We often hear about load shedding since the beginning of the pandemic, but its effects remain abstract. As hospitals face a critical lack of resources, The duty decided to put words and faces to statistics. Today, the stories of Jean and Daniel.
Jean Pépin is faced with a real dilemma. While waiting for a hip operation for which no date has been set, this retired security guard would like at least to be able to have a cortisone injection to soothe his pain. The problem is that it risks postponing the surgery… if she is offered one soon.
“When we called the doctor’s office this fall to see if they had anything to relieve me, the lady said it was fine to get cortisone, but it was going to be delayed six month minimum my surgery, ”says this 73-year-old resident of Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur, near Napierville.
At the time, the intervention was to take place in January or February 2022, so he preferred to abstain by not asking for an injection. But since December, it’s radio silence because of load shedding. “They don’t say anything,” laments the one who would like to at least have an idea of when his operation will take place. “You try to call, and they say: ‘We’ve taken the load off, we don’t know when it’s going to be possible'”, relates Mr. Pépin.
“If I take cortisone, will I find myself at the end of the waiting list? Wait another year, another year and a half? »
Mr. Pépin has been waiting for surgery for two years now. A period during which osteoarthritis continued to wreak havoc on her quality of life. “Before, when I was asked to rate my pain on a scale of 1 to 10, I would answer ‘let’s say 4 to 5’. But there, the pain is made at 8-9. As soon as I put weight on my hip, I feel it. »
To (re)read: our series The faces of load shedding
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Last December, Mr. Pépin started walking with a cane. “He doesn’t want to take cortisone because he wants to have an operation,” laments his spouse, who notes that he is very good at “bearing pain”. “He buys everything that sells for pain at the pharmacy. But he avoids going there to spare his hip, she says. “Fortunately they deliver. »
Dependency risks
Daniel, he made the opposite choice. Every three months, he receives a cortisone injection in the knee to relieve the pain associated with osteoarthritis. The 64-year-old is aware he may have to pass if called with an operation date. But he believes the risk is minimal for now.
Indeed, when an orthopedist agreed to put him on his waiting list last summer, he informed him that it would take at least a year. He therefore judged that he could receive a few injections without worrying. And with the current situation, he has no illusions about his chances of getting a date. He will therefore receive a new injection next month.
What worries him more are the side effects of painkillers and the risk of developing an addiction. “I try not to take too much because it makes you a little sleepy,” Daniel explains on the phone. It’s really painful to take painkillers, it’s not fun, it affects alertness a bit. And there is always a risk of addiction, you have to be aware of that. I try to take it only when I can’t take the pain anymore…”
But it is thanks to cortisone injections and certain drugs that he “should not take” that he manages to be “functional”, he admits.
When he sits – which happens “often” since he works in computers – he has no pain. It is when he gets up that the pain assails him. And she accompanies him at every step, making him limp. “It doesn’t make you want to walk,” he sighs.
However, on occasion, he goes for a walk in the neighborhood with his wife. “But I have to come back after 15-20 minutes, I can no longer walk as I would like,” he says.
When he overdoes it—for example, when he goes shopping and takes it up to the second floor—the pain is worse the next day. But like many patients who agreed to tell their story at the Duty, Daniel believes that his case is “not that serious” and he does not want to give the impression that he is complaining. “If they tell me that it will take another six months and that it does not degenerate too much, I can live with that,” he says, stoic.
If you would like to tell us a story about the consequences of load shedding, write to our journalists Isabelle Porter and Jessica Nadeau: [email protected] and [email protected]