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Katie Woolf spoke with listener Andrew about his back surgery and unable to get help with pain management · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: One of our listeners, Andrew, Good morning Andrew, Katie. How
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: are you, mate?
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I've been better now.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I understand. We spoke to you a little while back
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: about an operation that you needed on your spine. Have
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: you managed to have that?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? I had. The operation was a complete success. They
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  Speaker 2: brought one of the best surgeons outside of America from
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  Speaker 2: Brisbane up doctor Tab's locker, Wilkinson, and he replaced a
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: large section of my spine because my fine was a
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: pretty bad way in the titanium cage. And to usday.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, So how long ago did that happen?
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  Speaker 2: That was on the twenty eighth of September, shortly after
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  Speaker 2: I spoke to you and put a bit of pressure
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  Speaker 2: on the health departments, the wire getting bumped off the
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  Speaker 2: priority one list back down to the Priority three list
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  Speaker 2: when I was told that I'd be in a wheelchair,
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  Speaker 2: so they didn't have the operation.
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  Speaker 1: And mate, like you said, you'd spoken to us about that.
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  Speaker 1: What did the what did the specialists say? What did
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  Speaker 1: that surgeon say when he actually then went in to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: do that operation.
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  Speaker 2: I saw him only meeting moments before the operation up
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  Speaker 2: in the operating theater and he told me what he
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: was going to do and I said, yeah, well good,
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  Speaker 2: everything about you because I was I wasn't going to
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  Speaker 2: let me un cut into my back without doing that,
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  Speaker 2: and he explained the operation. He's very good. Then following
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  Speaker 2: the operation next morning, I was still pretty groggy, and
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  Speaker 2: he said, if you hadn't operated, He said that I
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have walked within within days because the nerve was
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: almost seven. He hadn't seen mye quite so bad. But
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  Speaker 2: before the operation, I saw the ementhetist and they said,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: have you ever had a pump put in for pain?
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: You know, like a morphine self administrating morphine pump, And
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  Speaker 2: I said I have, but I'm allergic to morphine. And
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  Speaker 2: they went through all the stuff with me. They're going
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  Speaker 2: to get a sentinel pump and put it on me,
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  Speaker 2: and this is done by the pain team immediately following
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  Speaker 2: the operation, the chronic pain team at the World Arn Hospital. Anyway,
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  Speaker 2: this didn't happen and I was kept on a really
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  Speaker 2: heavy analgesia whilst I was in hospital. I was in
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  Speaker 2: there for quite a few days after the operation, and
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  Speaker 2: I got sent home and within twelve hours my wife
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  Speaker 2: had to ring an ambulance and I was back in
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  Speaker 2: the hospital. Getting sedated again because I was in so
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  Speaker 2: much pain on no And this went on and the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: hospital managed to get it under control again, and they
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  Speaker 2: wrote a letter to my private GP to really up
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  Speaker 2: the analgesia that he's given me until I get to
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  Speaker 2: see the pain team. Meanwhile, they had requested the pain
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: team several times to come and see me, which I
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  Speaker 2: didn't see them. So there, I'm out of hospital and
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  Speaker 2: I'm still supposed to be on this self administrating pump
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  Speaker 2: and it's been eleven weeks now and I still haven't
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  Speaker 2: got an appointment with the painting. So I've been rattling
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  Speaker 2: the cage there to find out what's going on. Three
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  Speaker 2: and a half weeks ago, they said, well, you haven't
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  Speaker 2: filled in the form.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, come on what form?
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  Speaker 2: And they said there's a questionnaire you've got to fill
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  Speaker 2: in before you can see us. I said, well, I
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  Speaker 2: haven't even been advised to that. Yeah. So we went
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  Speaker 2: from hump you dow to the hospital. We got the form,
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  Speaker 2: we sawt the form, we gave it straight back to
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  Speaker 2: them three and a half weeks ago and filled all
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  Speaker 2: their questionnaires in that I'm on heavy s eight drugs
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  Speaker 2: that the GP can't do without getting permission from canber
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  Speaker 2: and he can't do for more than a month without
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  Speaker 2: some other notification from the pain specialist. Goodness a month,
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  Speaker 2: and the doctor keeps telling me, I can't keep prescribing
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  Speaker 2: you this heavy analogy. And I've been ringing the paint
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  Speaker 2: team and they said it's a matter of triarche and
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't We haven't read your paperwork so we don't
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  Speaker 2: know how urgent yours is yet.
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  Speaker 1: Oh come on, but if it's a matter of triarchs,
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  Speaker 1: you would think that they'd read all the paperwork. And
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  Speaker 1: then they triarge paper.
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  Speaker 2: And I actually didn't get told that. It was told
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  Speaker 2: through someone else at the hospital that informed me that,
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  Speaker 2: and she sent me that the text message that they
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  Speaker 2: haven't even my formers yet. I'm not just winging on
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  Speaker 2: my behalf. I'm getting by. But you're not the only
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  Speaker 2: person in this situation.
