They surely can’t cancel my boy’s scoliosis surgery again?
Mum prays planned op won’t be called off
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD boy who needs life-saving scoliosis surgery has been provisionally scheduled for the operation again after it was cancelled five times in the past year.
Noah Quish’s surgery was cancelled two weeks ago, just days after his mother Una Quish said that ‘time is rapidly running out’ for her son.
Mrs Quish said Noah’s rib cage is squashing his lungs because of the ‘massive curve’ on his spine, a condition that was first diagnosed five years ago.
‘Fingers crossed it isn’t cancelled again. We head up to Crumlin Children’s Hospital on April 14 for surgery on the 15th,’ Mrs Quish said.
‘They rang me last Monday to say we had a provisional date for surgery on the 15th, so hopefully, you would think they would hardly cancel it again – maybe if there is an emergency that’s fine, but hopefully it will go ahead.
‘We met Noah’s surgeon last week and he said Noah had gone very stiff,’ she added.
Noah’s Cobb angle – the length of the curve on his spine – has grown towards 100 degrees in recent weeks, meaning that his case is classified as ‘severe’ and requires surgery.
Noah, from Monaleen in Limerick, has extremely complex health conditions. He was born with a heart condition, hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain), a chromosome deletion and laryngomalacia (voice box defect). He is non-verbal and is fed via a tube inserted in his abdomen.
Although he was deemed fit for the operation twice previously this year, his surgeon was not available. The surgery had been cancelled on three previous occasions late last year when Noah was too ill for it.
The youngster had six brain surgeries between July and December last year after he contracted meningitis when a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt inserted in his head to drain fluid from his brain became infected.
He recovered from the lifethreatening infection, but is still waiting for the scoliosis surgery.
In an email Mrs Quish sent to Crumlin Children’s Hospital on March 4, she wrote: ‘Noah’s organs are being distorted, his weight is decreasing, his lung function is being affected, and he is in pain. We feel that time is rapidly running out for Noah and he needs his spinal surgery now.’
The email stated that, due to Noah’s complex health conditions, ‘a neurosurgeon should be physically present’ at his surgery.
Mrs Quish asked the hospital if a neurosurgeon would be present, but said she did not receive a specific reply then.
She also asked Crumlin ‘how frequently and who from the neurosurgical team will monitor and assess Noah post-operatively as an inpatient in the days/weeks after he is admitted following his scoliosis surgery’.
She also wrote: ‘It is some time since Noah’s pre-operative assessment was conducted. Please advise if this is to be redone to have a more up-to-date medical overview of Noah.’
Mrs Quish added: ‘Noah is now suffering, things are getting worse. His knees are swollen, he actually has bursitis (inflammation) of the knees, and it’s all because of his spine.’
She previously said she was angry at the estimated €20million spent on the recent Family and Care referendums, while at the same time Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly had sent HSE auditors into Children’s Health Ireland (Crumlin and Temple Street children’s hospitals) to clarify how €19million in funding he had allocated to CHI to cut children’s scoliosis surgical waiting lists was spent.
Mrs Quish said Crumlin has told her they are happy to go ahead with Noah’s surgery without a neurologist present. ‘They are happy for the surgery to go ahead, and, if anything was to happen to Noah he will go straight to Temple Street. We just want to get it over and done with now.’
His surgeon was not available