumlin – up from 163 in February.
Ms Kennedy said of Chloe: ‘Her curve is now at 70 degrees. Psychologically and mentally, it affects her. She hates herself, she is depressed.
‘She’s up half the night. She is on up to eight paracetamol a day and an anti-inflammatory. The GP said the next form of painkillers is morphine. There is no way I am putting my daughter on morphine.’
Tracey Stynes’s daughter Grace, 11, has been on a waiting list for surgery at Crumlin since October 2013. She hopes the seven-and-a-half hour operation will now take place later this month.
Ms Stynes from Co Offaly said: ‘I have a date but I am still kind of apprehensive whether it’s going to go ahead or not. I am just still half afraid I could be told, “Sorry, we can’t do it until later on or another date.”’
Aaron Daly, whose daughter Sophia had her surgery in March, said: ‘Because she was so severe they had to take her in. That’s the other thing. Her curve was 110 degrees. Her lungs had stopped functioning correctly. Her hip was touching her ribs.
‘She was in constant pain. The Gov- ernment had ignored these kids. We were lucky we got the surgery.
‘There are hundreds of children out there that are not getting the attention they need and are basically being left in pain.’
A spokesman for Mr Varadkar said: ‘There is a need to expand capacity at Crumlin itself. This is being done through recruiting an additional surgeon, anaesthetist and support staff to carry out additional surgeries.
‘The recruitment processes are ongoing and at various stages. In addition, capital funding is being provided for additional theatre space at Crumlin. This will allow for further increase in capacity.’