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  Speaker 1: No, you're actually not. We've had other people call through
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  Speaker 1: on this very topic. I spoke to a lovely lady
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  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago whose name escapes me, but
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  Speaker 1: she'd been in contact with us. It was the first
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  Speaker 1: time she'd ever called through to the show, and she
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  Speaker 1: had she's got a chronic pain situation that she's had
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  Speaker 1: for many years, and she's no longer able to access
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  Speaker 1: the medication that she has been able to access for
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  Speaker 1: several years, and she's in some really serious pain. So
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  Speaker 1: I know you're not the only person. I just can't
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  Speaker 1: work out what the heck is going on why people
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  Speaker 1: aren't able to actually get access to that medication, to
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  Speaker 1: the pain medication that they've been told that they need
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  Speaker 1: by their specialists like you have been.
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  Speaker 2: What I've been told is they're just inundated at the
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  Speaker 2: hospital and after you know, I've spent probably weeks in
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  Speaker 2: the hospital all up in the last few months with
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  Speaker 2: several operations on my hand and the operation on my back. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and I can't praise the start up. They will flat
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  Speaker 2: out all the whole time that they're in there, and
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  Speaker 2: they are just totally overwhelmed with the amount of work
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  Speaker 2: they've got to do. But that really should be sending
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  Speaker 2: a message through to the government. Do we have to
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  Speaker 2: wait until our chief minister gets into chronic pain and
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  Speaker 2: can't see the chronic pain specialist before it gets fixed,
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  Speaker 2: or yeah, oh you know needs to be changed.
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  Speaker 1: Well, this is the thing, you know, we all understand
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  Speaker 1: why we pay our taxes, and we all understand, you
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  Speaker 1: know that that you know, you want your money to
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  Speaker 1: go towards things like hospitals and infrastructure to actually support people,
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  Speaker 1: you know, whoever you are and wherever you come from.
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  Speaker 1: But then when you're not actually able to get in
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  Speaker 1: there and see the people that you need to see
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  Speaker 1: when you are hurt, and when you are obviously then
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  Speaker 1: waiting for that pain management, it's you know, it's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, it's a pretty bad situation around
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  Speaker 2: our house. My wife has had to resign per job
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  Speaker 2: to care for me, and you know, so we're really broke.
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  Speaker 2: We live out of hope, you do. We've got to
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  Speaker 2: travel into town to the doctor's a couple of times
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  Speaker 2: a week, but now we can't even get an appointment
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  Speaker 2: for something as important as pain.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Oh mate, I'm so sorry to hear this, especially after
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  Speaker 1: you've actually had the surgery and you're still in a
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  Speaker 1: terrible situation, but obviously a different one in terms of
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  Speaker 1: your pain. Look, all I can say, Andrew is let
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  Speaker 1: me make sure that we raise this. We will make
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  Speaker 1: sure that we get your details through to the appropriate
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  Speaker 1: people to see if we can rattle the cage. A
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  Speaker 1: little bit for you on your behalf, because I think
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  Speaker 1: you've been through enough by the sounds of it. But
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  Speaker 1: it does sound as though it's something that we actually
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: need to follow up as well, in terms of either
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  Speaker 1: speaking to the Health Minister or speaking to somebody from
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  Speaker 1: health about what the goal is with the pain management
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  Speaker 1: team at the moment and if they're understaffed and how
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  Speaker 1: it can get sorted.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, that'd be great, as I say, just not
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  Speaker 2: for me. There's a lot of people in the same
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  Speaker 2: situation and to live every day in pain, it's just
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  Speaker 2: no fun. No.
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  Speaker 1: Well, mate, you know, the most important thing in our
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  Speaker 1: lives is our health, and until you're in a situation
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  Speaker 1: where you don't have it, and when you're battling pain
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  Speaker 1: and you're battling illness, you really can't comprehend how difficult
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  Speaker 1: it is for people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm very grateful for having your operation. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and I was told that I'd be in a lot
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  Speaker 2: of pain for at least twelve months, but they would
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  Speaker 2: handle it. And that's not that part of it isn't
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  Speaker 2: being handled. I've been referred three times from urology to
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  Speaker 2: the pain department, but I haven't even heard from them.
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  Speaker 1: Mate, let me see, let us see what we can
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  Speaker 1: what we can do. It might take us a few days,
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  Speaker 1: but let us see what we can do. Andrew, I
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate you giving us a bit of an update, mate,
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  Speaker 1: and it's it's good to speak to you. I wish
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  Speaker 1: it was on sort of bitter terms, but it's good
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  Speaker 1: to chat with you this morning.
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  Speaker 2: No, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. That is Andrew there, and I know he's
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  Speaker 1: not alone. Like I said, we've had other people in
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  Speaker 1: contact with us about struggling to be able to get
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  Speaker 1: the pain medication that they require and that they have
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  Speaker 1: been able to have for a long periods of time.
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  Speaker 1: But that situation with Andrew is quite unbelievable. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you go through back surgery and you're told that you're
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  Speaker 1: going to be managed, your pain is going to be
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  Speaker 1: managed in a certain way, and then nothing ever happens
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  Speaker 1: with it and you're struggling. You're having to be taken
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  Speaker 1: back to the hospital in an ambulance. Unbelievable.